I received my two Athearn RTR GP40x’s yesterday, SP versions. Good news and bad news. One of the locos was slightly damaged. Some hand rails were dis-lodged and both elephant ear radiators were damaged, one broken completely off. Not too much problem there. I did notice that while there are “Ready To Roll”, the truck detail parts come in a bag for you to add.
I did notice one nice thing, the addition of the 8-pin socket. Previous RTR offerings had the nine pin plug and a spot to mount an eight pin socket but no socket. Now you can “plug in” just about any decoder.
The bad news? Well, one of the units (per chance the firest one I tested) doesn’t run very well. A bit noisy but the worst problem seems to be the motor. It required a high start voltage and runs better in reverse than forward. As I ran the unit in, performance worsened.
I put a decoder in the second unit and it runs with no problems, quieter and smoother with a much lower start voltage. I tried to match the speeds of the locos but no luck. This morning I cleaned both units rotors and gave them s coat of 2-26. This really didn’t help the poorer running unit which has now decided to stall at switches.
So, my Friday evening will be devoted to checking out the problem. If performance continues to degrade, it may well be return time.
Tilden,Thanks for the review.As far as the damage I would return that unit…There is no need to keep a locomotive that has been damage in transit or mishandled at the LHS…
The ones I have seen so far as been smooth runners.
It seems there are no “extra” GP40x’s to be had so returning the loco is not an attractive option. I did talk to Athearn. They seem to feel it is probally the electronics board rather than the motor. They suggested I send it in and they would send me a new board.
To be sure, tonight, I will swap the boards in the locos. If that solves the problem, I will send Athearn the board for replacement. If that doesn’t fix things, I’ll send them the motor for a new one.
Athearn was concerned about the one unit generating some noise. Appearently they are earnest in their desire to improve and quiet their drive trains.
I just got another GP40-X at my LHS today. My first one was a SOU (7001), as they are sold out for now I got the NS (7000). Several years ago I did my own from the RPP shell and about $50 in aftermarket detail parts plus $60 for a P2K GP60 that I used to put underneath the shell. I numbered it 7002 (SOU) so now I have all 3. Im going to the club I’m a member of next week and see how they run together pulling an intermodal consist.
About the only thing I’ll be adding to these beauties are the walkway lights and the cab windshield wipers.
Athearn is doing a second run of the SP GP40X only, they are producing all four numbers released in the first batch plus an undecorated SP version. Orders are being taken until August 18th.
The one RTR SD40-2 I got had no lubrication whatsoever inside of the trucks, and the gears were just tearing up the shafts they rotate on. Sure, you can look down on top of the truck and all seems wet, but inside it is dry to the bone.
You may want to take the trucks apart; clean and lubricate them.
Sorry about the condition of your units and the damage to them. I personally would try them replaced if possible. They might be all gone since they sold like Hotcakes. One thing about the RTR, they rarely have all the details installed and the plow is in need of replacement. I only purchase one since they are not in my era, but they are so unique, I could not resist them.
The trucks on the Sp and UP version do not require any additional detail if I interpret the parts package correctly. If you look at the parts package, it seems they have provided details like the over flow pipe and other small details for the fuel tank and the radio antenna.
The picture below shows the trucks and they look like the finished model.
More info on the GP40X running problem. I swapped the control boards and that did nothing. The unit that runs well still runs well and the “problem” unit still runs poorly.
I did check the trucks and they seem to be lubed and roll freely. Thanks for the tip on the interior of the trucks Tim, I’ll check that when I re-assemble the unit.
I did run a static test on the motor, out of the loco and and with straight DC power. The motor does not turn easily and stalls when starting out. It took slightly over 4 volts just to get the motor to turn constantly.
I checked back with Athearn, who still don’t want to believe the motor is bad, and they said send it in. Sooo, it’s on the way. Hopefully the replacement motor will run as smoothly as the other GP40X, it really is smooth and quiet.
CAZEPHYR, those pictures appearently are later in 7200’s life cycle, as the elephant ears are gone and the rear lights have been cut back to just two. Good to know if one wants to run more than one or two units.
The first three pictures are later with the deflectors removed as they were removed after rebuilding, but the last one shows the 7200 with the deflectors on it.