Stalling Athearn Genesis GP50

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

I have a new Athearn Genesis GP50 that frequently stalls at slow speed. I have a small switching setup in my office using Kato HO track with two #6 turnouts providing a cross-over. I’m using an NCE Power Cab. Can’t find any dead spots anywhere in track but at slow speeds the loco stalls frequently. Could it be the loco just needs more break-in? I haven’t run it very much yet.
Jerry

2

  1. Eliminate the possibilities. Clean the wheels. Lift off the front trucks and check to see is the rear set is conductive…repeat with the rear trucks.

  2. Power the frogs. No way around it for reliable running…except for installing a keep alive circuit.

  3. Check rail joiners.for loose ones.

  4. Take off the shell and solder all connections to the sound board. Black press on clips are not reliable.

Heck…do all 4 steps…

David B

3

I concur with all of David’s points. In case you decide on adding a Keep Alive the Athearn GP 50 has room in the shell for a TCS KA 2 or a Soundtraxx current keeper.

Marty C

4

Thanks David and Marty, I appreciate your suggestions.

Jerry

5

David,

Well that was quick. Lifted the rear trucks and sure enough no power at all on the front trucks. Took it down to Caboose Hobbies and they were kind enough to fix it while I waited. Bad solder joint on one of the wires. Works great now. Of course while I was there I couldn’t resist and bought me another DCC/sound loco. Now I can have double the fun. Thanks again for your help David.

6

+1 for me! Glad I could help…

7

David hit all the right targets [Y] and I might add to his point #4 is to remove the plastic clips at the truck end of the same wire and solder it, too. At least on my geeps and F units there is a plastic clip there.

Athearn pick-up issues are notorious. In my case I soldered every connection and still had issues. I had to clean every bit of grease out of the trucks, flood it with contact cleaner then reassemble with a minimal amount of Labelle gear lube.

Some guys found problems with the axel ends not contacting the bronze strip in the sideframe properly. I didn’t have to deal with that, thankfully. Others have reported that after several hours of break-in (with a known good engine to keep things moving) the problem goes away.

Dave’s suggestion of lifting one truck is a simple diagnostic tool that we all tend to forget sometimes [%-)]

Glad you’re up-n-runnin’ Ed

8

David will PM your the amount due on your bill. :smiley: