I received an email annoucement from Athearn stating that they had bought SELECT tooling from T55. Nothing on T55’s website, has anyone talked to Brian at T55 and been told anything?
I sure would hate to see Athearn put a different decoder into those engines, I have had great operation with the Digitrax decoder used by T55.
Rod
Here’s the email I received from Athearn a little while ago:
Athearn Acquires T55 Tooling
Athearn® Trains is excited to announce we have purchased select tooling from T55, the plastic division of Overland Models. T55 is one of the model railroading industry’s leading producers of high-quality injection-molded models. Using T55’s outstanding tooling, Genesis will soon be producing a run of General Electric GEVO (ES44AC and ES44DC) models, as well as EMD SD70ACe and SD70M-2 models.
These prototypes are the most current locomotives from North America’s primary builders, and are found in the fleets of Union Pacific (including the Heritage Fleet and Bush Presidential Library and Museum), BNSF, CIT Leasing, CSX, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, EMD Demonstrators, Ferromex, Florida East Coast, GE Demonstrators, Kansas City Southern, Montana Rail Link and Norfolk Southern.
Just as these locomotives are the backbone of today’s Class One and Regional railroads, they will also be an important addition to Athearn’s Genesis® series of top-of-the-line HO models. Locomotives, in keeping with Genesis standards, will be offered with and without sound. They will also feature directional lighting; operating ditch lights; separately applied, etched metal details; and the same attention to detail you expect from Genesis.
Any backorder you may have placed with T55 will unfortunately not be transferred. As Genesis announces each new run, please contact your local train store to place your new order. Release dates, pricing and specific product information will be announced in future editions of Athearn News and online at Athearn.com.
Just watch! They’ll make a quality model and ruin it by sticking in a [xx(]MRC[xx(] decoder.
I sure hope you are wrong on the decoder. I visited the LHS yesterday and saw some of the new Genesis MP15ACs with sound and notived there was a small battery in the box. Can anyone tell me what that is for ? I’ve got sound locomotives from many other manufacturers and have never a battery being needed. I do hope Athearn delivers the ES44DCs with Norfolk Southern.
It won’t really matter since they’ll always be on back order…
Jeffery,Spare yourself the grief and buy the DCC ready version.
The thing about those MRC decoders is they work great in DC with a QE!!!
Best thing now is the average joe modeler can afford one.
More then likely they will be sold out as soon as the hit the streets…
Then the “discontinued” will appear untill the next batch.
It doesn’t matter much to me anyway as I won’t be buying any more Genesis models. I’ve had two and they were both defective right out of the box and getting Athearn to do anything about them was like trying to find hens teeth. It took almost a year to get a replacement gear for one and I never did get a new board for the other one. I finally just chucked the whole thing in the trash.
Link below is from T55 website confirming sale of tooling(and exit from plastic) to Athearn. Any reservations with T55 will not be transferred to Athearn.
Gee, you got Genesis defectives also? I spend no more money on Athearn. Cancelled the F45’s. too much is too much.
Bob
I made the mistake of purchasing four Athearn Genesis SD70s when they were first released; two Illinois Central and two Santa Fe. All had to have their trucks replaced because they were all warped and continually derailed. Athearn refused to admit it was their fault and provide free replacements despite several other people complaining about similar problems, so I had to buy the replacement trucks at nearly half the original cost of the models. Never again. Especially now that they are using those crappy MRC decoders.
I had a similar bad experience with an Atnearn RTR SD40 T-2, and will never touch another Athearn locomotive.
Bob and Jeff,Not to be argumentative but,the Genesis I seen at the clubs I am a member of and the clubs I visit the Genesis seem to run quite nicely-of course this is in the DC mode.
I can’t understand why some folk reports having “problems” with theirs unless its a DCC thing with that nasty MRC decoder which some of our guys found out after one club went DCC-that’s another story since we decided to rotate operation between DC/DCC on a weekly bases…Many have replace the MRC decoder with a better DCC/Sound decoder of their choice…Some of the wiser heads has bought the DCC ready version and save the hassles of the MRC decoder…I do know 3 guys that uses the MRC decoders with no problems.
The email below is from Brian and confirms the deal.
On Sat, 9/20/08, Brian Marsh bmarsh@overlandmodels.com wrote:
From: Brian Marsh bmarsh@overlandmodels.com
Subject: T55 Products - Major Announcement
Date: Saturday, September 20, 2008, 12:30 AM
Late this week, the sale of the GE Evolution Series and EMD SD70ACe tooling to Athearn® Trains was finalized. T55 Products enjoyed its short time in the plastic model train market and decided it was time to sell its tools to a proven leader like Athearn. A copy of their press release is listed below. We felt with Athearn’s expertise in the plastics industry and our dedication to detail, the time was right to roll the T55 diesel projects forward within the Athearn network. We truly hope that you can appreciate our decision to sell and also understand that this acquisition has been in the works for quite some time but could not be disclosed until the sale was completed. We truly appreciate all of our customers’ support and business since the launching of T55 and will deeply miss that portion of our business. If you
Why has Athearn bashing become the “sport” of the forum? We keep getting a couple of our resident “experts” posting “Athearn is no good” all the time! I have 4 Athearn DCC locos (1 w/o sound) and have no problems with 3 of them. The 4th is my Challenger, and the “remote” for DC operation was bad - which was replaced NC by Athearn within 10 days - not a bad record in my opinion. Sound quality? Very subjective. By adjusting the CV’s I’ve tailored the sound to my taste - which may not be yours!
Not to say that Athearn - or any other manufacturer - should rest on their laurels, but if it were not for Athearn, where would the hobby be today? I bought my first Athearn in 1959 or '60, and it still runs - not as good as the new ones, but it runs!
I can’t help but wonder if 1 or 2 of the “experts” has ever had an Athearn they actually bought new?(not from a flea market, E scam, or other questionable source). From a few of the “experts” posts, I also wonder if they really know how to model or do anything much else other than post. [:-,]
This had nothing to do with decoders. In the case of the first loco, a steamer, it had a broken drive gear right out of the box. It took almost a year for Athearn to come up with the part. In the case of the second unit, a diesel, it had a defective control board (not DCC) that went up in smoke. After repeated emails, phone calls and snail mail letters over the period of eight months Athearn had yet to send me a new board. It’s now been three years and I’ve still not seen the board. I have nothing against Athearn in general, just their Genesis locos, which I will never buy again. I still buy their Blue Box kit locos every chance I get. They make up over half my fleet. The remainder is made up of Proto 2000, Atlas, Kato, Bachmann and Mehano.
I agree with your question about Athearn. Athearn will bring the SD70Ace to market and it will be available to everyone. They have offered to our market some of the best detailed models that are made today, but made some mistakes with the electronics. I tend to purchase the non sound units and install what I want.
I have several of the Challengers, several of the Big Boys and I replaced the sound units and the DCC drive. The models are very good and replacing the DCC is not a big deal.
I believe Athearn getting the tooling is a good thing, and might be the reason all of the schedules are delayed. It might be the first SD70Ace to market.
CAZEPHYR<
Jeff,To each their own but,after having 30 P2K Geeps(a mix of GP7/9/30s) with crack gears it will be a cold day in the lower inferno regions before I buy another especially with Walther’s new return policy.
My two Spartan cab NS SD70s was almost passed over because of the reported warp trucks…I took chance and mine did not have warp trucks and both runs smoothly.
I guess I am confused…I see these reported problems-usually from the same folk-but yet I see Genesis locomotives run for hours and I seen Bachmann locomotives run for hours at the Bucyrus club during our open houses…
Kinda makes me scratch my head and wonder what the hey is going on…
Idk why people are bashing athearn some freaking much, I happy to hear that the tooling from T55 is in athearns hands
I’ve found that the best fix for those cracked gears is to substitute Athearn gears. Almost all my P2K locos have at least one Athearn gear in them.
Drat, none of the Foobie Black Widow/Milw/NP of T55.
At risk fo creating a DCS flamewar, I;m wondering whether to get the Genisis Heritage that’s cheaper, or the MTH with a decoder I can’t use half of but sounds better?
