What is you opinion of the Athearn Genesis line? Any major problems? Please comment as well.
I’ve got two of the steamers, the Rio Grande 4-6-6-4 and the Light Mikado. They’re good locos, but the Mike isn’t much of a puller (I use it pretty much for helper service or yard work). The Challenger is a real beauty, though–good pulling power, smooth running and the sound is not bad at all. Only thing is that on DC the hand-held radio control is a little tricky, and I don’t seem to be able to use the loco with JUST the power-pack. You set the power pack, then you either use the radio control thingy, or the loco just sits there and simmers. Other than that, they’re pretty good locos.
Tom
I can’t comment on anything except the SD70MACs. I had a friend pick up a BNSF unit for me while he was away on business and it’s lousy. Broken parts, sloppy assembly and it runs very rough. Then, a few weeks leter, I picked up a CSX unit that’s just great. The dealer told me that it depends on where they’re assembled. He told me that, in general, the units made in China are fine but the ones assembled in the US are very inconsistent in their quality.
Regardless of where they’re assembled, I belive that as “Close to Real as it Gets” should include the installation of windshield wipers and air hoses.
I have three SD70MACs. Detail cant be beat unless you go brass. Pretty good pullers, a little on the light side but not bad at all. If you drill out the middle wheel bearing on all the trucks nothing can derail them.
I am glad you offered the comment on the trucks, as the SD70M’s have this problem also.
The Genesis line in general is good, but Athearn does not offer any detail on the MU lines or cutbars for some reason.
Good concept; Nice detail; Gorgeous paint. - BUT…
Indifferent Q.C. (Some run well, some don’t).
F- 7’s: 2 motor’s went bad (3 amps) - replaced.
SD 75’s - warped trucks - derails on turnout’s.
Their RTR have simlar QC problems.
“Say something good” department:
My CF-7’s are flawless. (What went wrong?)
My HO Scale (Athearn)BNSF SD75M? No Problem at all. As for the (Athearn)BNSF SD70MAC? I just sent it back to First hobby.com because the car body came loose from the frame of the Locomotive…Oh boy was I very mad too. Hopefully the’ll exchange it for an SD75M. BNSFrailfan.
Don, I have a question about the warped trucks. Are they repairable or did you mean you replaced them. Did Athearn replace them or did you buy the new ones? I talked to Athearn about the early F unit trucks binding up and they wanted me to send them back to them for repair. I ended up installing Kato wheel sets to fix the problem, not sending them back to the same poor quality control people that made the units.
It is fixable. Like I was saying drill out the center bearing. Don’t know about the B trucks though…
I personally absolutely love Athearn genesis. I have about 9 SD70Ms and They are my favorite engines. They look great. I do not care so much about the smallest detail stuff. Adding Mus is easy and no bi deal and adding the wipers is do-able. I do not like to the windshield wipers all that much though. Overall I Rank the Genesis the #1 engine for me and close behind that is #2 Kato engines. To be honest if Kato made SD70Ms I would purchase many of those too.
Joe, I also have a derailment problems. Because english isn’t my native language, can you describe in more plain trems what you mean by “drill out the middle wheel bearing”
Thanks !
Smart move
Mine are 3 units - 2 SD-75 1 SD-70. When run as a trio on the club’s #10’s all 3 kept derailing. At home (on #6’s) problem seemed to point to the SD-70 unit… Athearn said to “Set on a mirror” and look for warpage" Couldn’t see a problem - and YES- they are in guage. (NO problems with KATO SD -45’s and 70MAC’s - all 6 wheeled trucks).
When you "drill out the center bearing) are you ‘enlarging’ the journal from the inside, or drilling clear through leaving a hole?
Athearn has suggested sending back,. I think all their serviice department will do is swap truck’s, and ship it back - working or not… I want correct the problem. All 3 are just sitting in their boxes.
More trouble than they are worth.
Lots of little problems with my SD70M - from derailments, to headlight burnout after 2 laps of the layout. Other problems with my “Mike” - can’t pull, derails.
I will avoid Genesis in the future and go with P2K, Kato and Atlas for TRUE qualilty locomotives.
My only experience with the Genesis line is with the Light Mike. This was the first steamer I had
ever purchased. I was disappointed to say the least. The pulling power was just not there. And
the pickups were also poorly thought out. It stalls on every unpowered frog at slow speed. Pickups
on the tender axles and more weight on the drivers would improve this locomotive. And I bought it
when it when it first came out… so, of course I paid full price.
Try and make sense of this… After all of that, I went and installed Soundtraxx sound in this loco! Now
I have a poor pulling, stalling loco that sounds great. Good luck, Dave
I have a E7A&B unit. Both powered. They run smooth and quiet. They are really good and reliable. I live fairly close to the Athearn plant and I was haviong a problem with one of my blue box E3’s. I took it in and ended up getting a tour of the plant. The lady that fixed my loco has worked there 23 years. If anyone has a problem call them up and if they say send it in, do so. They know how to fix things.
Bill
2Torge1
Are you intimating these are Athearn’s?
I have a mike and a pacific,both with soundtraxx installed.They seem to run fine.no trouble with the pick-ups or stalling on crossovers(i have live frog turnouts)As for pulling power,I haven’t really tested them with more than 8 or 10 cars.I’m a little worried about the reports of driver gears(?) cracking…I’ts like waiting for that second “gotcha”.
Well,it gives me something to look foward to.
Can beat them great details and paint jobs. The lack of pilot details is fine with me DW and DA make great parts for that and is not hard to add them. Lights are not that hard to replace and the trucks are not that hard to fix if your not afraid to take it apart.
JPM335 Myself and I am sure others are still waiting to here on the details about drilling out the middle wheel bearing for the cure of derailments. Please respond to this and give us the details we can understand to do this if need to. Thanks
sorry I hadnt logged on in awhile:
Anyway here is how it goes…after you take the shell off follow these steps
- Disconnect the wires to the truck from the light board
- pop off the worm cover and the truck should pretty much fall out. if the wires get stuck in the tape just gently pull them out
- Take the bottom cover off of the truck. THIS IS IMPORTANT. if you have never taken the trucks off the engine before keep in mind it IS NOT like a normal athearn. Looking down on the truck with it sitting on the table wheels down you should see 4 very small square shaped clips. Use a small pocket knife blade to gently pry them free. I find a screwdriver cant get under them, thats why I use a pocket knife, so dont get the idea you have to cut them.
- you can now pull the bottom cover off of the truck. Only after this is off will the sideframes pull loose so dont try and get them off before the bottom cover.
- The sideframes should pull out easily. lay the sideframes detail-down on the table and select a drill bit slightly larger than the “hole” (cant think of a better word) that the center axle goes into.
- And this is the tricky part, drill slowly throught the brass pickup, you have to drill far enough to give you the movement needed in the axle but dont drill through the sideframe! The engine would still run if you did but it sure wouldnt look good.
- Put the axle in one of the end “holes” and see how much it moves up and down. Then try it in the middle “hole” you just drilled larger. The middle one should allow more movement of the axle.
- reassemble the truck. sideframes on first, then snap the bottom cover on. Be sure to snap it on tightly.
- Run the engine! see if it still derails. If it does drill the “hole” one size bigger until you get a good-running engine.
Just a few tips: Do one truck at a time because the driveshafts are not equal length and can easily be confused. and dont start with a big bit. Start only a l