I just recived an email a couple minutes ago from Athearn announcing that they are making some major upgrades on the genesis line, including a new model. They will be unvailling the details Saturday or Sunday. I will post them here when they are revealled. Contrstructive criticism: I think Athearn needs to work on getting rid of the blue box motor out of their RTR models and putting in a better motor like what the genesis line uses. Ethan
Ethan and All: The email that I received from Athearn said they will unvail a new Genesis model at the Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, MA on Saturday morning. Below is the email that I received. Did you receive something different? On the motor issue, I thought there has been general agreement that the RTR line generally runs better than the BB line. I am comparing the new RTR SD45's to the BB GP35's for instance. Reviews of the new RTR SW1500 say their running characteristics have improved. "This Saturday, Athearn will announce an all-new Genesis® model at the Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, MA. If you plan to attend the show, we invite you to join us at 10:00am EST in the Better Living Center – Section 127 for the unveiling. If you can’t make the show, check out the Athearn® Facebook® page (no need to join Facebook to view) Saturday morning for details including an in-depth video. Additional information including detailed product pictures along with the regularly scheduled January announcements will be available this Sunday at Athearn.com. We’ll also be sending a special AthearnNews"
Bob, yes the RTR's do have some improvement over the BB kits, but they still use the same noisy motor. The reason the SW1500 (and SW1000) is different it because they did put a genesis motor in it. What I meant is installing them through out the RTR line. If you look at the review in the February issue of MRR mag it shows what's under the shell and it shows a new newer motor. Ethan
I must admit I do not understand why everyone thinks the Athearn BB and RTR motors are so bad? What noise? I own well over 150 BB and RTR Athearn engines, all with original motors. When properly, cleaned, lubricated, washers added to eliminate excessive motor slop or run out, they run very well at about .2 amp draw with obsolutely no noise from the motor. Show me a damn can motor that will do any better. Most of my locomotives have DCC decoders in them and the original Athearn motors cause no problems such as excessive motor current draw.
Richard - Agree. I think the issue might be that the Athearn BB most often do need to be tuned up as you describe. I also have several BB motors in service, and for me they run better than OK. Not can motor smooth, but still OK. I think another issue is that they are not consistent - some need much more TLC than others. My Athearn GP35 SLSF 717 is a truck, while 725 runs smoothly. I don't use them much, so have not opened them up to given them some TLC. The original Athearn BB motors, from the "wide-body" era ending 20-25 years ago, do require a much higher current draw than anything since. Ken
I have had the bodies off of my RTR SD45 and GP35 and their motors are not exactly the same as the Blue Box motors, or at least not the same as the BB models that were produced in the 90's. The most noticeable difference that I can see are that the flywheels are much larger on the BB kits when compared to the RTR models produced within the last five or six years. The BB's are noisier than the RTR's and this seems (at least to me) to be due to drivetrain not being as solidly connected and well balanced. Maybe the flywheels were a little too large on the Blue Boxes. The only noise issues that I have had with the RTR's have been with the gears and not the motors themselves. I have two Blue Box Frisco SD40-2's, circa 1996, and both of them are excellent pullers. Pat Moreland, Union Mo.
Just a note for what it's worth. I have several Athearn BB locos and have found that they all run much smoother if you get rid of the metal contact strip that is factory installed and wire the motor and trucks direct with size 22 wire. Also, I use Permalube oil to oil the bearings on the motor and Garcia Silicone Reel Grease (available at fishing stores) to grease the gears. Another trick to keep the motors running quiet is to use a product called "VooDoo" which is a contact and braid cleaner that is used to clean slot car motors. The stuff is made by Slick and is sold online or in hobby shops that carry 1/32 or 1/24 scale slot cars. After cleaning, re-wiring, lubing, and a good breaking in period I have had very few problems with the BB motors. One last thing, make sure the silicone motor mounts are seated securely or the motor will shake and sound like it is falling apart. George
I go one step furthur, I replace the motor mounts with the new Athearn motor mounts that screw into the chassis.
A couple of items: First, I have had no real problems with the newer blue-box motors- the noise has not been an annoyance. IIRC, Tom Holley was "truing-up" the flywheels in his blue-box Athearns- another alternative would be to get aftermarket flywheels. Second, Athearn has announced that the GP38-2 will join the Genesis line. A YouTube video was put out showing models detailed, painted & lettered for CN, MP, SP and Southern. They don't look bad, but to be honest I'm not in the market for any more Frisco '38-2s right now. However, with the variations in the diesels (paper air filters, spark arrestors, radiator air intakes), one wonders what Athearn would come out with if & when they offer a Frisco locomotive.
The "Diesel List" is alive with chatter about the new Athearn Genesis GP38-2 unveiled today. Most comments are very positive - the SR model they showed looked pretty good. The first release will be in November, 2012 (so they say), and will be multiple numbered units for SP, MP, SR and CN. As with the other Genesis units we have seen lately, they will have details specific to each railroad modeled. As SLSF had more GP38/38-2's than any road but Conrail, and given that recent Athearn Frisco units have sold well (GP15-1 Genesis, SD45, GP35), you would think that Frisco specific 38-2's will be coming along in the next release or two. They also "sort of" promised a while back that the new, revamped SW1500 would see Frisco colors as well. And, there is the new (fixed) Athearn Genesis GP7/GP9 model that has just been re-released. Dare we hope for a few SLSF b/y units from Athearn Genesis some day as well? Ken
I just watched the Athearn video. The new Genesis GP38-2's look great at first blush - they even have sanding lines. The MP version will include the long hood bell and comes with extra parts allowing the modeler to make it into a "Titanic" unit if desired. The SR is a high short hood, while the CN is a Canadian wide cab unit. The SP unit has all the SP specific details, lighting package, etc. They promise lots of specific road details. Ken
Sorry guys, I dropped the ball on getting this stuff posted. It's interesting in there choice to include a MP unit in the first run, they just released a MP GP38-2 in the RTR line. I would like to see them make a Frisco one in the future so that we would finally have one on the market that had the Frisco specific details already installed. Ethan
I'm encouraged to see Athearn taking the lead in offering railroad specific options on their RTR models. Hopefully, Atlas, Walthers P2K, Bowser/Stewart and the others will follow. One of the best things about this in my view is Athearn's addition of the nose gyralight on the units that had them. Though I've successfully added a gyralight to two units (using the Utah Pacific detail part), I find it to be a difficult task to do it neatly. I'd much rather have Athearn do this for me! The nose gyralight certainly is distinctive, and says "late second generation" Frisco loud and clear. Athearn's selection of the four different roads (SP, SR, MP, CN) to be in their first Genesis GP38-2 release is interesting. They wanted to show-off the railroad specific details; each of these four are quite different. The MoP GP38-2 was as-delivered a pretty plain 38-2, it did not even have d/b. But, Athearn said an extra parts bag will be included with the unit, such that the modeler can easily change the stock MP GP38-2 into one of their "Titanic" GP38-2 versions if desired. Kinda neat if you ask me - I don't have any MP power right now, but a "Titanic" might be in my future! Ken
Ken, I forgot to mention in my last post, Frisco did not have the second most number of GP38's. I remembered something and doubled checked it and the MoPac had 232 including the few regular GP38's. This is kind of proportional though. The Frisco had 146 total (GP38AC's and GP38-2's) with about 5000 miles of track. Mopac had 232 with about 11,000 miles of track. I may do a little more digging to see who had the most. Ethan EDIT It's possible I may have some info wrong, so correct me if I am. according to wikipedia (it may not be 100% accurate but it's a quick way to view a roster) the Missouri pacific had 274, but according to the roster on the mopac historical website they only had 232. Also according to wikipedia CR had 119 GP38-2's (that doesn't include other GP38 models) PC had 223 GP38-2's. But still the Frisco had several GP38-2's
Ethan is correct. Back in the FMIG days in the 1970's we frequently said that the Frisco was #2 in the number of GP38/GP38-2 units they operated. Conrail had the most. But the MoPac bought quite a few GP38-2's late in the game - 1980 I believe, and passed by the Frisco in the number they operated. I had forgotten that. The MoP had only a few GP38's, most of their '38 fleet was the later GP38-2 model. Jim - In an attempt to improve the efficiency of the 645 in their GP38-2's, the MoP replaced the two stack EMD exhaust manifold with a home built four exhaust stack manifold on several units. Hence, the top of the long hood had four short exhaust stacks sticking up - a "four stacker", just like the immortal Titanic. Thus the nickname. I don't think they really made much difference, but they looked neat! The Genesis MP GP38-2 will come with the parts to make a four-stacker if desired. Ken
I'm glad that Jim beat me to the punch asking about that - I was just about to pm you a message of the same. I had not heard that either - cute.
I decided to upload a video of the noise I am referring to that has been rather annoying with the RTR line of motors. Any ideas? Just lubed a couple op sessions ago with Nano-oil (expensive synthetic oil). Then it started this today. Tom Holley
Tom - On first blush, and after a couple of adult beverages (you know what!), it sounds like gear and/or drive train noise to me. Hard to see how that noise is coming from the motor. I'd completely rebuild the drive - take it all apart, run the motor w/o the drive train but under some load (like your thumb and index finger) to see what noise it makes, then rebuild the drive train from the bottom up making sure everything is aligned, tight, and well lubed. Did you by chance re-gear it with Ernst gears? They are straight spur gears, just plain noisy and there is little you can do about it. My SW7 SLSF 302 is Ernst re-geared. It will crawl along with the best of them, but makes noise such that it almost sounds like it has sound! That's why I have not re-motored it yet - what's the use! As a matter of fact, right now it is a dummy - even though it in real life did not have m/u capability. But it's quiet! Ken
