Frisco Athearn SD40-2 Review

Ethan:

Find some of those little paint sticks that are plastic with a tiny bit of fabric on the end of go to Hobby Lobby or Micheal's with a 40% coupon out of the Sunday paper or off of the Internet and get a good quality artist's #000 or #0000 brush and maybe a magnifier of some sort and you are good to go on the handrails.

HWB's weathering job to me considerably helps the appearance of the locomotive except in one area, that being the size of the lettering being to bold as Rick McClellan has pointed out. To me it makes it even look worse (maybe more noticeable or stand out more is a better term)!

I will work on that situation.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

OOOps! Forgot to answer the U25b question. The U25b's never had gyra-lights. As to the question about the roof beacon, I will try and find out. The sound ones will come with Tsunami's so if they don't it will be a simple fix.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

I use a small brush and a steady hand. I first put on a coat of primer and let that dry then do the white.

As for Toy Train Heaven they are in Pennsylvania. Best prices around, too
www.toytrainheaven.com

Toy Train Heaven & All Hobby Heaven
PO Box 332
201 Streibeigh Lane
Montoursville, PA 17754
Orders: (800) 326-9332
Questions: (570) 368-5045
Fax: (570) 368-5046

EMAIL: tth@toytrainheaven.com
Normal Business Hours: ​

Monday - Friday 9 AM til 5:30 PM EasternSaturday9 AM til ? Eastern

 

That;s an interesting site. I only found one frisco sd40-2 and it was #953 for $68. On modeltrainstuff.com they have all 3 #'s for $70 ea. http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/category_s/1555.htm
they're the second row down.

 

Well, I broke down and bought one. I found one for $71 with free shipping. I was really hoping it had the new motor in it like the SW1500 and the Genesis line. The answer to that is no it does not. It is the same old Athearn Blue box motor and drive. That to me is a huge disappointment. I will be decodering it and will let everyone know how it runs after that.
Bob

 

Bob,

If you have installed a decoder, how did the unit run? What decoder did you use?


All Fellow Frisco Modelers,

I confess, I buught one. Test ran it last night on DC and it seemed fairly smooth and quiet for the normal Athearn moter. I wonder if a Back EMF decoder will do the trick. Waiting to hear from Wintle.

Mine did not have a plow pilot, foot boards, snow plow or anything else to mount on the pilot. Guess I will have to get in touch with Athearn. Also noted that it did not have lift rings but it did have the dimples for installation.

Ship IT on the Frisco!

Rick

 

Rick:
Yes I have a decoder installed in mine and used a TCS DP5X. That decoder is no longer available and does not have BEMF. The unit has plugs for two different style decoders so getting one with BEMF will be no problem. I hooked up the flashing becon and installed a light in the nose for the Gyralite.
The unit runs much better than I expected it would being it is an older style of motor. My loco did not have a plow either. I am going to be bringing the unit to the Frisco Festival to sale as I just really don't see me using it on my layout. 6 axle locomotives just don't like some of my curves and besides my layout will be mostly switching and transfer runs.

El Bob Oh

PS: Check your PM

 

Will that thing run on 18R? I think that's what's going to be on my layout. And what do you mean by 2 plugs? A 8 pin and 9 pin?

 

El Bob O,

So you are saying it runs nice even without BEMF? That would be a bonus.

Thanks.

Rick

 

It doesn't have the old-old Athearn drive but it does have the new improved one. It's the same drive that goes in all their RTR models except Genesis models. I knew what to expect so I wasn't disapointed. I have ran mine for more than two hours non stop on the club layout and they did quiet down and smoothed out.
However I was a little ticked it came with no footboards or plow of any type. Being an avid "unfinished" modeler I had several to paint and apply.

 

I can't speak for what is in the loco that you have but the one I have is the same as all of the Athearn locomotives I have purchased over the past 10 years or so. It is definately not the same as the drive that is in the MP15AC Genesis locomotive that I just purchased or the SW1500 RTR. Yes it has an upgraded electrical pickup and a circuit board for the light but the motor and drive is the same old athearn junkie motor. It doesn't even come close to running as smooth as their newer motor or that of Atlas and Kato. I can take pictures of the two if you would like.
Eathan, no I don't think it would like your 18" radius curves too well.

Rick yes it runs fine without BEMF. It is my opinion that BEMF only has real value when running horribly mismatched locos together or on locomotives that run on layouts with grades. I only have a couple of locos that have BEMF decoders in them and I haven't had the need to use it as of yet.
Bob
Bob WIntle

 

Besides the lack of certain parts mentioned in previous posts, I have been informed that these locomotives don't have lift rings, just dimples where they should go. This made me aware of a post made by Athearn about a year ago concerning a change in direction in manufaturing RTR models.
Basically at the time they announced they were doing away with Genesis rolling stock and producing all of them under the RTR line. The cars would be the same quality, but certain parts would be left off to be installed by the consumer if they so desired. Coupler lift bars is one such item that comes to mind.
It looks like this same direction has been pursued with this locomotive and I assume others in the RTR line. This is an attempt, and I for one feel a good one, to keep these locomotives and cars within the affordability range of most modelers. This locomotive is readily available on the Internet for $70.00 (30% off MSRP) and by adding a TCS decoder, two light bulbs for the roof beacon and nose gyra-light, and a few detail parts, the average modeler has a great looking locomotive for under $125.00.
Also, I for one would much rather add a few lift rings than try to cut in a nose gyra-light!

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

The locomotive comes with the light bulb already in the rotary beacon, at least mine did. It is no problem to get the lense out of the Gyralite to drill a hole and add a bulb there. Just don't expect to find the lense once it flies off into never never land. (like mine did)
El Bob Oh

 

Didn't know it had the bulb in the beacon. SO why didn't they wire it up?

 

Actually it was wired up. It just didn't work on mine. I do not know why. I never could figure out which function was supposed to turn it on. I moved it to one of the tabs on the decoder that I installed.
It looks as if there will be a clinic on adding the lights to our Frisco locomotives. I am not sure just how much time we can spend on programming, but we will see.
bob

 

Dr. Bob o,

I need a clinic to help me understand why the headlight and rotary beacon light are not working on my SD40-2. I put a TCS T1 in and it seems to work fine except no lights on the front. Did I burn out a 1.5v bulb on my 12.6v Digitrax system?

Signed,

Dark on the Northern Division

 

After knocking a few cobb webs out of the old gray matter, I seem to think I made a mistake in the earlier post. The rotary beacon came on on mine when the forward headlight was on.
Rick to answer your question fully I would need to see how you wired them up. I left my headlights wired just as Athearn had them from the factory. If you changed that then you would have needed to use a 680 or 750 ohm resistor as yes they are 1.5 volt bulbs. Athearns board has the resistor for them. I used a 5 function TCS decoder for mine and wired the Rotary beacon and gyra light to outputs on it with resistors. I left the headlights on their factory wired locations.
El Cobby matter Bob Oh

 

Dr. Electron,

I simply plugged in the TCS T1 decoder to the harness in the Athearn locomotive and did no rewiring of any kind. I have a feeling that the lamps in the engine were 1.5v and the T1 decoder is rated for a 12v bulb. That makes for a very short lamp life.

Do you know how I could find out the lamp voltage ratings for TCS decoders? I bet others would like to know this too.

Rick

 

Bob:

Does this loco have a light board that could be replaced with an A4X or an A6X which would then solve the resistor issue as they have them built in?

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

Yes, it has a board that could be replaced by the A4 or A6. It would require a little more soldering. In fact replacing that board would be my first choice.
Bob