Athearn CF7

Does anyone have any experience with the Athearn CF7?

I'm thinking of acquiring a few over the next six months or so.

Any feedback on these units would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

They're a step forward for Athearn, with constant lighting, improved body detail, and nickel silver wheels. I would rank them somewhere between P2K and Atlas.

The Athearn CF7 is a great model for what it is. It does need some weight to pull more than a dozen cars.

kevinknobl wrote:Does anyone have any experience with the Athearn CF7?

I'm thinking of acquiring a few over the next six months or so.

Any feedback on these units would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

Took delivery of the an Athearn CF7 today in the Florida Midland scheme.

I'm pretty impressed with it for an Athearn model.

It is; however, missing the side handrails for the walkway along the long hood. End rails and others are in. I'm missing the set of handrails for the long hood on both sides.

Is there anywhere that I can obtain an extra set?

Thanks,
Kevin

I would return it to the dealer, assuming that's where you got it, and get one with no defects.

Spare and replacement parts are always available from Athearn. However, I would return your model to the store and exchange it as suggested above.

-otto-

I agree with John and Otto, there's no reason you should have received a product from Athearn short on so many parts. Return it for a replacement.

If you'd like to pick up extra replacement parts, you can go through Athearn's web site or through Horizon's web site. I've had success with both, but I prefer Horizon because their site shows whether an item is in-stock or not.

From what I understand, the CF7 is similar to the GP60M Railpower rehash. I can report that my GP60M is a decent runner, but not a great one. It's a little faster than anything else I have, but it is quieter than the average Athearn diesel. The paint and lettering are excellent on all the newer Athearn RTR diesels I've seen.

These new Athearn RTR diesels are good, very good in fact, but they're not as good as the prices indicate they should be. Many of them are lightweight, average runners. They're not Atlas or Kato diesels, for sure, but they're still pretty good. And when they're the only game in town for a particular prototype, such as the CF7, they may be a Hobson's choice but it's one you can live with.

agree with John and Otto, there's no reason you should have received a product from Athearn short on so many parts. Return it for a replacement.

I actually got it on auction at EBay at a really good price. I got it and an IHC Mogul (which I really didn't care about either way) for $50.00. I have already placed the 2-6-0 back on the auction block. If I get $20 for it, I'll have stolen the CF7 for about $30.

If you'd like to pick up extra replacement parts, you can go through Athearn's web site or through Horizon's web site. I've had success with both, but I prefer Horizon because their site shows whether an item is in-stock or not.

Thanks for the advice. I'll check it out.

From what I understand, the CF7 is similar to the GP60M Railpower rehash. I can report that my GP60M is a decent runner, but not a great one. It's a little faster than anything else I have, but it is quieter than the average Athearn diesel. The paint and lettering are excellent on all the newer Athearn RTR diesels I've seen.

These new Athearn RTR diesels are good, very good in fact, but they're not as good as the prices indicate they should be. Many of them are lightweight, average runners. They're not Atlas or Kato diesels, for sure, but they're still pretty good. And when they're the only game in town for a particular prototype, such as the CF7, they may be a Hobson's choice but it's one you can live with.

Agreed - you've hit the nail on the head. It's by far a nicer runner than most other older Athearn products. It's not as good as its asking price would seem to indicate, which is why when the chance came up to get one cheap, I took advantage of it.

Thanks,
Kevin

Especially for a model that's currently available, and available at discounters for $10 or so off list, it seems like you're not saving all that much by getting "bargains" off eBay, once you factor in postage and the hassle of fixing the stuff that's broken. So you pay $30 for an incomplete loco. Then $7-8 for the shipping. Then what you pay Athearn for new handrails, plus shipping ($15-20?) Don't forget your gas and time to go back and forth to the post office with the various swap items. So the way I see it, your bargain CF7 is running in the $50-60 range, when you could have gotten a new unit with a warranty for $70 or so.

I don't mean to second-guess doing things this way, but I don't see that you're actually saving all that much.

Especially for a model that's currently available, and available at discounters for $10 or so off list, it seems like you're not saving all that much by getting "bargains" off eBay, once you factor in postage and the hassle of fixing the stuff that's broken. So you pay $30 for an incomplete loco. Then $7-8 for the shipping. Then what you pay Athearn for new handrails, plus shipping ($15-20?) Don't forget your gas and time to go back and forth to the post office with the various swap items. So the way I see it, your bargain CF7 is running in the $50-60 range, when you could have gotten a new unit with a warranty for $70 or so.

I see your point, but that $50 price tag included the shipping costs.

Two engines for $50 is not a bad deal. If I still sell the 2-6-0 for $25, that would defer the cost of the CF7 to $25. Pay $15 for handrails and S&H, that puts it at $40.

Still cheaper than what they sell for (i've never seen one priced below $59 myself). Plus I have a hard time parting with $70 over an Athearn locomotive. Not that the CF7 is a bad locomotive. It's nice to see someone making a RTR model of it. But $70 seems like a lot for an Athearn product.

Kevin

But you still say you've got to take the 2-6-0 back to the post office. Gas is $2 a gallon, and I would prefer not to stand in line. I was actually thinking of a discount CF7 in the $70 range, but I'll accept your price of $59. It's worth $10-20 to me not to have to hassle the missing handrails and to be able to use the time for modeling. So I still think it's false economy not to go through a dealer, where you get a warranty and the ability to raise the dickens with the manufacturer if you need to.

Even without going through a dealer, Athearn tends to honor any claims of lost or defective parts. I bought a case of SD75Ms off ebay for super cheap. The entire case was from the first (defective trucks) run and each also had too-short handrails. I never had a problem with the trucks on the half that I kept (I painted and sold the rest), but the handrails always bugged me. When I aksed Athearn if they had received any complaints about this, they asked for my address. In five days I had new handrails at no cost to me.

It sounds to me like the person who originally bought this locomotive probably damaged or removed the handrails from it then sold it as is. Athearn's quality control is usually pretty high, at least when it comes to parts placed on the RTR models, so I doubt this was a flub in China. Athearn may replace the handrails free of charge if you ask, even though I doubt this was their fault. However, parts may not be in stock. Horizon doesn't even show CF7 handrails on their site yet (but they have my GP60B handrails now!) and these models are relatively new, so any handrails produced so far are likely for the production of models only and are not for filling replacement parts stock.

In the event you should have to purchase the handrails to replace them, the typical charge is $6.98 per set and shipping is usually cheap since they come in an envelope via USPS. I bought several sets a few weeks ago to upgrade my older Athearn SD40-2s and GP38-2s.

Anyway, good luck!

jwb1323 wrote:But you still say you've got to take the 2-6-0 back to the post office. Gas is $2 a gallon, and I would prefer not to stand in line. I was actually thinking of a discount CF7 in the $70 range, but I'll accept your price of $59. It's worth $10-20 to me not to have to hassle the missing handrails and to be able to use the time for modeling. So I still think it's false economy not to go through a dealer, where you get a warranty and the ability to raise the dickens with the manufacturer if you need to.

To me, this was a good deal.

Frankly, I don't really need to justify myself on this one. You may not agree with the conclusion I reached, and you're free to hold the opinion that you do. I'm not going to argue with you though.

I don't think you can argue that if I get $25 back for the steamer, I've essentially paid $25 for that CF7. Add to it $15 and the total rings in at $40.

Hmmm. $40 vs. $70. I'd have to go with the $40 and take my chances with the locomotive. Since I don't have any modeling projects that I'm currently working on, if I have to stand in line a little bit at the post office, that's OK by me.

Kevin