New Athearn Ready-to-Roll Locomotives

Has anybody seen these running?

I am rather impressed by their Genesis locomotives...they seem to run and look just about as good as their Atlas, Kato, and Proto2000 competitors. Their new Ready-to-Roll shells look amazing, but it seems like they have the same old drive system. I've been told that it has been re-tooled, but after deciding years ago that I wouldn't buy Athearn blue box locos anymore (In favor of Atlas, Kato, and Proto 2000), I'm hesistant to buy one of these for $60-$70.

Do they run any better than the old blue box stuff?

I have a NYC F7 A-B set and the only thing difference is that they are rtr but they do have a superb paint job on them. I should have checked them out more closely before I bought them as they still have the steam generator stacks on them now I will have to carefully remove them so as not to ruin the paint job, if I would have known this I would have saved the money and bought blue boxes and painted them myself after removing the unwanted details. No, they run the same as blue boxes. All in all it got me a set of lightening stripe F's on the road quicker!

It depends on what Athearn RTR you get.The GP38-2,SD40-2 and F7 have the same drive with hexed shafts and flywheels.The SD50,CF7,AC4400 and GP60M have the new DCC plug,Genesis lighting and are very quiet.The SD50 I have is the best running Athearn I have ever had and has prototype specific details.It rivals the Genesis SD70.I would try one and see what you think depending on what model you want.Dan

I have one of the Ready to Roll SD40-2's, it runs great. Personally, I can't see a bit of difference in performance between the "hex drive" and the old driveline.

Personally, I cannot understand what all of the griping about the "Blue Box" drive is all about. Mine run just fine and comprise about 2/3 of my rather large locomotive fleet. They are simple, rugged (Read the recent posts about the Kato AC4400), reliable, easy to maintain (Ever try to lube the worm gears on a P2K?) and (above all) affordable.

Most older and some newer Athearn engines, unlike Kato, Atlas; etc, require a break-in period before smooth operation is noticed. The more you run them the better and, while some lack the fine detailing of newer designs, a long lasting serviceable fleet of motive power can be had for reasonable cost. I've had some of mine for 30 yrs + and all are still going strong.

I recently purchased an Athearn Genesis Maine Central F3A at my LHS, I put it on the tracks, cranked up the throttle and.... nothing, crank it up to 50% and it starts to crawl, full power and it sounds like it had square wheels. Returned this unit for replacement, and Athearn wanted ME to repair thier defective unit.....turns out it was dropped on it's axles ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE!!! Finally they sent a replacement unit that runs really good, but it SURE IS LOUD!!!!!!!!!