Athearn Bay Windows have arrived

Upon quick inspection, they look more natural than the MT caboose and they have a ton more detail. The end rails are molded and don't suffer from the flat photo etch look, underbody detail is great. The only detractor is the couplers stick out too far and there is no excuse for it. There appears to be room in the coupler box that they could have been moved back 1/32-1/16" and still be fine.

We didn't have any MT SP's left (there is another thread about that) so I picked a pair that matched.







Sorry about the blurry endrail shot, the camera focused on the bays and I didn't catch it till I put them away and started editing.
Probably the neatest thing about the Athearn caboose is the visible seat in the bay. It would look better with somebody in it.

 

Very nice! I want the SP version!

 

My LHS just sent me an email today telling me that mine are in. I reserved two SP cabooses and an undecorated.

 

Now if they'd just do some in Erie or E-L....

 

Even better with metal wheel sets

I always knew they would look better than the MT version.:thumbs_up:
But it would look better with metal wheel sets, the Athearn wheels are :thumbs_down:

 

Some FVM wheels will help, probably #3301.

I hope for some "NYC-lookalike" in the future.

 

Sweet looking caboose..

What I notice the most was the difference in the size of the coupler and how much better it looks and if it operates as good as it looks then Athearn has won a convert..

 

I noticed this too, it looks like a winner!

 

Are they both the same prototype? The thing that jumps out at me is the size difference between the two cars. Other than that it looks like MTL has been outdone again. The MTL's bare metal underframe and steps are a bit slack in this day and age. Those McHenry couplers might stick out further but they look a bit smaller to me and more realistic than the MTL's, admittedly they don't have that nice shiny brass uncoupling pin though.

 

Did you notice the ride height too? :tb-ooh:

:tb-confused::tb-wacky::tb-tongue:

 

Perhaps the excuse for the coupler is to allow it to run on small radii. There is a recent post somewhere here that talked about manufactures making their models compatible to run on small layouts. Many people choose N scale because of the lack of space to run.

The coupler can always be replaced with another if you don't like it.

 

Very nice models there. I do like the Athearn body better than the MT. But the grabs and rails on the MT are better and look more to scale than the Athearn. Also like the brake wheel area better on the MT. Overall, I would take either, probably the cheaper of the two in truth.

 

I agree on the ride height also...typical MT.
But the end is where the Athearn stands out. Painted end rails and step ends. Silver painted window frames. Road number on the ends. And those McHenry couplers... the more I see them, the more I wanna get them.

Mike

 

Scooooooooorrrrre!!!!

Just picked up 3 SP at Busy Bee in San Bernardino this morning. All with different road numbers and they have 3 left. Get there quick.
Very nice. They put my Concor and other cabeese to shame. Now I have to replace all of them.

 

Thanks for the side by side comparison. I must agree with the majority here as well; Athearn gets my vote as well. Been a MT fan for years now but Athearn takes the Nod on this and actually all of there new rollingstock is pretty sharp items.
As I stated in an earlier post detail is SPot On, and Body Mounted McHenry Couplers a sure winner in my book. Did I also mention cheaper:tb-wink:

 

Those end views are the first time I have ever been impressed with the thiness of steps! Look how wide the MT ones are compared to Athearn.

 

oh wow John, those SP's look excellent! Thanks for posting up some pics of them :thumbs_up: I guess I better go search for them online and pick up a few.

Mike

 

I just picked up all 3 numbers and the micro-trains one also.Athearn blows MTs away in detail, only complaint is the lettering and the wheels. The lettering is not as crisp but a much better color in my opinion. Not to mention the road number above the door. The wheels wobble a little but that ok I will swap those out for metal wheels any way. So I have to give athearn a big 2 thumbs up on these jems. I'll try to post side shots later of the Espees.

 

Something else you don't get from MTL, if you model an era that used cabooses you don't want just one road number, you need a caboose for every train you run. For example, the IM ATSF caboose, when it eventually turns up, will have three paint schemes and eight road numbers.