Well, I'm about to pick up an Athearn F59PHI - West Coast Express (found here in Vancouver, BC). And I read the review in the April 2003 MR in which Jeff Wilson suggested the slow running wasn't that desirable. Has any one purchased one of these puppies and using 128 speed steps, been able to improve the slow running?
Rick a friend of mine has some of these engines. They're good to go at 400mph scale speed but even after converting to DCC they don't really like slow running. Noisy and jerky. As soon as I receive mine (West Coast Express as well ) I'll see if there's a chance to replace the motor.
What about the gear ratio???? Seems to me that if it is possible to change the gear ratio so the motor runs faster that should take care of the slow speed jerky's
my FP59 are still on their way. Probably NWSL has a replacement motor. I'll open them up as soon as they are here. Slowing them down is one thing. Making them smooth runners at slow speeds is something completely different. Slowing down can be simply done if running DCC. On DC layouts it should be possible to add a resistor. Smoothing their low speed characteristics can only be done by modifying the motor and/or drivetrain.
