Model Railroader reviewed Athearn’s updated EMD F units in their June issue. Very impressive! New drive, cab interior, separately applied handrails and prototype specific headlights wow! The photo of the fine printed lettering really caught my attention; the trust plate is legible. $124.98 for a single unit is expensive, but I’m willing to pay for quality. Hey, remember when Athearn locomotives used rubber bands? I think it’s safe to say that fine scale “manufactured” models have come of age and are here to stay.
Mark, Seeing is believing, actually held the D&RGW units in my hands at the hobby shop last weekend. Thought the shop owner was going to call animal control, cuz I was frothing at the mouth... They are nice for the price, but I think you can snag them for under $100 each if you do some surfin' or wait for a train show, if you can.. I'm thinking of adding them to my "must have" list.. 2slim
Mark, Was doing some checking, Trainworld/ Trainland in NY has the F3, F7 & F9 A&B sets listed for $159. Not bad, $80 a piece!! 2slim
1st Place Hobbies (they have an excellent web site) is selling the A/B sets for 146 bucks! Not too bad! I have no connection to them other than having been a customer....no problems. As long as I'm giving plugs another retailer I have dealt with and been VERY pleased with is Loy's Toys. They are limited in what they carry but have very good prices and prompt shipping. Also, friendly e-mails. They are DCC experts and send along with your first order a wealth of info on DCC. I have no connecton with them either; just felt that when you've had a number of good experiences with a retailer they deserve the praise.
Actually, I wouldn't consider these engines "updated." These are new from the ground up, using the Highligher A and B shells with a brand new mechanism. The older engines dating back to the 1950s are still available at a much lower price. Just remember, you get what you pay for! Pat
How would you rank these Genesis F Unit, Stewart F Unit (Kato or otherwise) or Intermountain? I have seen the Genesis A and B at $134.
<font color="336633">As far as im concerned the Athearn ones are the best, I do have a set of stewart ones and they do run very nice, but the Athearn ones just look so much cripser. only problem is I need lots of F units, and i'm not sure I can afford to get lots of Athearn ones </font>
Plus they haven't done a BN one for you yet One of the guys in our group just got a set of the Genesis SP F3's, and another has a pair of Intermountain F7's. The genesis are way nicer, which is saying a lot because the intermountain are very nice! The added on detail seems much heavier on the Intermountain though. Ref the Stewart ones, again they are very nice, but don't have the ready-applied stand off detail that these have. If you're modelling a specific machine that has lots of detail differences it might be the way to go. Worthy of special mention are the excellent headlights in the Genesis ones, bright, clear, and look neither yellow or blue, they look stunning, and on the black SP ones the painted (green) cab interior stands out really well too. The pair of powered units ran well, very smoothly, straight from the box, which is what you expect these days from a quality model. If I had an open choice, unaffected by my budget and the availability of the model in the paint schemes I want, then my choice would be the Genesis. HTH
