Hi guys. Has anyone bought and/or ran one of these units? Being Athearn's first foray into N, and me becoming more interested in passenger trains, I'm interested in how these run and look (I've only seen phots to date). Opinions? Thanks.
Gary, I have one of the F59's in Amtrak West colors. It looks great and runs very well. It has only run a few laps around the layout so I'm afraid I can't give you a full review so I will just say that I am pleased with the unit and am looking forward to seeing what locomotive Athern will do next.
I have one in the Amtrak West liverey,and right now I run Kato Superliner cars with it.I've ordered the 5 car Surfliner set from Con-Cor to go with this.The loco looks and runs very well,close to Kato standards.
I saw some of these locomotives in the flesh for the first time at Banbury show last weekend. I asked around, and all those who had them said they are definitely inferior to both Atlas and Kato models. They apparently are a bit noisy too.
We should at least be grateful that we have another manufacturer that was willing to enter the N scale market and market something that the "others" are not doing. I vote that we support them, give them our input on the product and I am certain that it will get better! Russ
I agree with you Russ,without our support we wont get any new and better models.I for one am waiting for some new paint jobs to add to my collection
I saw a couple run at a group show here in the UK last Sunday, and they ran well straight from the box. They pulled 8 Superliners with no trouble at all - a little noisy but they look good. Pity Illinois doesn't have any or I might be tempted. Dave (North Yorkshire, UK)
I still may be tempted. I would like to bash a pair of them into a DE30DM painted for the LIRR. That would be cool! Russ
Even though I model the 40's I may get one of these along with the passenger cars in Metrolink just for fun. I see the Metrolink at least 10 times a day and it would be cool to have a model version of this train.
Thanks for the input, guys. Being Athearn's first foray into N Scale, I think you will find some differences and, maybe, deficiencies when compared to Kato and Atlas. The same has been said of Life-Like's GP20's and later, but that didn't stop me buying them for chassis donors. Lads, Alan's comments echo those of owners he asked at Banbury and not a personal opinion. It does go hand in hand with my initial question and just adds another opinion. In the end, I want them for show moreso running. I am gathering sets of passenger equipment from around the world. These will be part of the US representative sets, along with Japanese Shinkansens, Eurostars, British HST and DMU/EMU sets, and HK's KTT. They look the biz and I'll keep an eye out for an Amtrak West unit on eBay, and maybe one of those Tri-Rail jobs with matching cars when they become available. Oh, whilst I remember, InternetTrains has a special on Kato's RDC's. Buy a single unit with Uni-Track set for $49.99 and get a second powered RDC thrown in. Check it out. Usual disclaimer - I've ordered one and so far, so good. [ 21. April 2003, 21:15: Message edited by: Gats ]
A few notes here: The Athearn F59PHI's are very good looking locomotives. The shell is very high qaulity and the painting on most of them is very smooth, light and the lettering is very crisp. The running is moderate, but not bad, just noisy. I was impressed with all that Athearn did on this engine. Free standing grab irons leading up the side of the locomotive, fan blades visible in fans, rivits on the roof, etc. Good job in my opinion. NOTE #1 Bob I'm with you on the Metrolink train, it would be sweeet to have one in N scale! As some of you know I work at Internettrains.com and I am currently in discussion with Microscale and my boss to see if we can have Microscale do an exclusive/custom run of Surfliner decals in N and HO. Yes, we know Concor is doing them, but we also know ConCors quality.... There will be more info on this at a later date. NOTE#2 As Gary mentioned, Internettrains.com currently has a great deal on Kato RDC's, check it out as they won't be around for long with the amount we've sold. As an added bonus, isn't it cool to think that your order was most likely packed and pulled by yours truely??
Really Craig? Well, did I get the WP units? Huh, huh? Email came this morning that the order had been dispatched. Hopefully it will be here shortly.
I can't tell you for sure since today was my day off, but I'm sure your order is correct. We have many checks in place to insure order quickness and accuracy. And, if your box gets to you and the packings lousy, tell me and I'll get on my co-workers case! (nah...he's good, you'll be happy)
