Howdy Boys! Merry Christmas! Okay, here we go...I have yet to purchase one of Athearns 2-8-2 steamer's. I have heard some noise and squeekin' about her. I really would like to get some live ( yeah, WATASH, you too! ) opinions about performance, draw bar, mechanisms, reliability, and so forth. Would y'all be kind enough to assist me? I really don't feel like throwing $100.00 out the window. I, as a rule, build my own steamers from kits, and detail them. The only R-T-R's I have are the P2K 0-8-0. I've thought about the Spectrumm 2-8-0's, and the 4-8-2's but....and oh baby do I wanna 2-10-0 Russian! Oops, gettin' ahead of myself here. Your candid responses would be most appreciated! Take care! God Bless! Randy SLSFFRISCOKID! Oh, and ah, how did I get a hogger's rating on this format! I am a P-E-N-G-U-I-N! an no HOG HEAD gonna run MA TRAIN NEITHER! [This message has been edited by slsffriscokid (edited 16 December 2000).]
<font color="336633">the only Athearn 2-8-2 i have seen running was VERY smooth and quiet, and with a few extra details can be made into a very nice model.</font> ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery TrainBoard member #257
Our club owns 4, going to have a total of 6. All of them run smoothly and very convincingly. They don't pull a lot (about 14 properly weighted cars with all our grades) but who'd want to pull more than that? Besides, that's what double-heading is for (more excuses to buy some)! All of our units also have the Soundtraxx DSD 150 and a speaker in the tender, and the effect is incredible. The 4-6-2 should be the same. Both are USRA units, which makes them very universal, and some road-specific details are easy to add. I actually didn't care for the Spectrum 2-8-0, but I may have to play with it to get it to work better. One of our Mikes in Rutland Yard Double-headed Mikes leaving Rutland in '49 Enjoy! ------------------ Corey Lynch Pres - Rensselaer Model RR Society, NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
I've got two Athearn Mike's. I initially had some trouble with the first one but think I finally got it resolved. Weight and balance in these locos seems to be an ongoing issue. The drivers are sprung and if there is a hang up the loco doesn't sit right and can easily derail. I ran both of mine today at the club and they ran great. I added a working front coupler to one and I had them double headed pulling 17 40' (NMRA weighted) cars. With one I easily pulled 9 cars up a roughly 1.5% grade. These engines are very quiet and would make an excellent locomotive to put a sound decoder in. Good Luck, Tom
I have one and like everyone else says it runs really nice. Speed range is pretty good and its real easy to add a decoder. With some added detials and weathered it will be a real nice loco. I have the Bachman 2-8-0s also and have had no problems at all with the 3 I have had. They all run very well and the detail is outstanding. The only things I really didnt like about Athearns loco is the molded on details ,lack of add-on detials and the shiny sidrods. But if you are going to detail it anyway these things really dont matter......Mike
I've got an Athern Genesis 2-8-2 Mikado, and love it. Very smooth running and quiet as a mouse. My only problem is traction. Don't got any. Can't pull much. I've got brass and steel (gasp!) rails. Any suggestions on adding weight? Where can I put it without screwing up the engine? Let me know. Mark
Slsffriscokid, I do not have any Athern steamers that I know of, but several boxes have not been opened yet, I could have an older version. If they do have sprung drivers, I would probably want one although I would prefer equalized rather than just sprung. Equalized accepts added weight, while sprung can make the engine dip and dive when starting or stopping under load. I have a sprung 2-6-0 that staggers down the track like crazy, so It will be one of my first projects, to make and install the equalizer system, no springs. Sorry I can't help on this one. ------------------ Watash #982
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by watash: Slsffriscokid, I do not have any Athern steamers that I know of, but several boxes have not been opened yet, I could have an older version. If they do have sprung drivers, I would probably want one although I would prefer equalized rather than just sprung. Equalized accepts added weight, while sprung can make the engine dip and dive when starting or stopping under load. I have a sprung 2-6-0 that staggers down the track like crazy, so It will be one of my first projects, to make and install the equalizer system, no springs. Sorry I can't help on this one. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Watash! The mear fact that you were willing to take the time and share your feelings and insight is good enough for me! Cheers my friend! God Bless, One and All! Randy SLSFFRISCOKID
Firstly I'd like to welcome all the newcomers, Mark I'm an N scaler so I can't offer you much of an opinion except when Kato released their Mikado it's traction effort was not great, I have a 2% grade on my layout and the Mikado only could pull a few cars. Kato later released traction tyres which improved its traction effort by 200%. Do Athearn produce traction tyres for this model? ------------------ Regards Paul #1-Moderator & Member number 50 SPAD Investigator #1 ICQ 61198217 http://users.bigpond.net.au/railroad2000
