Athearn BB Locomotive upgrades


boatwrench

Well-Known Member
A long time ago I detailed many Athearn BB locomotives. I recently took them out of storage and ran them on my grandsons little layout. Compared to his newer DCC locomotives they ran poorly. Digging thru boxes I found my workbench tools and gave them a standard tune up, and they ran better but still not as good as the new stuff.

My questions is, Can my old BB shells of SD40-2s, GP38-2s and some U-Boats be mounted on the new drives? I don't want to spend some big dollars to experiment with fitting the shells to updated mechanisms & frames and these older detailed locos hold a sentimental value.
 
You need to be more specific about which BB locos you have and what do you mean by new drives ? Athearn went thru several iterations of the BB locos some have the old gray motor and outside bearing trucks , some have the newer (90 ish) inside bearing trucks with the newer motor (brass canned) . The newer BB drives should fit, the newer motor is considerably better than the old motor , but not quite as good as some of the better can motors that are out there .

If you are talking about upgrading to Genisis drive lines , I think the cost would run in excess of $50 fairly quickly , for a full chassis I would be surprised if the cost was upwards of $100.

Cowl units can be improved significantly with Holland motors , FP 45 , F40 F7 and PAs can all be Holland up , the 4 axles perform pretty well , not as good as an Atlas /Kato but better than the Atlas / Roco Fp 7.

If I had the older gray/outside bearing models , I would try to upgrade the motor or convert to dummy.

if I had the newer 90ish BB drives with newer motor , and outside bearing , I would either run as is or convert to dummy, As an experiment I might try going to a twin Maubuchi 266 back to back motor arrangement if it fits ,which they might in an SD40-2 .
 
GT Thanks for the quick response. These all have the dual flywheel can motors and are from the 88-93ish era. Funny you mention Atlas FP7s, I have two of those also but wasn't planning on doing anything with them. They were from a project, long abandoned to model a SOU passenger train.
 
By and large, since you have the newer motor with brass flywheels, the newer drives from the RTR line should fit your older BB shells as that tooling is the basis for the upgraded RTR models. You'll likely run into problems if you try fitting Genesis drives. Are you returning to the hobby or just enjoying a little nostalgia? That's the deciding factor. I disposed of most of my old BB diesels as better models became available, and some had extensive detailing done. It was a bit of a struggle to let them go, and I kept a couple as reminders of the early days and efforts, but I don't run these anymore. The dollars generated by their sale bought other things I needed, and they went to good homes. Kind of the model railroading version of the circle of life :)
 
By and large, since you have the newer motor with brass flywheels, the newer drives from the RTR line should fit your older BB shells as that tooling is the basis for the upgraded RTR models. You'll likely run into problems if you try fitting Genesis drives. Are you returning to the hobby or just enjoying a little nostalgia? That's the deciding factor. I disposed of most of my old BB diesels as better models became available, and some had extensive detailing done. It was a bit of a struggle to let them go, and I kept a couple as reminders of the early days and efforts, but I don't run these anymore. The dollars generated by their sale bought other things I needed, and they went to good homes. Kind of the model railroading version of the circle of life :)


Returning to the hobby after 25 years. Truthfully my area for a layout would not support SD40-2, SD45s and U33Cs with long strings of hoppers. Since retiring I picked up a few jobs clearing out homes after the estate sales are completed. There was one clean out six months ago that the estate sale was concluded and the realtor asked me to clear the remains of the garage out. I picked up a few newer locos (Proto 2000 SD-9 & S1 and a Broadway Limited 4-8-4) and then set up a test track of a length of flex. They all ran real smooth and quiet. That was the Genesis to seriously return to the hobby and not just think about it. Became curious if the shells I put plenty of time into (modified by making them Hi-Hood SOU) would be able to run as smooth. They have sat in storage since 1996-97 and just came out for a little test run on my grandsons 4x8 layout he is building with my son-in-law.

Now living in the vicinity of milepost 38 on the former Northwestern Pacific Railroad, may look at the NWP as a new prototype to model.

Espeefan, Thanks for the response, I may put them in the display case on the wall as a reminder of early accomplishments and to provide inspiration for what can be.
 
A long time ago I detailed many Athearn BB locomotives. I recently took them out of storage and ran them on my grandsons little layout. Compared to his newer DCC locomotives they ran poorly. Digging thru boxes I found my workbench tools and gave them a standard tune up, and they ran better but still not as good as the new stuff.

My questions is, Can my old BB shells of SD40-2s, GP38-2s and some U-Boats be mounted on the new drives? I don't want to spend some big dollars to experiment with fitting the shells to updated mechanisms & frames and these older detailed locos hold a sentimental value.


I like many others have a lot of Blue Box Athearns. Also have just about every other new production of every manufacturer when it comes to HO scale trains. I can tell you the BB Athearns are work horses and can be made to run just like any new age locomotive or better. Re-wiring and proper gear work can make it a sweet running locomotive. Before jumping into buying all kinds of parts etc. Take a look at this article on tuning the BB Athearn. There are other articles that are similar as well, this is just one.

 
I'm going to cut right to the point. If Genesis motors are what you're thinking...

I once bought a dummy, blue-box MILW FP45 and dumped new trucks, a Genesis motor and new dogbones into it. Worked like a champ. Cost maybe $45 all said and done. This was at the beginning of my MILW obsession and I didn't have connections to the local market. Eventually a fellow clubber sold me a pair Genesis FP45s for a good price, and I sold this one off.

It can be done, but you will need to consider new trucks and new dogbones. The Genesis motor is much shorter than the Blue Box/RTR motors. You'll have to do as I did and buy a couple different sets to see what works. I had to use the longest ones available from Athearn. It's also worth noting that there are quick upgrade kits available to upgrade your blue-box locos with directional LED lights instead of one single bulb.

1.jpg
 
Now living in the vicinity of milepost 38 on the former Northwestern Pacific Railroad, may look at the NWP as a new prototype to model.

Thread drift, apologies.

MP 38...Petaluma? I grew up near milepost 20 on the NWP. Unfortunately, I was born too late and never saw a train operate on that portion of the line until fairly recently with the SMART train in service. I used to fly small planes out of the Petaluma airport years ago too, before I left California.

The mention of the NWP got me to dig through some of my equipment. I have this Athearn SE set of locomotives that I found in a shop years ago; never opened it, still in the shrink-wrap.

50241300171_eda3b178a8_o.jpg


I don't model the NWP per se, but do have a couple locomotives in homage to where I grew up. If you decide to do NWP in the 1990s, there was a recent special run of NWP SD9s by Broadway Limited. I got one and it's nice, runs well. You may be able to find one online still before they all disappear.

And btw, welcome back the hobby.
 
I like many others have a lot of Blue Box Athearns. Also have just about every other new production of every manufacturer when it comes to HO scale trains. I can tell you the BB Athearns are work horses and can be made to run just like any new age locomotive or better. Re-wiring and proper gear work can make it a sweet running locomotive. Before jumping into buying all kinds of parts etc. Take a look at this article on tuning the BB Athearn. There are other articles that are similar as well, this is just one.


Thanks for the info. I will attempt a better tune-up and run them again it will save me some funding.
 
Thread drift, apologies.

MP 38...Petaluma? I grew up near milepost 20 on the NWP. Unfortunately, I was born too late and never saw a train operate on that portion of the line until fairly recently with the SMART train in service. I used to fly small planes out of the Petaluma airport years ago too, before I left California.

And btw, welcome back the hobby.


MP 20. Terra Linda? I live along the approach to the airport having moved here several years ago after retiring. I grew up in SF but as a kid remember trains running through Sebastopol during apple season. Thx for the Broadway Limited tip.
 



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