Athearn Genesis


nephthyr

nephthyr

Member
Just out of interest, those who have Athearn Genesis locomotives, do they have the distinctive Athearn growl? I'm tempted to get a couple with sound, but wonder if the Athearn growl will mess up the sound equiped units.
 
No, the Athearn Genesis units don't growl. However, the motor runs too fast for any voltage so you'd really need to adjust the voltage to the motor with DCC. The loco would crawl at speed step 1, start taking off at branchline speed around 10, and then would hit mainline speed between 25 and 35. After 35, it's prototypically too fast.
 
I have two different engines from different runs of the Genesis SD75M, and neither drivetrain is noisy. Very smooth and quiet, in fact.

-Crandell
 
I agree, the Genesis line has very smooth and quiet drivetrains and motors. The F units can barely be heard when running at a scale 25 mph when the sound is turned off. They are certainly as smooth as the Atlas Gold and most Kato engines I've had.
 
I just bought an Athearn Genisis 2-8-2 about a month ago, and it runs very quiet. I do notice the motor runs fast, and is geared low, but I think that is so the engine will operate at slower speeds. The engine will start moving when I notch my throttle to one, and that is without adjusting the speed steps. I have to turn it up to 60 to get it to run at a prototypical speed.

The model runs really nice, and looks fantastic. I purchased it used for $65, which at that price I thought something had to be wrong with it, but it still both looks and runs like new. I would recommend at least the Steam unit, I have not tried the diesel models yet personally, but have heard them run, and they are also very quiet.

If you want to get rid of your older Athearn growl, why not lube up the trucks, that seems to be where most of the noise comes from with mine, and after a good greasing, they sound perfectly quiet. Maybe I will have to put up a video on what/how to do it.
 
I have ONE genesis that WAS noisy, turned out, those Athearn Yard sale engines had more wrong then I thought, it had a broken gear, it's since been fixed.
 
The Genesis engines have a different motor, trucks, driveshafts, pretty much everything is different. The RTR Athearn has the older motors, which usually are adjusted so they run quiet.
 
AyTrane said:
The model runs really nice, and looks fantastic. I purchased it used for $65, which at that price I thought something had to be wrong with it, but it still both looks and runs like new. I would recommend at least the Steam unit, I have not tried the diesel models yet personally, but have heard them run, and they are also very quiet.
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The steamers were built by Samhongsa, so they do run really well. Unfortunately Samhongsa is out of the model loco business, thanks to our friends from MTH. Result is no more mechanisms or whole engines from them. Any "new" locos will be models that are new-old-stock 6-9 years old, or used locos that someone is getting rid of.

The problem is these locos were not well balanced, and were very "slippery". They could hardly pull themselves, much less a good load. There are several things that can be done to improve the tractive effort. Remove the springs from the leading and trailing trucks. Secondly there are areas where small sheets of lead can be placed on the frame between the boiler and frame. Weight can also be adjusted by the removal of some of the extra thick motor mount frame with a file.

A bit of brass detail parts can also help.

I never felt that these were "bad" locos, but they do need a little more tinkering than normal to get them to pull decently. I don't know who will be making the new steamers from Athearn, but lets hope the mech pulls better.
 
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nephthyr said:
Thanks for the replies, will definitely be getting some dcc and sound units in the future!
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Whoa Nelly! The locomotives might be great but until recently the electronics in them were JUNK. If you are buying a Genesis with DCC/sound, make certain that it is a new production unit with a Tsunami sound system. If it is a older unit with an MRC Brilliance decoder - run away screaming. You would be much better off getting a DC unit and installing the sound yourself.
 
The new Athearn Genesis engines with the Tsunami decoder come in a dark blue (bluedipped) box. The older ones with the MRC decoder are yellow, red/orange, and blue.
 
GandyDancer said:
Whoa Nelly! The locomotives might be great but until recently the electronics in them were JUNK. If you are buying a Genesis with DCC/sound, make certain that it is a new production unit with a Tsunami sound system. If it is a older unit with an MRC Brilliance decoder - run away screaming. You would be much better off getting a DC unit and installing the sound yourself.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for that, I'll make sure they're the tsunami ones.
 
AyTrane said:
I just bought an Athearn Genisis 2-8-2 about a month ago, and it runs very quiet. I do notice the motor runs fast, and is geared low, but I think that is so the engine will operate at slower speeds. The engine will start moving when I notch my throttle to one, and that is without adjusting the speed steps. I have to turn it up to 60 to get it to run at a prototypical speed.

The model runs really nice, and looks fantastic. I purchased it used for $65, which at that price I thought something had to be wrong with it, but it still both looks and runs like new. I would recommend at least the Steam unit, I have not tried the diesel models yet personally, but have heard them run, and they are also very quiet.

If you want to get rid of your older Athearn growl, why not lube up the trucks, that seems to be where most of the noise comes from with mine, and after a good greasing, they sound perfectly quiet. Maybe I will have to put up a video on what/how to do it.
Click to expand...

What lube are you using? I was thinking a droplet of ATF would work on mine.
 
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