Athearn Genesis

[SP4439]

would like to hear some comments good or bad on the Athearn Genesis UP 4-8-4 and the UP 4-6-6-4. i am in the market to buy one or the other and would just like to know how the sound is and how well they perform. thanx in advance.

 

[Tuna]

I have both and the Genesis 4-8-8-4 Big Boy and I love them. They run very smoothly and the sound system is very good. The 'biggest' complain is that the headlight isn't as bright as my other loco's.

UP 4-8-4 has a long wheel base and does not like turns less than 22" radius. I use it to pull a set of Overland passenger cars.
Challenger and Big Boy don't seem to mind smaller radii so much. I using all 22" or bigger now.

 

[SP4439]

Cool. glad to hear a good review on them as i just bought an Athearn Genesis UP 4-6-6-4 3985 and my buddy just bought the UP 4-8-4 844

 

[Tuna]

You 2 might want to check out http://www.upsteam.com to stay up on what 3985 and 844 are doing.
Both are used in excursions with restored "Overland" passenger cars. They also get to pull some modern freight cars from time to time also.

 

[SP4439]

yeah i know about them being in excursion service and very fond of the UP steam program and I also work on a few weekend warrior steam excursion trains in engine service, same as my buddy so we decided to buy one of each to have our own UP collection on his layout. thank you for the info on them i am very excited to get my locomotive!

 

[JeffShultz]

Hey Josh - I forget, are you with the CCRR or the Mt. Rainer Scenic?

 

[SP4439]

Yep. I think i met ya once before on the 15?

 

[pa steam]

I just saw one of each at a local club open house. They ran well and sounded good. The one thing that looked really bad was the head lights. They were orange colored. Yuck !

 

[JeffShultz]

Josh,

Nope, for some reason I've never made it up there. A lacking I'll try and rectify next summer.

I do hope the CCRR gets their track back together in time for the season.