Does anyone know what company built this?

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blue92rs

blue92rs

Cheaper than therapy!
I bought this locomotive 20+ years ago. It has been in storage for almost as long. I do not remember what company it is built by. There are no "brand" markings on the body inside or out, or on the motor/drive assembly. Does anyone know? Thankyou in advance.
 


As long as you take care of it, give it a lube every now and then, keep the wheels clean, Athearn Blue Box engines can run forever. I have a few that I got in the mid 70's. They still run as good as the day I got them.
 
UP2CSX, thankyou for the Athearn tuneup link. I printed it out to use as a reference. I tore the unit down and have begun cleaning. WOW it is dirty! I will be doing the "hardwiring" steps to improve continuity. It is a strong locomotive, but sometimes it will not go without a light tap from my finger. Must be the poor contacts. The article suggested rubbing alcohol for cleaning gears, wheels, and electrical (brushes, rotor, stator). I remembered a product I used when I worked in the automotive electronics field... QD Contact Cleaner in a spray can. Safe for plastic. I broke down my Tyco first and used the QD spray, an old toothbrush, and Q-tips to wipe the insides clean. I ended up with a dozen BLACKENED Qtips and one VERY clean locomotive motor. The stuff is great. Picked up a can at Home Depot.
 
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I just did the top clip replacement on three of my Athearn loco,s, it went pretty well, especially as a fourth loco I have, had the mod done already, so I could see exactly what needed to be done. I still have an Athearn SD40-2 to modify yet, but I know thats going to be a straightforward job now.
Ron
 
Well, when I tore it down, the motor mounts must have been so dryrotted from sitting all those years, they just crumbled... So, I went to the Athearn website and found three different part numbers for replacements. Confused, I called Athearn to find out which one is for my model. The gentleman who took my call was very nice. Turned out, he was a tech. Since most everyone was away for the holidays, he was doing double duty. He was having a little trouble finding the web page I was describing to him and asked if he could call me right back. He needed to look in the repair shop. Within five minutes he called me back with the correct part number!! Two days later, an envelope was in my mailbox with three replacement mounts!!!! I had to post this story to let everyone know what a great company Athearn is (as I am sure you already know). They have a great quality product and wonderful people working for them. I am so happy, I just added another Athearn locomotive to my collection, a Union Pacific F7 with matching caboose. Happy New Year!!!
 
Sounds like you got the right guy, Blue. Athearn and Bachmann are my two favorite companies when it comes to customer service. The great thing about those Athearn blue box locomotives is I think you'll still be able to parts for them in the next century. :)
 


Well Jim, I took your advice and I fixed the hand rails. Picked up the replacement kit for about $6. Now I really like this locomotive... I think they would look even better painted. What do you think?
 
Go ahead and paint them. I do it to all my athearns. I usually use testors enamel for handrails and fine artist brushes. Go to walmart to get the brushes. You can get a large pack of fine detail paint brushes for next to nothing. They are in the crafts department. Oh btw looks great. :)
 
Looks just fine except for the one stanchion on the front. It should come up far enough that the handrail is level with the one on the rear, not dipping downward. It looks like either the stanchion is too short or the hole needs to be drilled up a little more on the body.
 
UP2CSX said:
Looks just fine except for the one stanchion on the front. It should come up far enough that the handrail is level with the one on the rear, not dipping downward. It looks like either the stanchion is too short or the hole needs to be drilled up a little more on the body.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about that... The package came with 3 or 4 spare short stanchions but only 1 spare longer one. May be I mixed a couple of them up? The other side (which I did not take a picture of) has a combination of 3 longer ones and the rest are short to follow the intended curve of that handrail. I could salvage 2 long ones from the original set and fix the problem. Thankyou for the tip Jim!
 
I'm wondering more about the shape of the left front handrail itself. There should be a short section sloping up [from front to back] at a 45* angle above the front of the battery box, but it appears straight. :confused:

[LATER EDIT:] Now I think I may see your problem: Do you maybe have the left front handrail on the right, and the right front handrail on the left side?
 
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Ken, I think you are right. 20 years ago, when I first bought this locomotive, that is how I put them on... When I got the new ones, I just followed what I did originally, without referring to any pictures. The replacement kit came without instructions. Come to think of it, the locomotive was in the display case. I was lucky to get the box. There was no manual/paperwork and the nose/tail handrails were not even there.
 
I think Ken has it right - you'ver swapped the two sides. Take a look at this picture:

cr2386cf.jpg


The front cab side handrail should have that 45 degree dip right after it exits the cab and then be straight. The stanchion is at the right height, it's the shape of the handrail that's wrong. You can see the difference on the other side in the is photo. Noth the difference in the length of the stanchions and where they are mounted on each side.

cr2369ef.jpg
 
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Thankyou for all the information. Jim, those are some very nice shots you posted. Well, I have the handrails on correctly now, big improvement :o
I also did the top motor clip replacement. It starts without hesitation now :D
 
I decided to search online for any pictures of Soo Line EMD GP 35 diesels. Found a pretty cool website; sooline.dieselrosters.com I found a photo of the actual roadnumber unit that I have, 729. I then looked at several other GP 35 photos and noticed ALOT of differences between the real thing and the Athearn shell. The right side handrail does not have the same dip as the left side and the stanchion is mounted on the battery box, not the walkway ledge. I also noticed none of GP 35s that I looked at have the bulge out at the top center of the locomotive. All the Athearn shells I looked at are cast this way :confused: I guess thats why so many enthusiasts are willing to chop a plastic shell to pieces. All this has me intrigued :)
 


Blue, you almost have the handrails right but look again at the last picture I posted compared to the battery box side of your model. The stanchion needs to be moved and the handrail should be straight since the crew walked on top of the battery box until the got the the drop step at the end. The other side has steps down because there was no batter box in the way, hence the downward curve of the handrail.

That bulge in the center is the dynamic brake assembly. The Soo Line, since it ran in mostly flat territory, didn't need dynamic braking. When the Athearn BB GP-35 was the only model of it's type around, a lot of us had to do major body surgery to remove the dynamic brakes if we were modeling a road that didn't use them. More modern models now come with or without dynamics, as appropriate to the road name.
 
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