New Athearn and Atlas locos

[nephthyr]

Are new HO scale locos from Athearn and Atlas supposed to be completely silent or do they make some noise? Mine seem to be really noisy, more noisier than my Bachman GP38 which I thought was quite loud to begin with.. I'm referring to the Athearn CF7 (DCC ready) and Atlas Classic Alco RS1 (Standard DC).

Will the Atherans characteristics change once I put a decoder in it and switch to DCC?

Also what's the correct procedure for loco break in? Will this help make them quieter? Should I perform some loco tune up?

Thanks.

 

[ALCOS4EVER]

I can't speak for everyone but I have found that on that style Athearn and the Atlas Classics the more you run them the smoother and quieter they get. There is a small amount of mold flash on the gears that wears off with use. Most new locomotives are correctly lubed from the factory.

 

[diburning]

new locos need to be run for a while to be broken in.

I don't know if the CF7 is actually a "new" run (it may be RTR, but I don't remember them doing any recent production runs of the CF7)

Is the Atlas Classic an actual Atlas Classic (black box) or an Atlas Yellow Box?

 

[ICG/SOU]

They released about 4 or 5 lines worth of CF7s right before Christmas 2008. I have two from that run (Columbus and Greenville) and an older one from 2006 or 2007 (Midsouth).

 

[Doughless]

Are new HO scale locos from Athearn and Atlas supposed to be completely silent or do they make some noise? Mine seem to be really noisy, more noisier than my Bachman GP38 which I thought was quite loud to begin with.. I'm referring to the Athearn CF7 (DCC ready) and Atlas Classic Alco RS1 (Standard DC).

Will the Atherans characteristics change once I put a decoder in it and switch to DCC?

Also what's the correct procedure for loco break in? Will this help make them quieter? Should I perform some loco tune up?

Thanks.

I have both locos. The CF7 will have an athearn "growl" that goes away slightly over time, but will likely always be there. The noise is one reason why some folks, including me, don't like Athearn's, even the RTR line.

Of all of the Atlas Classic locos I own, my two RS-1's are notably noisier than all others. Go figure. Sometimes, they are very loud when a flywheel rubs against the shell. If your loco is VERY loud, try grabbing the long hood and carefully squeeze it a few times. Even when this noise subsides, my RS-1's run a bit noisier anyway, sounding like gearing growl. But they are still both way quieter than the CF7.

No need to lube, but take it to a local hobby shop and let them hear them. perhaps some of the lube got out of place during shipping if melted when sitting in a hot overseas container.

 

[nephthyr]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.

new locos need to be run for a while to be broken in.

I don't know if the CF7 is actually a "new" run (it may be RTR, but I don't remember them doing any recent production runs of the CF7)

Is the Atlas Classic an actual Atlas Classic (black box) or an Atlas Yellow Box?

The CF7 is the December 2008 run and the Atlas is a black and silver box which I think is this year's run, they came out in April I think.

Guess I'll run them in and see what happens. I can live with a slight growl, but considering that both these locos cost quite a bit more than the Bachmann and are noisier, I'm not happy about that.

 

[SP4439]

When you put a DCC decoder in them, Make sure its a silent drive decoder. I had a friend that put a decoder in a P2K GP9 and it growled terribly, Then he tried a silent drive and quieted the motor.