Athearn

[Kreig Haus]

All Athearn products have been marked down!

Check them out here h1071020.hobbyshopnow.com/products/mfgpage.asp?Page=ATH

Personally I think Athearn's products are top notch!
What does everyone else think?

[dieselholic]

Yes , I like the new Athearn RTR and Genesis F7A&B , I'll have to try some Genesis freight cars ! I have a quite a few blue box kits and locos as well !

[Kreig Haus]

I finally broke down and bought the Athearn D&RGW passenger set today. I have to say I am very impressed! The passenger cars actually make the turn on a 18" radius curve with no problems. It came with Atlas true track which is kewl, because I can use it with Code 100 track. I think I'll start building the framework for my layout tommorow, who knows with any luck I'll be done in a year or so. But anyway I'll definately be adding more Athearn cars, perhaps some Genesis too.

Brian Gansereit
Kreig Haus Hobbies
www.kreighaus.com

[dieselholic]

Hi , every body , yes I also like Atlas track , especially their flex track , and I also have 5 Athearn RTR Rock Island cars (just need the observation which Brian sells). I will be fitting Proto wheel sets to my Aussie freight cars that have full plastic axles and wheels ! The standard Athearn blue box metal axles and plastic wheels run very quiet and smooth though and I'm keeping a (Quiet ) set of cars that I can run at night without my missus whinging at me ! Here's a tip if you've got any early Proto diesels (GP or BL2 )with cracked drive gears ! You can buy a pack of Athearn drive wheel assembly part # 40019 ! You just pull each Athearn axle half out of the gear and press the Proto axle halves in and gauge them to the width of the wheels of another good running engine or metal freight or passenger car wheel widths and presto your engines will run like new again . The symptoms of cracked drive gears are a tick , tick , clicking , tripping or thumping sound like the wheels are hitting gaps in track joins that aren't there such as on flex track ! The axles widen gauge on straights and try to jump the rails or scrape the flanges hard against the rail heads causing the strange noises and they try to close up on bends and jam against the gearbox acting like a disc brake so the engine will slow down and speed up or run jerkily . It took me a while to work out what was wrong as I was only new to the hobby . Apparently the early Proto drive gears were not cured properly at the factory in China due to water restrictions and were more brittle and crack as a result ! Just about every early P2K engine I bought had cracked axles or eventually cracked the gears ! But Athearn spares saved the day !

[Kreig Haus]

The only thing I dont like about the Atlas track is the terminal connection. I guess I am used to the Bachmann EZ Track plug.

Brian Gansereit
Kreig Haus Hobbies
www.kreighaus.com

[gman]

Anthern freight car kits are good quality, and have unexpected details included with each kit.
Another plus is they accept Life Like proto 2000 series metal wheels really well.
Specifically (Life Like 33" Item 21258)

[Kreig Haus]

admin said:

The only thing I dont like about the Atlas track is the terminal connection. I guess I am used to the Bachmann EZ Track plug.

Brian Gansereit
Kreig Haus Hobbies
www.kreighaus.com

Well I went ahead and bought the EZ Track. The terminal connection as I already mentioned seems far superior. I also like the way it locks together better. I'll have to see how well I can fix up the roadbed with some Woodland scenics scenery.

Brian Gansereit
Kreig Haus Hobbies
www.kreighaus.com