# Opinions on the blue box Athearn powered locomotives



## Green River (Dec 19, 2009)

I recently picked up 3 of these and they seem pretty nice, how do they compare to the Genesis line and the Atlas models? I have been away from this hobby for a very long time and have never until recently owned anything but Life Like, Tyco and some other entry models. Anything special I should know about buying HO scale model trains these days?


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## ravex1049 (Dec 19, 2011)

What I like is they are very strong pullers and last a long time, hard to kill even with no maintenance. What I don't like...they lack a lot of detail, though there's less parts to break, and they tend to be noisy. I've had a couple SD9's that were very loud.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

They're awful...I cut you a deal, I'll pay for the postage, and you can just ship them to me.

That aside, they are neither Genesis, Atlas or Kato...but they've been around alot longer, they're built like the proverbial brick outhouse, replacement parts abound, they are a snap to maintain/upgrade/modify and, quite frankly, will probably out live any of those other ones by a 3-1 margin.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

....and can be detailed up to look just as good as the expensive ones!


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## Green River (Dec 19, 2009)

That's good to know because I am proud to own them, may go back tomorrow for more.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

...guess that means I won't be seeing them in the mail.


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## Green River (Dec 19, 2009)

shaygetz said:


> ...guess that means I won't be seeing them in the mail.


To late I have already blown them up with firecrackers


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## ncrc5315 (Jan 25, 2014)

I always said, that Athearn blue boxes, were a hobby within the hobby.


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## JNXT 7707 (May 5, 2013)

ravex1049 said:


> What I like is they are very strong pullers and last a long time, hard to kill even with no maintenance. What I don't like...they lack a lot of detail, though there's less parts to break, and they tend to be noisy. I've had a couple SD9's that were very loud.


I call it the "poor man's sound system". Each one seems to have a unique growl, and some are downright inspiring. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder


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## irishthump (Jul 1, 2013)

I have quite a few Blue Box locos and have to say I like them.

I have a ABBA F7 in Warbonnet, B's are dummies of course. Picked them up cheap on Ebay and added grab irons, led lights, etc. and DCC'd them. They run well, _a little_ noisy but it's so low I'm considering adding sound to them. Oh, and they will pull ANYTHING!
I also have 5 or 6 GP38's and some SD50's all of which run well after a quick service. I replaced all the old sintered wheels on all the locos which helps enormously, also soldered wires to the sides of each truck to eliminated the poor pickup from the frame.
One other thing I would say is if you're converting them to DCC make sure you use a good decoder. I have tried several including Digitrax and MRC but by far the best is the Lenz standard. I get perfect slow running out of the box with these decoders and I would'nt try anythong else in a Blue Box.


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

JNXT 7707 said:


> Beauty is in the ear of the beholder


Never a truer word!

I too have an old F7 and I'd call it a classic.


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## MacDaddy55 (Aug 19, 2008)

*Growl of the Bear!!*

Between my Pennsylvania F-7 ABA w/ Passenger Cars and my GP fleet with about 5 Burlington & Santa Fe I couldn't be happier with the way the Blue Boxes perform and as Shay said they are a snap to work on. Adding detail is pretty easy as Railings ,Horns, Windows are pretty available at Swap meets and on Evil Bay. And that Growl you hear is the Bear that comes out when pulling 22 car consist...Way Cool!!:thumbsup:


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

The only Blue Box locomotives I have are older ones that I got in the 80's. They operated OK but I ended up remotoring them all with quality can motors and now they are outstanding performing locomotives after a little tweaking. The transformation was incredible with the new motors. I don't know if better motors are being put into their newer locomotives. 

Many detail parts are available, and I did super detail all of them. I did stop buying them though when Atlas came out with their Alco units which are still excellent running locomotives.


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## JNXT 7707 (May 5, 2013)

About can motors....

I got an Athearn F7 in a trade a few months ago, in John Deere livery. Really got it for the drive train. After taking the shell off, I saw the usual BB drivetrain....and a can motor. Not a remotor, it was built that way - and along with having a can motor it was hardwired (no long strip that you usually see clipped on top of the motor that touches tabs on the trucks).
Runs much better, smoother and quieter than the motors that always come with BBs.


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## Green River (Dec 19, 2009)

Chet said:


> The only Blue Box locomotives I have are older ones that I got in the 80's. They operated OK but I ended up remotoring them all with quality can motors and now they are outstanding performing locomotives after a little tweaking. The transformation was incredible with the new motors. I don't know if better motors are being put into their newer locomotives.
> 
> Many detail parts are available, and I did super detail all of them. I did stop buying them though when Atlas came out with their Alco units which are still excellent running locomotives.


What kind of motors did you use? I have several blue box locomotives myself and they all run pretty good except one and the motor seems kind of week to me. I believe all these locomotives were new old stock, is there a break in period for them?


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Green River said:


> What kind of motors did you use? I have several blue box locomotives myself and they all run pretty good except one and the motor seems kind of week to me. I believe all these locomotives were new old stock, is there a break in period for them?


I used North West Short Line motors. They happened to be what I had available at the time. I put Cannon motor in a switcher which is still one of my best operating locomotives even after 25 years. 

What turned me off about the early blue box locomotives were the over sized hoods on their geeps and SD units. I had changed from N scale to HO because I wasted better detail one everything and the extra wide hoods turned me off. I don't know how the modern locomotives stack up because I haven't bought an Athearn locomotive for decades. After building my fleet of custom painted Alcos, I had all of the locomotives I needed. 

So far as break in time, there was a very short time that I let it run around the layout to get all of the gears lubricated and once it was silent (yes, a stealth Athearn locomotive, no noise at all) it was put to work.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

The extra wide hoods were too wide because they needed to fit over the motor, which in those days were too wide as well. Now that they have narrower motors, they have re-tooled the bodies to be correct scale width. However, you may find that the blue-boxes are mostly the earlier, wider bodies....


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

They needed to do something with the looks of the bodies and the motors on the earlier locomotives weren't the best. I was never impressed with them. I started building my layout and locomotive fleet in the early 80's and there weren't a lot of choices back then. Atlas was probably one of the best locomotives to come out at that time period. There was no Intermountain, Kato, Stewart or other manufacturers that we have today.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Thus the popularity of the Blue-boxes....


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## Green River (Dec 19, 2009)

Well now I have gone crazy and bought 4 more of a total of 7 some NIB for little as $30, a very reasonable price I think. I have 35 year old Tyco (maybe Life Like?) Amtrak F7 that was never going to run again, I picked a used F7 blue box chassis from ebay and with a little persuasion my Amtrak train is back into service  , actually took very little modifications to make a good fit. It made me very happy to see my train run again after all these years


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## tr1 (Mar 9, 2013)

*Old BB's and super Detailing.*

I wish I would have bought more of them in the past. Now in the future I'm looking for
deals to be super detailed. I also have too work on a pay pal account. And or rummage
during the summer months.Regards, tr1


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

shaygetz said:


> ...guess that means I won't be seeing them in the mail.


Nice try. That said, yes, they are a hobby with in a hobby. I have sold off most of mine since I have replaced nearly all with better detailed newer models. Athearn RTR line based on the blue box shell such as the SD40T-2 is really nice and comes with alot of prototypically correct details out of the box, such as the correct plow, antenae, fuel tank, nose light and the paint job is much better.

The blue box line of diesels is really a mixed bag - some being decent models at a basic level, and others having aweful fat bodies (U series or SD45) or 1950's tooling such as the F7. The SD40-2 and GP40-2 are decent and if you detail them are nice models when finished.


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