# Athearn Genesis SD60M DCC - Issues



## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Recently got a Athearn Genesis SD60M DCC/Sound - also runs DC w/sound.

I'm not terribly happy with how strong it pulls. It runs nice and smooth, but it stalls going up my 2% grade with anything more than ~10 cars & requires full power to even pull the 10. The motor physically stalls (wheels not spinning) 50% power starts up the engine (sound and lights) per the instructions, but then as I add power - 75% barely gets it moving, and if I slowly increase the throttle - sometimes it doesn't move at all (although the sound board recognizes the higher throttle setting as the engine "revs" up.)

In contrast - I've got a DC Proto2000 GP38-2 that easily pulls 17 cars up the same grade @ 75% throttle....when I load it up with the max train my track can handle (24 cars) it pulls it fine, just spins it's wheels part way up the grade (but no wheel stall) This tells me the engine has plenty of power, it's just not heavy enough to pull the load. I can run this thing at 35% power and get a nice slow prototypical speed.

This is my first DCC equipped locomotive - Is this common? I'm hoping that maybe just my power supply is weak (old Athearn unit.) I've got a Bachmann Spectrum power supply that I'm going to try tonight to see if that works any better. I like running my trains slower and I'm disappointed that the nicest engine in my roster won't do the slow speed thing.


----------



## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

errr, are you running your DCC loco on DC?


----------



## dozer (Jan 2, 2010)

Tankist, it's a dual mode decoder. SSt, I have this exact same engine and here's what I had to do. The wheels were terribly dirty (not visually) right out of the box, it kept kicking off the sound and the engine would stall easily. I cleaned the wheels thoroughly, and made sure my track was spotless. I then ran the engine at 1/2 throttle with no load for about 20 minutes non stop around the layout. This engine is now by far the strongest I've ever owned. The other day I had 57 cars being pulled by just this one engine and that includes a 2% grade. Let it break in and you'll be fine.


----------



## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I am, but it's a dual mode DCC/DC engine so it's designed to be used with either. I currently don't have my DCC installed yet, so I set it up to run in DC mode. Everything functions fine - it just doesn't have the slow speed/pulling power I was expecting from a $200 engine. I may take it apart tonight and check the lubrication of the drivetrain (although it's not making any noises or seeming like it's binding in anyway.) Maybe it's older new stock that has been sitting around for awhile.


----------



## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

dozer said:


> Tankist, it's a dual mode decoder. SSt, I have this exact same engine and here's what I had to do. The wheels were terribly dirty (not visually) right out of the box, it kept kicking off the sound and the engine would stall easily. I cleaned the wheels thoroughly, and made sure my track was spotless. I then ran the engine at 1/2 throttle with no load for about 20 minutes non stop around the layout. This engine is now by far the strongest I've ever owned. The other day I had 57 cars being pulled by just this one engine and that includes a 2% grade. Let it break in and you'll be fine.


Thanks Dozer....I'll give that a try first. That's what I was hoping to here (now hoping it's true.)


----------

