Model Railroading > New Athearn 4-8-4

I recently purchased the new Athearn 4-8-4. It is a very poor runner - moves a few feet then stops, maybe restarts by itself, maybe needs a nudge. I have cleaned track and cleaned wheels. After cleaning wheels it runs maybe an hour, then starts the stop and start routine again. Any ideas???

DM

See Tony's review. I have heard allot of problems on these. Good luck.


Mechanical Problems with New Athearn UP FEF 4-8-4

http://tonystrains.com/tonystips/2007/112907.htm

Bruce



UP50 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recently purchased the new Athearn 4-8-4. It is
> a very poor runner - moves a few feet then stops,
> maybe restarts by itself, maybe needs a nudge. I
> have cleaned track and cleaned wheels. After
> cleaning wheels it runs maybe an hour, then starts
> the stop and start routine again. Any ideas???
>
> DM

Thanks for the tip -- I think I might not have done my homework before purchasing the loco.

Ouch, sorry to hear about the bad runner. But this example shows one of the ongoing issues with pre-ordering vs. waiting until the unit is on the shelf. Some recent threads bring this up.

What are us modelers to do? A bit of a dilemma for sure. It's a shame they missed the mark on this one. I can understand why many modelers are 'gun shy' with new products. It's a changing hobby.

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

The answer is simple..RETURN IT! Preordered or not if it doesn't operate, get your money back..As long as you deal with a known retailer/dealer, it's your right as a consumer! You wouldn't keep a defective car, vacuum cleaner, etc...Why keep a crappy running loco? If the shop won't take it back, cancel your existing preorders and find a business that will honor your rights and your business.

I've run mine at the club twice. The 1st time a friend helped get the sounds and running down pat. The 2nd time I pit a couple hours on it pulling a reefer train and didn't have any problems, ran just fine.

The friend who helped me with mine had worked on his at home and was showing us how slow it could run and the different things he tweaked. After a few minutes though it quit running and lost sound. We put my tender on his unit and it ran just fine. Seems the decoder screwed up. A couple of DCC geniuses at the club couldn't get it back running or the sound. This was last week so I don't know if it started back working or if it has to back to Athearn or the shop where he purchased it.

acltrainman

I haven't done it yet but I'm going to replace the crap MRC sound decoder with a Soundtraxx Tsunami. I have a very strong feeling that this will solve any issues. I have not operated mine as I'm going to make the decoder switch before I run it.

I wish Athearn would listen to us modelers and dump MRC. Not sure why Athearn has to be different from everyone else. I mean at the very least use QSI. It is proven and works just fine. I think Athearn is too stuck on the idea of not having to buy an extra box for DC operation. Problem is the extra box works and is already on most DC layouts since a lot of folks own BLI, Atlas, and Proto units with sound. The wireless remote that Athearn provides works 25% of the time and you can forget it operating if you're more than 20 feet from the locomotive.

So unfortunately spend another $100 and install a Tsunami and you'll not only improve the sound but also the operation. The locomotive is nice enough to warrant the extra $$ in my view.

Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,1546358,1553381#msg-1553381

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,1548064,1548134#msg-1548134

well i must feel lucky...mine is a beast and runs great...(crossing my fingers)

tckev Wrote:
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> well i must feel lucky...mine is a beast and runs
> great...(crossing my fingers)


Yes I also agree. A friend purchased 2 of these 4-8-4's and they run great ! No problems. Like the guy said above, "send them back to Athearn".

RioGrandeFan Wrote:
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> So unfortunately spend another $100 and install a
> Tsunami and you'll not only improve the sound but
> also the operation. The locomotive is nice enough
> to warrant the extra $$ in my view.

Not sure I'd call that unfortunate, maybe a learning experience. Unless whatever I'm after comes with a Tsunami already installed I opt for getting it without and having the experts at MP 38 / Wells Engineering do it right.


TCS - and i've had no complaints that way.