Athearn did their homework for their CSX units. The ditch lights on the CSX Spirit of West Virginia are different than the other units which is prototypical. Great attention to detail
Athearn use to make metal hand rails 20 years ago on the old blue box just answer one of your followers was asking about now back to the model it looks great James thanks for sharing always enjoy your videos.
Some manufacturers used to in the past. Issues with them were that if you accidentally did anything to the railings they'd never be straight ever again. The plastic they use may be extremely flexibile, but that's why they use it; more forgiving
I personally do like the Athearn Genesis ac44 but unfortunately they don't have a "power booster" already installed(dirty track or other issues) and that's a major factor in me not wanting the ac44. Also, they cost more than Scale Trains. Another reason but I don't knock anyone who wants Athearn.
Athearn Genesis are great ho locomotive's with tsunami sounds n regular Athearn locomotive's from the blue box now with today's technology they can be converted to DCC n Sound technology for the blue boxes I would go with loksound v5 technology sound n blunami DCC n Sound technology is worth investing to
Great review! 6289 I received yesterday was also afflicted with the wavy hand rails. I'm hoping that they'll maybe straighten on their own once acclimated? If you look at the patch on the rear of 6289, each side has flames. I had heard of this and thought it was just folklore. Nope. 😂 It's a great unit and will take a minimal weathering to look the part.
Hey, on the layout I’m building all (except one engine I’m trying to get because eBay sent it to the wrong address, but the seller is trying to get it to me) are DC except the engine I just mentioned which is DCC. Is there anyway I could have one DC engine sitting on a siding or something and have another DC running? I won’t to be able to store engines on the layout and not just cars, but i don’t know how to do that with having multiple DC engines on the layout.
Anybody had the ST one and also Athearn, and have a preference for one over the other? I bought a coupe of the ST ones and would like a couple more. Should I go with Athearn, or wait for the ST round 2?
I think the weakest part of this model is the sound quality. It's faint. The loudness is less than ideal. I guess it's typical of Soundtraxx Tsunami products. I have an Athearn product myself. Although I'm truly satisfied with the details of the model, the sound quality isn't very good. The engine and horn sound may be great and crisp, but the sound of the bell or radio chatter isn't clearly audible.
Scale Sound Systems makes inexpensive upgrade speakers that really improve the sound quality, overall. Soundtraxx lets you tweak individual effects, but there are so many options, it's easy to "get lost in the weeds." Once tuned in, they sound great, tho'.
