Athearn SD70M

My three CSXT SD70M's arrived today by UPS, and all three ran exceptionally well out of the box. They run very quietly and operate smoothly thru different speed ranges and mu-ed with other modern Atlas and Kato Engines.

Painting details for the CSXT Blue/Gold Scheme are very accurate for each engine. For example CSXT 4678 and 4697 have white Cab roofs and CSXT 4681 has a Blue Cab Roof.

This engine is a vast improvement over their first N Scale Engine the F59PHI, may be they will re-release the F59PHI with an improved mechanism and different numbers.

Take Care

EC

 

Any Pic's

 

I checked with Digitrax and they suggested the DN163K1B should work. This is the newer board for the Kato SD40s, SD70MAC, and the C44-9W.

I also asked Athearn and they just told me what I already knew...That the loco is DCC ready so a board can just be dropped in. No suggestion as to which board however.

 

Just received my Athearn ATSF SD75M from George this afternoon! Thanks George! First glance from the box I noticed right away that the walkway looked a little bowed, but looked fixable.. Opened the box and put it on the track and ran it right away. Boy does it run smooth! and pulls great at slow speeds! My layout is flat, so it was able to pull the following train 5 Athearn autoracks, 6 atlas autoracks, 4 MTL TOFC cars, 1 Walthers 5 unit articulated well car, 4 MDC double stack cars, and 2 deluxe 5 unit articulated twin stacks, without any slippage.

From a distance it looked pretty good but noticed the paint on the nose was VERY POOR. It is very thick and rough, not smooth like the rest of the shell. You will see this in the last three pics below. Also notice the piece in the picture on the front handrails that looks like a piece of hair is actually a piece of the plastic that is hanging from the handrail that I will need to trim off. The shell comes off very easily just pull from the center and off it comes. I tried to add the Digitrax decoder DN163K1B but kept getting a short and couldn't get it to work just yet.. Just need to play with it a little more to figure where I am shorting..















[ September 08, 2005, 09:43 PM: Message edited by: Colonel_26 ]

 

Okay here are the rest of the Pics:

 

Here are some pictures of the PC board that comes with the locomotive that you need to remove to install the DCC board.


There are two clips that attach the current board to the motor clips you need to pull them off then pull the PC board out. They are circled in the pictures below





The Digitrax DN163K1b slips right in where the PC board was.

 

Looking better but is it just me or do they still have a "toy like" quality? The rough paint on the nose may just be Athearn trying to simulate the anti skid paint that is on the short hood of the prototype. Still turned off about the windows. I will pick up a few of these though.

These could be a good start to a kitbashing/upgrading project with all the detail parts that are avaiable...hey just like HO scalers have always done with Athearn locos.

Brian

 

Id prefer they don't try the anti-skid paint with it turning out like this. Will have to replace the nose and tail hand rails on this unit as they look too thick. I wonder how a Kato set would look on it? Also the windows will have to go, they are just plain bad, especially after you install a decoder in it with the brighter LED and the whole interior lights up (along with the roof of the cab!) Need to find a way to disassemble the shell without breaking it. There is a plastic light transfer tube that runs through the cab but there must be nothing to keep the light from scattering inside the cab, and the light just likes to shine through the plastic. I will shoot a picture of this feature later tonight.. But these are not bad locomotives! Just need a few extra touches to make them better.

[ September 09, 2005, 07:46 AM: Message edited by: Colonel_26 ]

 

Looks like a pretty good model, to me. They could always use some detailing. Thanks for the pictures, William.

The side hand rails don't look nearly as big as the end hand rails. Just an illusion? Thick paint?

 

Colonel, try putting some Kapton tape behind the brush leads - when I was attempting a conversion I identified that as a potential short area.

I say attempting because BOTH of the DN163K1bs I had available had a problem. The LEDS would just flicker, nothing else worked. The boards are on their way to Digitrax under warranty.

I tried an earlier version board that was too long, just laid it with finger contact, and was able to get the correct response, so I know it's the K1bs.

And you were lucky to get the shell off that easily. I needed to break the bond between the shell and chassis the entire length before I could get it off. They were quite generous with glue on my unit.

IMO the shell is glued because the molds weren't tweaked so the parts would simply snap in place like we're used to with Kato and Atlas - definitely inferior mold making compared to the gold standard.

From what I see overall it's basically a good unit but the ditch lights need to work. And how much would it take to paint the outside of that light guide before install? They're SO close!

 

Okay the paint blobs on the short hood were intentionally put there to be the anti-skid surface.

"Thank-you for your inquiry, comments and complements. Please note that the "globs"
on the nose that you are referring represent the anti-skid material that is placed
the nose of the real locomotives to prevent workers from slipping off the engine
while they are working up there.

Sincerely,

Athearn Trains"

 

Well then, that is a pretty silly attempt to simulate that surface. A simple spray of Dullcoat would have done the job much better

I disassembled one of my three Santa Fe SD75Ms I just received a few days ago. The gist of my experience is if the assemblers did not apply the glue too liberally, it is possible to disassemble the shell, cab, and walkway without any significant damage. The glue did not appear to be a strong solvent type glue as the parts were not welded together. I used a sharp hobby knife and was able to separate all the parts at the joints without breaking anything. That said, I am not about to predict that disassembly on the remaining two units is going to go as well.

Upon reassembly, no glue was necessary to get clean and secure joints so I think Athearn needs to pass this along to the factory: HOLD THE GLUE!

 

OC, I do too, but it needed a hit of dulcote to get it to look right. That seemed to fill in the surface a bit on my SP unit and made it look like the Rino liner i'm used to.

 

Well, after having the SD75M for a while the anti-skid surface isn't bothering me too much other than the fact that I can't wait to paint it black! But that will have to wait till my air compressor gets replaced. Till then I've decided to Re-badge it as BNSF 8208 with MS decals and installed some BLMA mirrors. I'll be changing out the ditchlights, and adding MU hoses and cables as a next project, then do some weathering..