I noticed on Athearn's website, that series of GP40 locos, announced last summer, will be shipping in the early part of next year. Does anyone know if these are re-tooled, or are they the same original Bluebox loco's with some new handrails stuck on etc? I would love it to be re-worked as their recent SD40T-2's were, with the beautiful see through louvres etc, as that's the quality of work I'm after.
Thanks!
Koos
Athearn has been doing a lot of re-tooling on their popular Blue Boxes. I have the newer re-tooled GP-35.Smooth runner with excellent detail and the hood is now to scale and not as chunky as the BB. They also re-tooled their SD-40's and even thier F's. So my guess is to keep the trend going, its more than likely the GP-40 will get the same treatment.
That's encouraging. Do you mind posting a picture of your GP35? Just curious on it's overall appearance :-)
Thanks, Koos
Sure can.
Here's the newer, re-tooled Athearn GP-35.
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attachment=6278]
And for cpmparison, an older BB, custom painted for a local railroad, Housatonic, which by the way, Athearn has released this paint in the newer, re-tooled version of thier GP-35. If only I waited twenty years............
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attachment=6277]
What happened was that a lot of the older blue box Athearns were designed with the wide hoods to fit the old style Athearn motor. Rail Power Products came out with scale width hood bodies for the older Athearn wide hood models as well as some other models that Athearn didn't produce like the Gp40x, the Gp60 wide cab and b-units, and the Cf7. After Horizon bought Athearn, they also bought Rail Power Products and reworked and cleaned up the tooling for better detail. The result is that some of Athearn's new stuff is new tooling, some of it is older tooling that has been cleaned up for better quality pieces, and some of their new models are altogether new tooling of models that they never made before. Horizon kept on the Athearn management, and they also hired new modelers in management positions. I've known most of these guys when they were local model railroaders here in So Cal before they went to work for Athearn and they are the "cream of the crop" of modelers in So Cal.
Russ Bellinis Wrote:What happened was that a lot of the older blue box Athearns were designed with the wide hoods to fit the old style Athearn motor. Rail Power Products came out with scale width hood bodies for the older Athearn wide hood models as well as some other models that Athearn didn't produce like the Gp40x, the Gp60 wide cab and b-units, and the Cf7. After Horizon bought Athearn, they also bought Rail Power Products and reworked and cleaned up the tooling for better detail. The result is that some of Athearn's new stuff is new tooling, some of it is older tooling that has been cleaned up for better quality pieces, and some of their new models are altogether new tooling of models that they never made before. Horizon kept on the Athearn management, and they also hired new modelers in management positions. I've known most of these guys when they were local model railroaders here in So Cal before they went to work for Athearn and they are the "cream of the crop" of modelers in So Cal.
Well in that case, you could possibly be our 'mole' :-) <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/posting.php?mode=quote&f=17&p=62399#">posting.php?mode=quote&f=17&p=62399#</a><!-- l -->
Are you still in touch with some of these guys? I'd really like to see a nice GP 40 or other GP series switcher , particularly as a Genesis release, it's about time. Most GP's on the market at present are designs from years ago, or are found with detailing great for a starter, but for more critical modelers there's not much about at present. The Atlas units were the best we had so far I believe , but not all road names are currently available....
Oh and while I am at it, <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/posting.php?mode=quote&f=17&p=62399#">posting.php?mode=quote&f=17&p=62399#</a><!-- l --> PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE release a California Northern GP15-1 ! It's only a matter of a new paint job, they already have a shell with nose gong style bell!
There, rant over :-)
torikoos Wrote:I noticed on Athearn's website, that series of GP40 locos, announced last summer, will be shipping in the early part of next year. Does anyone know if these are re-tooled, or are they the same original Bluebox loco's with some new handrails stuck on etc? I would love it to be re-worked as their recent SD40T-2's were, with the beautiful see through louvres etc, as that's the quality of work I'm after.
Thanks!
Koos
The RTR GP40-2 is the same as the BB GP40-2 except it now has scale handrails,wire grabs,the newer drive shafts..
Brakie Wrote:The RTR GP40-2 is the same as the BB GP40-2 except it now has scale handrails,wire grabs,the newer drive shafts..
That's a shame, although it's not a bad shell, I think it's time for something better now, here's hoping for a Genesis version :-)
Thanks for the pics Eightyeightfan! :-)
I only see the guys at trains shows where Athearn has a booth set up. Athearn is part of Horizon, but it functions as a semi independant comapny in that Horizon left the existing Athearn management in place when they took over and leave most of the decision making up to them. If you want to see a new product or a different paint scheme offered, send them an email. If they get enough requests for a product or paint scheme to demonstrate a significant market, they will produce it.
torikoos Wrote:Brakie Wrote:The RTR GP40-2 is the same as the BB GP40-2 except it now has scale handrails,wire grabs,the newer drive shafts..
That's a shame, although it's not a bad shell, I think it's time for something better now, here's hoping for a Genesis version :-)
Thanks for the pics Eightyeightfan! :-)
Don't sell that GP40-2 its not all that inaccurate according to the diesel gurus and still a worthy locomotive.
A Genesis GP40-2 would go head to head with the Atlas GP40-2.
BYTW..According to the diesel gurus there's a few oops on the Atlas GP40-2.
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attachment=6318]True, the old shell is not that bad. Here's my old BB GP38-2, detailed (with cannon cab and other details), in my own freelance scheme. It' looks beaten and battered, it's a road that hasn't got too much money :-) It has recently been improved and some cosmetic damage repaired a bit,it has sound now and a Mashima can motor. I haven't made a new picture of it yet.
Russ Bellinis Wrote:I only see the guys at trains shows where Athearn has a booth set up. Athearn is part of Horizon, but it functions as a semi independant comapny in that Horizon left the existing Athearn management in place when they took over and leave most of the decision making up to them. If you want to see a new product or a different paint scheme offered, send them an email. If they get enough requests for a product or paint scheme to demonstrate a significant market, they will produce it.
Let's all start lobbying :-) ha ha Bring the geeps up to date, and please produce a CFNR (California Northern) scheme GP15-1 , shell already in production is the CNW version. :-)
torikoos ,That 1623 looks like shes seen a lot of service..
Brakie Wrote:torikoos ,That 1623 looks like shes seen a lot of service..
That was the idea, but it's also true. You may notice the absence of the front coupler, that was broken at the time, but has since been re-installed, handrails been alligned again, headlights and roof beacon made operational via DCC decoder, and the weathering improved slightly. She still has the beaten and battered look, as I want it to be a loco that sees a lot of service.