GP 15

[faraway]

An Athearn H0 GP15 in the UP colors is expected soon. That GP15 Athearn uses as prototype in a former CNW with inertia filters. All GP15 is did see on photos or videos in the LA area have Farr filters. I assume most of them have their origin at MP.
Did or does UP have some or even one GP15 with inertia filter in the LA area or do I have to skip that nice engine and stay with my much simpler P1K engines (with Farr filter)?

[FCIN]

Reinhard;

Athearn makes 3 versions of the GP15-1/GP15-T. As I understand it, most all of the former CNW GP15's, along with the MP versions, went to the UP, so the Athearn model is probably correct. You'd have to check the locomotive number against a UP roster to be 100% sure.

I sure hope if you get one, it's a lot better than the DCC/Sound Equipped MP version I got, that will barely run. It's a beautifully detailed model, but the one have really stinks as far as performance.

[faraway]

Reinhard;

Athearn makes 3 versions of the GP15-1/GP15-T. As I understand it, most all of the former CNW GP15's, along with the MP versions, went to the UP, so the Athearn model is probably correct. You'd have to check the locomotive number against a UP roster to be 100% sure.

I sure hope if you get one, it's a lot better than the DCC/Sound Equipped MP version I got, that will barely run. It's a beautifully detailed model, but the one have really stinks as far as performance.

Ed, I did check as far as I could get information based on the road number. That check failed. I could not find an indication that UP did use the Athearn numbers (CNW bases) in California. But sometime strange things happen and I hoped one or two engines had a temporary assignment in the sun.
But what is about the performance? I am looking after the units to get high class smooth runners. I have three UP MP15 with Farr filters but they are average at best. What is wrong with Athearn's new MP15? They have an impressive price tag and "should" perform accordingly. I plan do buy the DC version and do the DCC conversion/Decoder-plug-in myself.

[FCIN]

Reinhard;

I purchased my rather expensive Athearn GP15-1 (MP version) based on the glowing review in MR. When I received it and put it on my test/breakin loop, it wouldn't run in DC mode other than it just begin to move at a full 12v then would stall and the sound system would reset. It would barely move another inch or so and stall again. Never made one complete loop of the test track. Next I tried operating it on DCC. It seemed to run okay on DCC for the most part, although not as good as any of my other DCC locos; but still had that constant stalling and sound system reset. Run a few inches, then stall and restart, repeatedly. I hooked up the DCC throttle to my test loop and got it running at a nice medium speed to break it in some, but after running it for 30 minutes in each direction. No change.

I removed the body shell (as much as you can) looking for any possible loose wires or other items that might have come loose during shipping and could find nothing. Track and wheels both clean, no obvious loose wiring and none of my other engines ever stall. Even the Athearn CF-7 that I put a simple decoder in, runs far better than the GP15.

I contacted Athearn and of course they want me to send it to them at my expense for "repairs". Since it was a gift, the sales receipt was lost/misplaced, so it doesn't qualify for warranty repairs and I've had it for more than 90 days. I have not sent it back to Athearn so far and at this point, I'm just writing it off as an expensive goof up!

I have seen videos on YouTube of other GP15-1's that folks have purchased and they seem to have no problems with theirs so I'm just guessing that it was my turn to get a lemon. I'm debating on sending it to Athearn, but right now I'd rather not put more money in this engine.

[faraway]

Ed, I am sorry to read about your bad experience.
Did you ever direct connect the power leads from the trucks (or even only one truck) with the motor for test purposes? It would show if the pure mechanic is ok runni9ng with plain old DC. That would make it easier to focus on the sound decoder or on the drive itself.
I did read about a lot of problems of sound decoders preinstalled in the units (not specific for this unit but in general). That is the reason why I prefer the DC version and install the decoder of my choice. If your GP15 has a good drive mechanic it might be worse the effort to replace the board with your choice of (sound?)decoder.
Good luck to get a fine running engine.

[torikoos]

Which ever model, the current production Athearn locos are generally good running engines, but Athearn still has a few quality control issues to sort out with their chinese suppliers, as there are several stories of locos not running great, or not as good as they should for the money.
In most cases, it is fairly easy to solve, with a little bit of TLC, and a few hours on your work bench to do either lubrication, aligning the drive line, clean of sprue from within the gear towers, solve a minor electrical pick up problem etc..
I agree that for this day and age, it shouldn't be needed, but I'm just saying that IF you come across a model that has issues, a bit of patience can usually solve the matter.

[rrinker]

Solder new power pickup wires to the metal sideframes - both sides, don't let it rely on the bolster for the one side. You may have to go as far as to disassemble the trucks and file the plastic down a bit - but not the metal - so that the bronze bushings can actually ride on the metal and transfer power - or you can use very fine wire and solder right to the bronze bushings. My first Athearn RS-3 was like this, VERY poor power pickup. I did the new wires to the sideframes but that only partly helped and I set it aside to try the more drastic methods later. In the meantime I snagged another one in a random road name on eBay for $20 and that one ran beautifully! So I swapped the shells with the one I wanted and now I have a perfectly oeprating one. The quality control is very hit or miss on these. As for the glowing review, well you won't see a bad review in MR, particularly for an advertiser who usually runs several full pages each issue. :mrgreen:

--Randy

[Sumpter250]

As far as I can see, the former CNW GP15s are still in the Chicago area. In UP Paint, and renumbered, but still here.
The CNW GP15-1 ( #1644 ) was one of the first Diesel "kitbashes" I ever did.
Went to take pictures/measurements, and got " thrown off the property "......went back next day... Coat, Tie, Clipboard, and a Hardhat ?.....They woudn't even get close to me, saw me, but wouldn't come near!

[P5se Camelback]

Yup! That's the way to do it!

They're all afraid of "The Suits!"

I learned about the fear of "The Suits" early in my career ... when I would cruise the production floor at NCR in
Columbia, SC, observing how products designed before I became the resident product designer there were
designed to be assembled ... I was looking for a way to design new product so to allow for easier, quicker
assembly. But everyone gave me a wide berth and got rather tight-lipped when I was around.
It was all very curious, I thought at the time.

Rather smart idea, there, Ess Two Fiddy! Thanks for reminding me! I'll have to "dress up" when I go on my next railfanning mission!

[FCIN]

Reinhard;

Just wanted to let you know that I think I've solved the problem with my Athearn GP15. Since it was obviously having power pickup problems (seemed to be the rear truck), I soldered the power wires to the board (so much the warranty!) and that seems to have cured the problem. It did stall out a couple of times when I first ran it after the soldering job, but after running it for several minutes, I experienced no more stalling. The real test will be operating the layout using it. If that "fix" didn't work then I don't know what route to take next. Display model status????

Keep your figures crossed for me!

[faraway]

... Just wanted to let you know...!

I am glad to hear that! It is always very disappointing to get a new engine only to find out it is a lemon. But this one is going to be a sweet orange

[FCIN]

May have spoken too soon. Still stalling on me although not as bad as before. Seem to still have power pickup issues from the rear truck and can't see a thing wrong with the wires. If I lift the front truck off the rail - no power. If front truck is on the rails and I lift the rear truck - it seems to be okay. May have to resort to adding some sort of wheel wipers to it or something. This is really disappointing.

[rrinker]

That's what happened with my RS-3. Soldering wires to the metal plates helped a lottle but it still stalled when the front truck was lifted. I didn't get around to it yet but the second part is the filing of the plastic core of the truck OR soldering fine wire to the little square bronze bushings - the bushings are not fully contacting the metal side plates on the problem truck and so soldering wires to the metal plates didn't do a whole lot.

--Randy

[FCIN]

That's what happened with my RS-3. Soldering wires to the metal plates helped a lottle but it still stalled when the front truck was lifted. I didn't get around to it yet but the second part is the filing of the plastic core of the truck OR soldering fine wire to the little square bronze bushings - the bushings are not fully contacting the metal side plates on the problem truck and so soldering wires to the metal plates didn't do a whole lot.

--Randy

Randy;
Sounds like I'm going to have to try doing something like what you suggest if I can ever hope to get this thing running acceptably. I'll have to take a close look at how the trucks on this GP15 are put together and see what I can do. The truck design on these is different than what I've seen on Athearn before - being a lot more like the Atlas design. It's quite obvious that the bushings aren't making good contact with that metal side plate at all times. I really thought at first that I'd cured the problem, but after letting it sit for a few hours and then running it again, it was just as before. Stall, stall, stall! I'm actually hoping that there might be a simple way to put thin wire wheel wipers on the trucks and connect them to the power wires from the trucks.

It's a real shame that you can fork over almost $200 for a beautifully detailed model like this then have to almost rebuild it to get it to run good! From a few things I found on the web today, look's like I'm not the only one that has had real problems with these models.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ0DAj5Ll3I
This video shows the newer style truck on the GP15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L131IMFLfSk

[P5se Camelback]

... It's a real shame that you can fork over almost $200 for a beautifully detailed model like this then have to almost rebuild it to get it to run good! ...

Hmmm. That sounds familiar.

Oh yeah! That's what I said when I bought my first piece of brass, a Gem Models Reading I10s 2-8-0 Consolidation. It was beautiful (by 1974 standards) with all the freestanding pipes and the little globe valves and everything. Of course, it was only $150.00 ... not $200 but it was 1974!

But despite all it's looks, a barely scale Marx cast pot metal "Hudson" with a smoke unit and almost no detail, not even cast on detail, ran better! Except for not barking, it was a dog. 8-)