Athearn RTR AC4400

[CP5415]

Does anyone have this model?

I just picked one up today from my LHS.
Nicely detailed, fairly quiet, & a good runner.
I'm waiting to hear from a friend so that we can compare Kato's AC4400 to Athearns.

Anyone have comments on this?

Gordon

[Anonymous]

I have one in UP Flag scheme.

It´s not a bad engine. Cheap, looks good and details are normal. And I own three Kato UP AC´s. (EXACT YOU MUST SAY THAT ALL MODELS WERE AC4400-CTE BECAUSE THEIR NUMBERS ARE LOWER THAN 6000!)

The Katos are have more tractive effort and runs smoother and are better detailed.

But costs much more!

BTW: I had heared that there are problems with the Kato AC´s - I have no problems.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bigboy4015

I have one in UP Flag scheme.

It´s not a bad engine. Cheap, looks good and details are normal. And I own three Kato UP AC´s. (EXACT YOU MUST SAY THAT ALL MODELS WERE AC4400-CTE BECAUSE THEIR NUMBERS ARE LOWER THAN 6000!)

The Katos are have more tractive effort and runs smoother and are better detailed.

But costs much more!

BTW: I had heared that there are problems with the Kato AC´s - I have no problems.

There were a couple of failures reported on the Atlas forum. Circuit board failures & concerns
about the operating voltage warning on the Kato carton "Maximum DC 12V". Part of the
thinking was operating in access of 12V( since some packs go to 20) may have contributed
to the circuit board being fried.

[AntonioFP45]

CP5414,

Is it a quiet runner, or does it have a "slight" growl?

[cwclark]

I have two Athearn AC4400's but they are still in the box..i purchased them 2 years ago and couldn't run them because my previous layout was too small ( 15" min. and 18" max. radius track) and they wouldn't stay on the rails...one day after i recently purchased them I was soldering wires on the truck pick ups and installing ditch lights and my elbow knocked over a bottle of AC glue and it got into the truck gears which ruined them so i had to order a new truck which cost $5.00 less than what i paid for the entire engine (talk about a rip off...Athearn parts are more expensive than the engine itself) they are the first one's i'm going to break out when my new layout is up and i'll let you know how they perform....

[ndbprr]

All parts are more expensive than a fully assembled anything. As I recall if you bought a car by going to a dealer and giving him a list of parts it would be in execss of $100,000 for the cheapest car. What you don't realize is a person sitting at a work station with parts delivered can assemble at least 20 an hour. It might talk that same person half an hour to locate the part you want from inventory, bring it to a work station, box or bag it and send on to you. In the meantime the employer has the same wages to pay the person who could be assembling twenty engines. It isn't their fault you had an accident.

[CP5415]

All parts will cost more than the final assembly job.
I work for a parts department in a Chrysler Dealership & you can't build a car cheaper then it is to buy it whole.
A complete V10 Viper motor is $30,000 Can vs $100,000 for the complete car. $25,000 for the hood if you're curious.

Hey cwclark, are yours a Ready to Roll model or a blue box kit?
I have an undec AC4400 from the bluebox series as well. It's no where near as detailed but I still like it.

Ok, ok!!!
It Has a slight growl, I wouldn't want an Athearn without the growl. It wouldn't seem right.

Gordon

[CP5415]

Update on actual running.
It runs great but, I wouldn't haul the two Walthers Domes & 3 Athearn Bombarier coaches up an incline I have. The Athearn P42 had no problem, but the AC4400 needed help. No problem though, I'm going to use it for mainly intermodel traffic.

Gordon