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Athearn BB Locos: Coffee Grinders?
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I've found that Athearn locos are a little variable. I have some that make an appalling racket, vibrate like crazy and won't run too well at low speed, and also some that are superb - best of these being the SD9 that I bought as my first HO scale loco, closely followed by an SD40-2 and SD40T-2 (both of these have their newer single-piece driveshafts which do seem to reduce the vibration a lot). It would seem that asking if they can do a test-run in the store before buying is a good idea, to ensure you're getting a good one. There are tricks you can use to improve them such as using toothpaste to bed the gears in, and cleaning the motor commutator seems to help too. A good Athearn is a solid, reliable performer that makes a good basis for further detailing. I think they will need to improve the product in future however - Bachmann's standard-range diesels are quieter runners, very smooth, and would be as good as Proto chassis if they had flywheels (figuring out how to fit these to my three), and are around half the price. The drive systems should have a decent lifespan if properly maintained as well.
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