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athearn vs athearn genesis big boy/challenger

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  • Member since
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athearn vs athearn genesis big boy/challenger
Posted by Aton on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 3:21 PM

I was looking on eBay today at the n scale big boys and challengers made by Athearn and noticed that some of the models are marked as genesis by their sellers, and some aren't. Normally I would figure that some were miss-marked as genesis (or non-genesis) online, and that the two variations are actually the same, but there is a significant price difference so I'm not sure. I know that the genesis line is Athearn's high-end stuff so I would think that a model as expensive and complicated as the big boys and challengers would be included in that line, but most descriptions don't seem to make a point of saying so.

Are the two options actually different or is it just inconsistent-labeling? And if they actually are different, which one is recommended?

 

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 3:27 PM

That is a great question.

It seems there are way too many "lines" being plopped onto items by manufacturers. It has become quite a mess.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by Aton on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 3:41 PM

It's a mixture of that and the fact that most manufacturers have really bad backreferences to old products, so it's difficult to actually find out anything. 

even Model railroader is inconsistent, for the 2008 Athearn big boy they said it has 3oz of drawbar pull, but the 2013 Athearn big boy only has 1.6, how does that make sense??? Either one is more powerful (supporting the idea that there is indeed a genesis and non-genesis model) or Model railroaded is just inconsistent, which (based on their other reviews of near-identical products) seems more likely. It makes it very hard to cross-reference things to find out what you need to know

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 3:43 PM

Aton
Model railroader is inconsistent, for the 2008 Athearn big boy they said it has 3oz of drawbar pull, but the 2013 Athearn big boy only has 1.6, how does that make sense??? Either one is more powerful (supporting the idea that there is indeed a genesis and non-genesis model) or Model railroaded is just inconsistent

Interesting... drawbar pull is the one thing I never pay attention to. My maximum train length is 12 cars, with 6-8 being normal, so drawbar pull is not a concern of mine.

We should probably not get too far off topic before you get an answer.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by doctorwayne on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 6:06 PM

Aton
...even Model railroader is inconsistent, for the 2008 Athearn big boy they said it has 3oz of drawbar pull, but the 2013 Athearn big boy only has 1.6, how does that make sense??? Either one is more powerful (supporting the idea that there is indeed a genesis and non-genesis model) or Model railroaded is just inconsistent, which (based on their other reviews of near-identical products) seems more likely. It makes it very hard to cross-reference things to find out what you need to know

I have Bachmann Consolidations with more oomph than that.Stick out tongue

Wayne

EDIT:

OOPS!  Thanks for your reply, Sheldon, as I missed the reference to N scale in the OP's entry, probably because it wasn't capitalised.

  • Member since
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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 6:16 PM

I don't follow N scale at all, but on Athearn's web site no N scale product is refered to as "Genesis".

Sheldon

    

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Posted by Aton on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 11:22 PM

doctorwayne
as I missed the reference to N scale in the OP's entry, probably because it wasn't capitalised.

Sorry about that... dyslexia's a pain lol. Big Smile

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