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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Minuteman I'm in the market for an Athearn or Lionel 4-6-6-4 #3985....which should I get? I'm leaning towards Athearn since it has the controller with it....I run good ol DC by the way.... I saw Lionel Challengers going for $225 now.....seems like a bargain though. Only think is I wan't the oil version and I think Athearn only makes the oil version. What do you all think? [/quote] If you run DC only, the Lionel will make sounds, but you have very little control over the functions of the sound. We are not sure of the operation for the athearn, so it will be hard to make a decision on the facts about the two. Detail wise, the Athearn has no competion when you compare it to the Lionel and most places are offering the Athearn engines for about the same price. The Lionel is a bargain for 225 and I have seen it for less. The Athearn is about 239 at the lowest priced places and that is a bargain also. The first group of engines coming from Athearn are limited to the Excursion version of 3985, and it is an oil version with all of the extra boxes on top of the oil compartment of the tender. They also have the undec version of the same engine. The second group of engines coming from Athearn will have both the oil and coal versions of the Challengers that represent the in service engines before 1959. These are the ones I really want to purchase, but there is no way of knowing what price they will be once all of the competion is gone. My concern is, what price will the later version be, so I have reserved two of the first group and some of the later ones also so I can take advantage of the price break now. It would make sense for Athearn to increase the price once all of the Lionel units are gone. The running qualites of the Athearn engines are unproven as of today, since I have not run them or read a good review about how they operate. I have seen their proto model at a show, and they have the detail and look that will match Overland, Key and most any other engines out there that cost at least six to ten times more.
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