It should at least run on a 22" radius. If there's one thing Athearn's always been good about, it's making their models run at least decently on tight curves. And who cares if they look silly!? I WANT A TURBINE ON MY LITTLE LAYOUT!!
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Don't know about the Athearn, but my Lionel will do 18" without a prob!! Athearn has made the Challenger & even the Big Boy to go around 18", so I would guess the Turbine would do the same - certainly a lot easier than getting the BB to do it!!! BTW, they all look silly on 18"!!!!
Hey, I cant find any mention of min. radius for this loco on Athearn's site. Does anyone know this ? Looks to me as you would need more than 24.
Sounds great for the diesel, but what about the turbine?
There is a QSI sound file for the gas turbine so the Revolution will be available for the UP Turbine. You can hear the sound at the following link. QSI Turbine Sound
That chip will be welcomed indeed. I have two turbines "in the shop" waiting for sound and conversion to DCC.
Got this from the UP modelers site "Checking the QSI web site, there is a Quantum Revolution chip coming for the turbine with all of the new bells and whistles added.Regards,DA Borden, RLA"
The old chip wass OK - the new one should be better!!
The new MRR Newsletter gives it's release date as June 09.
I don't think this is a question about Quality but more about the Sound and the usual Athearn Junk. The only Sound Decoder with Turbine Sound is QSI and I completely understand why Athearn doesn't want to add QSI - they certainly must have a contract with MRC.
From the announcement I get that this is a better than usual RTR model and it easily can be on the Genesis level. Of course we won't know that before the model is released but on the other hand how long is Athearn continuing with the Genesis line?
The Genesis Freight cars are all RTR models now and how long before the first Genesis locos are "converted" to RTR?!
The tenders were added to solve traction issues that occured with the original configuration as the fuel was used up. When they moved to the tenders, the fuel tanks on the locos were filled (with concrete I believe) to provide weight.
The QSI turbine sound can be added to these and you have dual mode sound capabilities in the loco. Much better option than the normal Athearn sound offering.
But why RTR and not Genesis? From the information I have seen released, these were going to be Genesis quality, as originally announced, but for some reason Athearn has decided to release them as RTR models. Does this mean they are dropping back on the quality? or have they just done this because they don't have an appropriate sound option for them?
I will be waiting to see some examples before I order - though I do have several Overland brass ones to keep me happy till then .
Richard
Personally, I wish it was Genesis, as I would think that at least half the fun of a turbine model would be the sound. I run DC, so to get sound the Genesis line with their dual mode sound is the way for me.
Loco What is the difference between RTR and Genesis? Does this mean there is no sound available?!?! That just sucks. I've got two of the Lionel Verandas and that's first thing folks will comment on is when that puppy fires up!!
What is the difference between RTR and Genesis?
Does this mean there is no sound available?!?! That just sucks. I've got two of the Lionel Verandas and that's first thing folks will comment on is when that puppy fires up!!
Genesis line is a step up from the RTR line (someone will correct me if I'm wrong but both the motor and body is better). RTR line does not offer sound.
The only Turbine sound is available from QSI - so you have to add that yourself! Lionel also used that QSI sound I believe.
There is a video from the Anaheim show and there the Athearn guy talks about a "Genesis level model" - and DCC ready and shows where there's enough room for the two speakers.
I guess that confused some people into thinking that this will be a Genesis model with Installed Sound (but who wants Genesis sound anyway?).
It has the 8 and 9 Pin Plugs for easy DCC installation - and this will turn out a great model I'm sure.
The nickname for the first generation units was "Baby BLow"
next came the "Veranda" units with the covered walkways,
and finally the 8500 Hp three unit "Big Blow" turbines.
the tenders used in excursion service with the 844 and 3985 are the ones from the three unit turbine, and not the tender version offered by Athearn.
You can always try on the internet for a brass loco, that should only run you about $3,500.00
The Big Blow's were 2 'power units' and as many fuel tenders as required(usually just 1). The tenders were not 'powered' and were not attached with draw bars, IIRC.
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I am not sure if there was a 'name' for the full car body 4500 hp units. The follow-on order had the 'Veranda' car body, and the 8500 hp units were know as the 'Big Blow' units. All of them made a quite a 'howl' at speed!
Jim
The first series were called the Standard Turbine or baby turbines, then the 61 to 75 were called the Veranda type and both types were 4500HP units. The last batch with 8500 HP units were called Super Turbines and Big Blow. They were very large and very loud but so were the so called small turbines.
The fuel tenders used for these were much different than the tenders used to build the 8500 HP units. Only number 61 had a modified tender that was much like the FEF-1 type, but it was replaced by the Standard round model like all of the 1st and 2nd series 4500 turbines used. They can be run without the tenders also since that is the way they were used for several years when they were new.
CZ
The GREAT news is, the tender is available seperately!!! This style tender is used on the 844 AND Challenger fan trip locos, as well as having been used on other locos over the years!! The only other tenders of this style available previously were brass or the plastic "dummy" from the Revell/Monogram plastic BB static model!! (I know there are many variations to this tendeer "type", but they all share a "family resemblance").
This tender was the ones made from the 9000 series locomotive tenders. It is round, unlike the ones made for the 8500 HP Turbine which used the FEF-1 tenders for their start.
The 51 series 4500 HP unit is the one Athearn is bringing in, but it is in the RTR classification. I had been under the impression it might be a Genesis model, but it is RTR. The price sure seems high considering it is not a Genesis with sound, not that the MRC sound would be correct.
http://www.athearn.com/Newsletter/121608/03_TURBINE_121608.jpg
I rode the Big Blow Trains, July 1953 page 18 Union Pacific's gas-turbines ( "ABBEY, WALLACE W.", TURBINE, UP, TRN )
Contact Walley Abbey and tell him he wrote about a Big Blow turbine five years before it was built. Data from the MR Magazine Database. It is a great article. More likely Walley Abbey coined the term Big Blow or heard it and repeated it in his article. IMHO Big Blow applies to all UP Turbines.
The pricing seems right, as they are RTR/DCC READY. Thats actually higher than a RTR SD40, for instance.
As soon as I finish this post, I'm e-mailing my LHS to order a loco & 2 tenders!!!
This is the link to the announcement of the RTR UP Turbine and it is priced rather conservative I think and comes DCC ready with 8 & 9 Pin Plugs!
Price is $229.98 for the Turbine
$299.98 for the Turbine with Tender
$ 89.98 for the Tender
Lyon,
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Does "Big Blow" only apply to the 8,500hp model, or was it a generic name for all of UP's 1950s era gas turbines?
The Athearn Turbines were announced at the 2008 NMRA show, and they even had a pre-production model.
http://www.pbase.com/tracktime/image/100358244
Pretty nice looking model!! I want one. Please Santa?
I saw one of those in a hobby shop in Tucson, Arizona last week. I never really looked closely at it because I had no interest in purchasing one, but do remember that it was an Athearn. IIRC, it was listed as being a Varanda with a single tender.
There's no way Athearn could have brougth former Tower 55 products to market so soon unless they were already on a ship from China bound for the U.S. The lead time for Athearn to contract with a company in China to manufacture them would probably take months.
MRR had something in there about the new turbines comming out. Think they are the Veranda type if I recall.
Where is this announcement? I have seen nothing from Atherarn News. The Genesis turbine is one of the original single unit(4500 hp) with tender, and that is scheduled for July last I heard. I just looked at the Athearn web site and see nothing about a 2 unit 'Big Blow'(8500 hp) unit. Got a web link?