I was travelling in Michigan last week and stopped in at the Junction Valley hobby shop SE of Saginaw. I found an Athearn Genesis SP Black Widow A and B unit pair on a back shelf, apparently new in box, for a great price. Athearn stock # is G2501A. They are in separate yellow boxes stacked in an open-ended cardboard sleeve. This alone marks them as an early Genesis issue. Still unwrapped in plastic and well snuggled in their foam packaging, BUT without any paperwork inside. Hmmm. Anyway, I can't initially locate them on Athearn's website, even under their retired items. Can anyone out there tell me if this brace would be DCC-ready? And, if so, could I expect that it would be as ready as their more recent Genesis F units? Just wondering if I'm in for wiring in my own DCC capability. Obliged, friends.
Hi Attuvian,
I have 4 older ATHG F3 A-B-B-A sets in ATSF Blue/yellow Freight scheme. I looked up the product codes and it says on Athearn's website they were announced in April/May 2001. I purchased them online and took them to Arnie's in Westminster. They can be converted to run on DCC, but the light board needs to be replaced and some of the older runs feature thicker wires. So yes It can be done but might take some work.
If there are any train stores around in your area, why don't you take your locomotives over and the guys will do it for you.
I had a friend who put a decoder in one of his switchers, but he only did it once and doesn't remember since it's complicated.
Attuvian,
To confirm and expand ATSFGuy's response: I could actually find them on the Athearn web site under:
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATHG2501A
These units are from 2001 and among the earliest offerings of Genesis F3/F7 units. I have a bunch of Santa Fe F3/F7 of this generation converted to DCC, using replacement boards from Digitrax. Still, you have to be prepared to solder as the Digitrax board is thicker than the original Athearn board, so that the plastic clips holding the wires in the hole do not fit (soldering guarantees a better connection anyway). In addition, the digitrax boards I used had 12V outputs for the headlights, meaning you need a resistor for the 1.5V bulbs Athearn uses.
To me, the Genesis F units are the best representations of this prototype.
JW
Thanks for the info. I'm also trying to get a hard or e-copy of the information/exploded-view leaflet that generally comes with Athearn's stuff. Fired off a message to thier website but not sure whether they will be forthcoming. Do you think the motors on the A units are 5 pole, skew-wound canned jobs? I haven't pried off the shells yet.
Like this?
http://www.athearn.com/ProdInfo/Files/Genesis_F_Series_Guide.pdf
DrW,
You da man! Greatly appreciated. I did hear from Athearn and they indictaed that these models are DCC-ready and stock circuit board for these 2001 units was for their DC lighting only and can be swapped out for the DCC board of choice for the upgrade. Kind of suspect that there still may be some wiring involved but that will certainly become apparent when I pop off the shell. Then again, maybe not. I do note on the diagram that there are "wire lock" sets shown at the ends of the default as-built board and there are wires (of course) from the truck assemblies as well as the lights. In the upgrade of your units did you units include the installation of speakers for sound? If so, could you locate the speaker in the A unit or did it require running the B unit as well? And do you have a suggested preference for a DCC / sound board?
John
John,
My installs were without sound. I have some units from later runs which have factory-installed sound (there is enough room in each A or B unit to have motor and speaker). The first sound decoders were from MRC; they were so bad that I had to remove them. The newer ones are Tsunamis and are fine.