My dad had one of these models in the late 70s, and it always seemed like a very good runner, with six pick-up and drive wheels on each truck, and a flywheel. Of all of the models in our house, this was the only one with a flywheel. Sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, something went wrong with this engine, possibly a short. It ran slowly and got too hot, eventually melting some of the plastic around the motor, rendering it useless. I later removed the gearing so that it could be pulled as a dummy, and I’m not sure what ever happened to it after that.
I found this same model, with upgraded details, at a good price on eBay last year. It runs just as well, or better, as the one my dad had. The previous owner, who had a B&N layout, had a friend of his add some details, including a new motor and flywheels, Kadee knuckle couplers, a flashing cab roof beacon, MU cables, a fuel tank breather pipe, painted hand rails, new number boards (white lettering on black background), and two parts that I can’t remember the name of (two things that on the prototype would flap down so that the crew can safely walk from one locomotive to another across the couplers). The model my dad had featured metal trucks, but this one has plastic trucks. I’m not sure if that was a change made by the previous owner, or if Athearn just changed to plastic trucks at some point.
This model doesn’t really need any work, other than possibly converting to DCC at some point, and replacing the parts that I can’t remember the name of, since they broke off during shipping.
