Bachmann may be better

Actually, I think the Bachmann loco scales out better than the Athearn.  The Athearn is a warmed-over version of the old Front Range Products geeps of the 80s, and it was a mess, dimensionally.  Athearn tried to correct some of its flaws, but it is still rough in places.  The only real problem I see with the Bachmann is that they just have a clip on dynamic section, so you can see the gaps where it meets the sides of the hood.  That could be fixed, if you are going to paint it yourself anyway.  Or you could just leave the db section off, if you don't need them on your units, and it would look fine as is.  The only other thing is the Bachmann doesn't have sound, but the Athearn is available with sound.

Glad you brought up the dynamics

I was looking at the various road names from the standpoint as to which would be easiest to strip, repaint and reletter but since my layout is rather mountainous terrain, I need to make sure whatever I choose has dynamic brakes as I generally like for my diesels to have that detail.

Michael

Bachmann

Given your priorities, you may be better off with the Bachmann units.  Quality on Genesis mechanisms seems to be uneven at best, and one of my friends had an electrical gremlin that saw the truck wiring disintegrate, complete with melted insulation, after 20 minutes of normal break-in running.

Bachmann

I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I would go with the Bachmann models.  I have been a huge fan of Athearn trains for a long time but I have been very disappointed in the recent Genesis models!  However with that said I have no experience with their GP7's.  I do have several Bachmann GP40's and F7's and I have been very pleased with there performance on my layout.  The Genesis models will be better detailed out of the box but bang for the buck you can buy two Bachmann models and the detail parts and have two nice engines for the price of one.

Thanks guys

That's the way I'm leaning too. At this point with the scale change and all my modeling budget has really been hit hard and I think I'd rather have two additional locos or maybe one loco and using the other money on some coal hoppers since I need a bunch of those too. Anyone know if the Bachmann's have NMRA plug type decoders or are they hard wired? 

Michael

Bachmann GP9

Hi Michael,

I actually purchased two Bachmann GP9s to see if they could be turned into respectable models, and the answer is, yes they can! The model is a bare-bones GP9 that makes an excellent starting point for obtaining whatever level of detail you want.

Some of the modifications I made were the removal of the cast roof fans in favor of better looking fans that I stripped from an RTR CF7 shell from the junk box. The hood intake grilles were cut out and will be replaced with Plano GP7/9 etched grilles. The pilot foot boards were removed and will be replaced with sheet material. The handrails will be upgraded with Smokey Valley stanchions. I tried modifying the Bachmann side frames to better represent the Blomberg B-type truck, but ended up just cutting them off and using Athearn side frames. Though this locomotive does not come with sound, there are provisions for a 1" speaker in the fuel tank. I may or may not use it.

Overall, it it a decent offering from Bachmann and is dimensionally correct for the most part. Some of the louvers on the hood doors are lower than they should be, however they are on the correct doors. There is also a batten strip that is carried over from their previous GP7 that needs to be removed from the top of the hood doors down to the walkway. This is not and easy task, and most would probably leave it alone. Other than that, make the purchase. I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Donnell