Athearn Genesis Dash 9-44CWL Review & Testing

Full review and standardized testing of the 2021 run HO scale GE Dash 9-44CWL by Athearn Genesis.
Locomotive weight: 622 grams / 22 oz
Drawbar Pull: 100 grams / 3.53 oz
Drawbar Push: 105 grams / 3.7 oz
MSRP:
DC/Silent - $249.98 USD
DCC/Soundtraxx Tsunami II - $339.98 USD
This model was announced in July 2020 and delivered in December 2021 in 6 different paint schemes, 17 unique road numbers in both Soundtraxx Tsunami II DCC with sound and DC/DCC ready:
Canadian National "Map/North America/NAFTA" - 2500, 2511, 2520
BC Rail "Red White Blue" - 4641, 4642
UP "Conventional" - 9719, 9739
Chicago North Western - 8613
BNSF - 5009, 5146, 5127, 5088, 1082, 1011, 977
Detailed Information:
What makes the CWL version of the Dash 9 unique is that these units were built with the Canadian-style safety cab that utilized the 4-piece windshield. BC Rail purchased 4 CWL's, all other Dash 9s purchased by BC Rail were the more traditional 2-piece windshields.
Also ordering the Dash 9-44CWL was Canadian National, with a quantity of 23 • Early style dynamic brake exhaust fascia of the unique locomotives. These units differ from the BC Rail units with slight hood variations and different snow grates in the walkway.
Canadian National Features
Canadian style safety cab with 4-piece front windshield
Canadian style anti-climbers
Operating class lights
CN style walkway with multi-piece etched snow grates
Curved engine compartment hood profile
Early ‘tabbed’ dynamic brake intake panels
Detail - Very good. Superb artwork and paint job. Finely captured details such as the voltage warning on the headlights. Fine scale handrails which are nice and straight. Both cab mirrors had detached in transit, I was able to find one in the box but the other was missing. The walkways had also warped. I don't typically dock points for loose detail parts unless it cannot be fixed because it is common with every single manufacturer. These things are delicate and the long trip from the factory to my house in Canada almost guarantees something will come loose. This model specifically was sitting on my front step in -10*C before I got home to grab it. These models are on par with brass version detail minus the see through detail on the traction motors 9.25/10
Operation/Drive train - Very slow crawl speed, nice smooth, quiet operation. It lurches ahead pretty quickly when going from 0-1 speed step but that can be adjusted by adding some acceleration in the decoder. 8.5/10
Weight - Weighing in at 622 grams / 22 oz, a full 80 grams heavier than the ES44AC, these things are brutes. Very impressive that they were able to get another 80 grams into it compared to the ES44AC. For context, this thing outweighs the old Kato SD90/43MAC which weighed in at 611 grams and is second to only the recently released Athearn Genesis SD90/43MACH at a whopping 722 grams / 25.4 oz 9.5/10
Sound - Great sounding recordings of the 7FDL-16 prime mover in the Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 decoder. The horn and bell are too loud out of the box. I will have to go into the EQ and turn down the horn and bell. I also like the alternative EQ in the function 9 spot where it immediately cuts the volume in half. 9/10
Lighting - Headlights, ditch lights, ground lights, step lighting, class lights and number boards are all LED. This unit is light years ahead of the older genesis models. The ground lights and step lighting come on with track power which is cool. The number boards, headlights, ditch lights and class lights all have their own function which is really cool. 9.5/10
OVERALL SCORE: 9.15 / 10
This is one of the nicest locomotives in my fleet and I was completely blown away by the lighting features and how nice they were done. Athearn has knocked it out of the park in every category and I find it hard to believe that somehow this thing is heavier than a Kato SD90/43MAC. Now what do I do with the three CN/BCOL CWL cab kits and Kato dash 9's that I have?
For comparison, all of my other review and tests of the following HO scale locomotives can be found at this link:
www.youtube.co....
Atlas Gold CN Dash 8-40C
Kato CP AC4400CW
Kato CP SD90/43MAC
Intermountain CN ES44DC
Intermountain CN SD40-2W
Athearn Genesis CP ES44AC (2013 Run)
Athearn Genesis CN GP40-2LW
Rapido VIA Rail F40PH-2D
Intermountain Citi Rail ES44AC
Bowser CP SD40-2
Rapido VIA Rail F40PH-2D Rebuild
Rapido CN GMD-1
ScaleTrains.com CN ET44AC
Rapido BC Rail Dash 8-40CM
Athearn Genesis ES44AC (2020 Run)
Athearn Genesis GP38-2 (2020 Run)
Athearn Genesis GP20-2 (2021 Run)
Horizon Hobby:
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