Watched the video today. If I may suggest next time try a Decoder Buddy and get rid of all the JST connectors. It makes an even neater Job and as you implied in your pictures you can separate the frame from the shell easily. It has 8 identical lighting outputs. Also the next time a decoder upgrade comes by it is easy to change out too. I did enjoy your video! I’ll be doing a couple of blue boxes that were custom painted and decaled and have a sentimental value! I appreciate the insights. Thanks for sharing!
I cant believe theres no comments! THIS IS EXACTLY what i was looking for.... THANK YOU !!! Im getting back into it after about 10yrs and my blue box locos just dont run like my new ATHEARN genesis sd75i-ive got my work cut out for me !!!
I am re powering and dcc converting 3 older blue box SD40-2 like yours in this video. I would really like to see how you handled lighting. Especially the cab.
You can also use the BB/RTR motor already in the model, and get one of the Athearn RTR clip on motherboards with the 21 pin socket, and get a 21 pin decoder and speakers if you got a sound decoder. The BB and RTR motors are pretty much on par with the Genesis motors as long as you ensure to grease up everything properly.
I asked in a well informed individual in the HO section in Ft. Lauderdale, he looked up what Kadee gearbox was recommended. He told me the 30 series couple box was the preferred box for Athearn. The 252 is the snap coupler box for whisked couplers. I use both currently as I have several older Blue box locos that were completed before the 252 came out.
With the constant price increases on new sound or even dcc locomotives there may be a rush to buy the Athearn Genesis Motors to install on viewers fleet of older locomotives instead of purchasing the high $300(Ouch) or now over $400(Ouch Ouch) Canadian priced locomotives from hobby stores. I have a number of Athearn Blue Box locomotives and Dcc ready Kato's to retro fit. Thanks for making the video.
One thing could have done is to solder wires directly to the trucks' metal frame plates, thus avoiding using the Frame/truck pivot point for track pickup.
excellent tutorial...thanks!! I have several BB athearns only run a handful of times, so i think their mechanism are still good, but this vid will come in handy.. Also i own a few mehano steamers i'd like to upgrade in the future.
GENTLY cut the driveshaft! Great video! I have an Athearn TR5A (a variant of the SW9) that has an older open frame motor with steel flywheels. It only has two mounting lugs, and a much shorter hood. I plan to re-motor it eventually.
WHY would you do all that to an older Athearn Blue Box Loco....? Because it's YOURS, you like it, it has value that you understand!! 👍👍 I've done that to several of my old Blue Box Locos. I've put a lot of detail into them over the years, down to Wipers, Cannon Fans, Brass Grabirons, Lift Rings and more. Underneath it's still a slightly overscale in things like Pilots, Door Handles and Hinges, and other things that Rivet Counters are more than happy to point out!! 😖 Thing is, I DON'T CARE! I've been in this Hobby since 1974. I've got 30+ years on most of the Guys who try to tell me what I'm doing WRONG. I made a Freelance Railroad, the Pacific Belt RR, since 1975, specifically SO I can "bend" a few rules! 😉 Enjoy yourself!! I'm still trying, even though I'm nearly priced out of the Hobby now. Carmine ✈🚂🚙
To get the loco to run slower,adjust start voltage.CV2 I think.I have discovered the Lais decoders,& they have excellent BEMF,&therefore excellent slow speed
Gracias lindo video!!! ¿puedo hacer algo así para una S12? Tiene unos 30 años Saludos de Buenos Aires, Argentina Thanks nice video!! Can I do something alike for an S12? She's from the late 80s Cheers Richard
I need some help. I will be using the exact Athern retro motor, as shown in your video. Could you please share what each soldering point on the PCB goes to?
Has anyone added a G2 motor to a Rail Power frame? I'm planning on using a B40-8 frame and Athearn Genesis motor and B + B trucks. Can I just add the retrofit kit to the frame? Or does it need to be isolated from the frame?
its in mine. with just a tad adjustment to the old frame. redoing a number of sd40, sd45, sdp45, sdt45, to start with. but even on just dc i had no problem getting up to 10 units to all pull together. (used to belong to a large layout club) just test as to who runs fastest and who runs slowest. line then up fastest in front slowest in the rear. worked great for a 250 car (weighted ) train. (did not need all 10 units).
Great video, I like how you shut down the Snobs who always make those comments like Why didn't you buy this? Or do it this way? Sadly the Model train hobby has suffered what the Model hobby has dealt with and vice versa. Rivet counters are the worst and worse yet are the Ultra rich snobs who think the more you spend on a loco the better it is and that's just wrong lol. I have Athearn Blue box loco's that will out pull anything made today and that's a fact Jack! Wasn't even the motor either, the newer nickle silver nonsense wheels on loco's loose a ton of tractive effort over the older sintered wheel sets and that alone wins my claim. Even equally measured the new stuff is more geared for noise lovers over actual operation and $400 for a loco that pulls less for just some noises and a few easily added details doesn't justify the costs. DCC has great playability for multiple users at once but that's the only benefit of DCC, Sound just doesn't count because every system out there sounds just as phony as the last and there is no amount of money that help it out, it's just true. I have old Tyco's that will out pull modern noise making junk. Although to be honest that particular Tyco makes more noise than a 747 lol. Nickle silver means spin spin spin, Sintered metal means pull pull pull and are as easy to keep clean as the slippery nickle stuff. Nickle Silver on rolling stock is the best no lies, especially lighted cars.
I think the moment you get your first Genesis loco in your hands, you’ll change your opinion in a heartbeat! It’s not “just a few easily added details”, that’s laughable and absurd. The entire paint job alone is worth the price! It’s immaculate, flawless, and has all the tiniest printing and the 600V stickers etc. Heck just the NUMBER BOARDS alone are worth it. A blue box loco looks terrible with no number boards and I’ve never seen a way to get them besides attempting to apply each digit as a decal, good luck getting all 8 straight aligned! EDIT: front and back thats 16! The fine handrails blow the doors off blue box clunky paperclip-diameter wires. The cab INTERIOR is a glorious sight compared to a blue box stupid metal light bulb tower. You and I both know you’ll never super detail a blue box to even the standard of a Genesis right out of the box, they must have 100 parts altogether.
What is the main difference between the later BB Athearn motors and the Genesis? Are they lower current draw , better for DCC. I have old BB Athearn from the 80's and 90's most have brass flywheels and all seem to run well . Of course they don't have a lot of run time on them since I haven't had a layout since 85.
@@kb02andthewhistlestoprailr3 Do you have anything to do with the store in Pasadena ? If so I used to go there all the time around the time of the end of the old blue box and the beginning of the PK2.
Genesis motor upgrades running backwards? I am in the process of converting my Blue Box Athearn F7s to the Genesis ATHG63842 motor. I put it in as others have with the black plastic part of the motor to the front, ran wires from the trucks with the right side being the positive and left the negative (former frame power). I checked and that is how it was connected with the old motors. Got it back together, put it on the track and it ran the opposite direction of all the original motored F7s. For comparison, I put a HO High performance motor ATH 84086 on a frame and the flywheels ran opposite of the Genesis motor. Am I missing something?
Just swap the trucks around. Athearn BB's are simple, if the front is to your left while looking at it, then the trucks power bars should be tab side facing you the bended back of the power tab end away from you. You can do it either way but then you'll have confusing operational errors when you swap engines.
I tried to install the RTR motor in an Athearn blue box but it didn't work. The motor with the board is to tall as in your video but the shell for the SD45 ha nothing to remove to allow clearance. he only way to make that motor fit is to remove the circuit board. sd45
That’s unfortunate. My suggestions would be to 1.) Remove the circuit board (it basically serves the purpose of turning a DC loco into DCC ready - you don’t really need it. The motor can be hard wired for DC or a decoder wired in directly for DCC). 2.) See if you can get the motor any lower in the frame by trimming the motor mounts or (if you have the ability) milling the frame. I didn’t need to do either with the GP38-2 loco I used in the video, but I guess each model has their individual quirks.
So how in the world did you get those new A-Line female worm couplings onto the metal shaft after removing the originals? I am rebuilding an early 80's Athearn BB SD9 and I could not slip the new worm couplings onto the metal shaft without redrilling the hole. They were way too tight. Then I had to use epoxy to bond them to the metal shaft. Pain in the A$$!
Frankly I wish in HO trains longer than most to you were alive. We got along just fine with nice simple locomotive no sound effects no no DCCC no anyting. I have okay locomotives with sound effects and all that crap PS2 for control and I don't use none of it. Just don't see no use for it. When you got somebody locomotive sound effects running on the layout and gets to be a bunch of cacophonous noise.
I wouldn't say people got along fine back in the "simple days" before DCC... I remember LOTS of people fine-tuning, rebuilding, repowering, re-gearing, etc. to hopefully get different (and even the same brand and model) locomotives to run well together. Amongst other things...
Watched the video today. If I may suggest next time try a Decoder Buddy and get rid of all the JST connectors. It makes an even neater Job and as you implied in your pictures you can separate the frame from the shell easily. It has 8 identical lighting outputs. Also the next time a decoder upgrade comes by it is easy to change out too. I did enjoy your video! I’ll be doing a couple of blue boxes that were custom painted and decaled and have a sentimental value! I appreciate the insights. Thanks for sharing!
I cant believe theres no comments!
THIS IS EXACTLY what i was looking for.... THANK YOU !!!
Im getting back into it after about 10yrs and my blue box locos just dont run like my new ATHEARN genesis sd75i-ive got my work cut out for me !!!
It was a pretty fun project and made that BB into a great runner.
Better presentation than most clinics. Thanks you
Thanks!
Exactly, my old locomotives have memories and some were gifts. I like the challenge of upgrading....
I am re powering and dcc converting 3 older blue box SD40-2 like yours in this video. I would really like to see how you handled lighting. Especially the cab.
I put that same motor in my childhood Atlas SD-35 along with Lok Sound decoder. Screw holes in bottom of motor were identical to old Atlas motor.
You can also use the BB/RTR motor already in the model, and get one of the Athearn RTR clip on motherboards with the 21 pin socket, and get a 21 pin decoder and speakers if you got a sound decoder. The BB and RTR motors are pretty much on par with the Genesis motors as long as you ensure to grease up everything properly.
I asked in a well informed individual in the HO section in Ft. Lauderdale, he looked up what Kadee gearbox was recommended. He told me the 30 series couple box was the preferred box for Athearn. The 252 is the snap coupler box for whisked couplers. I use both currently as I have several older Blue box locos that were completed before the 252 came out.
With the constant price increases on new sound or even dcc locomotives there may be a rush to buy the Athearn Genesis Motors to install on viewers fleet of older locomotives instead of purchasing the high $300(Ouch) or now over $400(Ouch Ouch) Canadian priced locomotives from hobby stores. I have a number of Athearn Blue Box locomotives and Dcc ready Kato's to retro fit. Thanks for making the video.
One thing could have done is to solder wires directly to the trucks' metal frame plates, thus avoiding using the Frame/truck pivot point for track pickup.
Very interesting. Thank you, Mr. KB02.
I subscribed as soon as you brought out the meat cleaver.
The weak link on those locos is corrosion on the electrical contact where the truck pivots on the frame.
the 5 wire upgrade.. excellent point.. just solder wire directly to trucks or on sides of trucks where those holes are.
excellent tutorial...thanks!! I have several BB athearns only run a handful of times, so i think their mechanism are still good, but this vid will come in handy.. Also i own a few mehano steamers i'd like to upgrade in the future.
GENTLY cut the driveshaft! Great video! I have an Athearn TR5A (a variant of the SW9) that has an older open frame motor with steel flywheels. It only has two mounting lugs, and a much shorter hood. I plan to re-motor it eventually.
Thanks, Good video, Hope to see more!
Thanks. Episode two is in editing. A flood in the basement has delayed productions.
Awesome how to video
WHY would you do all that to an older Athearn Blue Box Loco....?
Because it's YOURS, you like it, it has value that you understand!! 👍👍
I've done that to several of my old Blue Box Locos. I've put a lot of detail into them over the years, down to Wipers, Cannon Fans, Brass Grabirons, Lift Rings and more.
Underneath it's still a slightly overscale in things like Pilots, Door Handles and Hinges, and other things that Rivet Counters are more than happy to point out!! 😖
Thing is, I DON'T CARE! I've been in this Hobby since 1974. I've got 30+ years on most of the Guys who try to tell me what I'm doing WRONG.
I made a Freelance Railroad, the Pacific Belt RR, since 1975, specifically SO I can "bend" a few rules! 😉
Enjoy yourself!! I'm still trying, even though I'm nearly priced out of the Hobby now.
Carmine ✈🚂🚙
PoorManRC, gotta love freelance! Best way to go. I’m working on my next video now. Hope to have it done soon. Hope you’ll enjoy it.
To get the loco to run slower,adjust start voltage.CV2 I think.I have discovered the Lais decoders,& they have excellent BEMF,&therefore excellent slow speed
the roller barrens turning add great detail to that locomotive. do you know of kits that let you add that detail to older locomotives?
watched a third time.. this video is just that good...
Great video. Just subbed your channel.
Very nice...
Genisis uses a hex style universal whereas the blue box uses a spline so you may have to change the universal cup on the trucks. - Charlie
Yup. 5:15 and 7:30 in the video shows the parts and talks about the process.
What neat this week
Skewed armature is ae nice design.
Would like to see how you hard wire/insulate blue box and older PK2 locos
where do you solder the wires to?
How to improve dcc performance to increase speed on athearn locomotive?
Now I feel like pulling one of my old Athearn engines out and doing some modifications when I get home.
Let me know how it goes!
Run and speedstep 128 that will slow it down a lot
hello what european hitch i can install on athearn models thank you very much likes 👍
Do you know what genesis motor I would need to repower a Athearn rtr gp35?
what dcc board did you use?
How do you just press the new ones on exactly ?
Gracias lindo video!!!
¿puedo hacer algo así para una S12? Tiene unos 30 años
Saludos de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Thanks nice video!!
Can I do something alike for an S12?
She's from the late 80s
Cheers
Richard
I need some help. I will be using the exact Athern retro motor, as shown in your video. Could you please share what each soldering point on the PCB goes to?
How do you make the adapter board work with leds?
Has anyone added a G2 motor to a Rail Power frame? I'm planning on using a B40-8 frame and Athearn Genesis motor and B + B trucks. Can I just add the retrofit kit to the frame? Or does it need to be isolated from the frame?
Potential Rule-G violation in the making at 12:00
Hello will the ATHG63839 motor also fit the athearn blue box locomotives like the F45 or FP45?
its in mine. with just a tad adjustment to the old frame. redoing a number of sd40, sd45, sdp45, sdt45, to start with. but even on just dc i had no problem getting up to 10 units to all pull together. (used to belong to a large layout club) just test as to who runs fastest and who runs slowest. line then up fastest in front slowest in the rear. worked great for a 250 car (weighted ) train. (did not need all 10 units).
Great video, I like how you shut down the Snobs who always make those comments like Why didn't you buy this? Or do it this way? Sadly the Model train hobby has suffered what the Model hobby has dealt with and vice versa. Rivet counters are the worst and worse yet are the Ultra rich snobs who think the more you spend on a loco the better it is and that's just wrong lol. I have Athearn Blue box loco's that will out pull anything made today and that's a fact Jack! Wasn't even the motor either, the newer nickle silver nonsense wheels on loco's loose a ton of tractive effort over the older sintered wheel sets and that alone wins my claim. Even equally measured the new stuff is more geared for noise lovers over actual operation and $400 for a loco that pulls less for just some noises and a few easily added details doesn't justify the costs. DCC has great playability for multiple users at once but that's the only benefit of DCC, Sound just doesn't count because every system out there sounds just as phony as the last and there is no amount of money that help it out, it's just true.
I have old Tyco's that will out pull modern noise making junk. Although to be honest that particular Tyco makes more noise than a 747 lol. Nickle silver means spin spin spin, Sintered metal means pull pull pull and are as easy to keep clean as the slippery nickle stuff. Nickle Silver on rolling stock is the best no lies, especially lighted cars.
I think the moment you get your first Genesis loco in your hands, you’ll change your opinion in a heartbeat! It’s not “just a few easily added details”, that’s laughable and absurd. The entire paint job alone is worth the price! It’s immaculate, flawless, and has all the tiniest printing and the 600V stickers etc. Heck just the NUMBER BOARDS alone are worth it. A blue box loco looks terrible with no number boards and I’ve never seen a way to get them besides attempting to apply each digit as a decal, good luck getting all 8 straight aligned! EDIT: front and back thats 16! The fine handrails blow the doors off blue box clunky paperclip-diameter wires. The cab INTERIOR is a glorious sight compared to a blue box stupid metal light bulb tower. You and I both know you’ll never super detail a blue box to even the standard of a Genesis right out of the box, they must have 100 parts altogether.
I wrote more but the other half keeps getting deleted and I tried 6 times and can’t find what word is triggering the system
What is the main difference between the later BB Athearn motors and the Genesis? Are they lower current draw , better for DCC. I have old BB Athearn from the 80's and 90's most have brass flywheels and all seem to run well . Of course they don't have a lot of run time on them since I haven't had a layout since 85.
William Jahn, they’re more efficient, smoother running and have a much lower current draw, yes.
@@kb02andthewhistlestoprailr3 Do you have anything to do with the store in Pasadena ? If so I used to go there all the time around the time of the end of the old blue box and the beginning of the PK2.
Have you tried the Kadee 252 coupler gearbox?
I have not tried those. How well do they work?
Does the retro motor kit come with drive lines?
The drive shafts had to be purchased extra, but did not cost very much.
Have you ever reengined an Athearn F Unit???
Would it be basically the same???
Never worked on an Athearn F, but if the frame is the same, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Take some measurements and see.
Genesis motor upgrades running backwards? I am in the process of converting my Blue Box Athearn F7s to the Genesis ATHG63842 motor. I put it in as others have with the black plastic part of the motor to the front, ran wires from the trucks with the right side being the positive and left the negative (former frame power). I checked and that is how it was connected with the old motors. Got it back together, put it on the track and it ran the opposite direction of all the original motored F7s. For comparison, I put a HO High performance motor ATH 84086 on a frame and the flywheels ran opposite of the Genesis motor. Am I missing something?
Just swap the trucks around. Athearn BB's are simple, if the front is to your left while looking at it, then the trucks power bars should be tab side facing you the bended back of the power tab end away from you. You can do it either way but then you'll have confusing operational errors when you swap engines.
@@animalyze7120 Thanks for the tip. Maybe better to have the wiring standard - red top, black bottom, than the trucks.
Unless their is some need to interchange from on layout to another why not go Deal Rail of some point. Battery powered locomotives is the future
what were the replacement lights you used
Simple LEDs with resistors.
Will it fit?
ANYTHING will fit if you know how to engineer 101
I tried to install the RTR motor in an Athearn blue box but it didn't work. The motor with the board is to tall as in your video but the shell for the SD45 ha nothing to remove to allow clearance. he only way to make that motor fit is to remove the circuit board.
sd45
That’s unfortunate. My suggestions would be to 1.) Remove the circuit board (it basically serves the purpose of turning a DC loco into DCC ready - you don’t really need it. The motor can be hard wired for DC or a decoder wired in directly for DCC). 2.) See if you can get the motor any lower in the frame by trimming the motor mounts or (if you have the ability) milling the frame. I didn’t need to do either with the GP38-2 loco I used in the video, but I guess each model has their individual quirks.
So how in the world did you get those new A-Line female worm couplings onto the metal shaft after removing the originals? I am rebuilding an early 80's Athearn BB SD9 and I could not slip the new worm couplings onto the metal shaft without redrilling the hole. They were way too tight. Then I had to use epoxy to bond them to the metal shaft. Pain in the A$$!
Booze and Blades just don't mix. 8:46
So does that make the engine a GP38-2M? hehehehe
All that alcohol behind you equals DCCUI
Lol lol . . . And gently cut . . . Lol lol
Frankly I wish in HO trains longer than most to you were alive. We got along just fine with nice simple locomotive no sound effects no no DCCC no anyting. I have okay locomotives with sound effects and all that crap PS2 for control and I don't use none of it. Just don't see no use for it. When you got somebody locomotive sound effects running on the layout and gets to be a bunch of cacophonous noise.
I wouldn't say people got along fine back in the "simple days" before DCC...
I remember LOTS of people fine-tuning, rebuilding, repowering, re-gearing, etc. to hopefully get different (and even the same brand and model) locomotives to run well together. Amongst other things...