Athearn Blue Box Power/Maintence

[Larry]

Astrocling, I sent you a PM.

[wwslblower]

North West Short Lines has an Athearn repowering section that is most helpful: http://nwsl.com/NWSL_Online_Catalog.html

[astrocling]

Thanks again for all the help and resources guys. I appreciate it.

[High Speed Kurt]

I would 100% change the wheels to NWSL. The difference is unreal!

[DakotaLove39]

Originally Posted by High Speed Kurt

I would 100% change the wheels to NWSL. The difference is unreal!

I asked about this a year ago when I got my Blue Box SD9 off another member on this forum. I was told that it I would see a loss in traction.. but I think it is worth it in the long run.

[broken bolster]

If the world ever starts getting Athearn parts again see their parts:

ATH40028 and ATH40029

They are complete Nickel Silver wheel sets that one can just drop in (after checking gauge) to the P2K gear problem units and lots of Athearn's stuff too.
They are lower price than NWSL.

Dick

[modeltrainguy]

Originally Posted by broken bolster

If the world ever starts getting Athearn parts again see their parts:

ATH40028 and ATH40029

They are complete Nickel Silver wheel sets that one can just drop in (after checking gauge) to the P2K gear problem units and lots of Athearn's stuff too.
They are lower price than NWSL.

Dick

I do understand the lower price option here, but have you found these to run better than the NWSL? Assuming that money is no object to the OP?

[broken bolster]

Only issue I have had with NWSL wheels and Athearn gears is when inserting the axle into the gear I've had two (two different batch of wheel and gear) go in at angle on the side of axle that has small cut-out. Bottom line is the wheel backs were not parallel to each other when gauged.

I not had either the Athearn wheel sets or NWSL wheel/gear combo long enough to have accumulated some mileage on them to compare tread wear. At this point I would take the Athearn based on cost and ease of installation. I've not found one of 54 Athearn sets purchased earlier in year out of gauge.

Dick