James, I just noticed this video is over 11 years old now? This around the same time I returned to the hobby after retiring from the Army. I picked up one of these (DDA-40X w/ sound) at a local train store here in San Antonio, TX and I remember watching this video to help me with the features on this model. I recently picked up another Athearn DDA-40X from their latest production run that I found on eBay for $275 (with sound also) so I’m pretty happy, I’m amazed at how well this model has held its value over the years, almost like investing in precious metals, lol. Hope life is treating you well and thanks again for these videos.
Books and magazines will often state that the Big Boy was the largest steam locomotive ever built. When steam locomotives are compared, many different quantities can be considered. For example, weight, length, horsepower, and tractive effort are all characteristics of how "large" a steam locomotive is. In each of the above categories, a locomotive "larger" than a Big Boy can be found.
James-just enjoying this review and not sure if anyone mentioned yet, but that roof beacon is LED, and is spot on with a rotator. They are using the same circuit as for model aircraft...low light, then a sudden burst for the reflector sweep passed effect.
Just dropping a line im a conductor on w&a heading off for deployment for a few months where u stationed out off. And thanks for all the vids really help out alot
It is very hard to determine what factor makes the locomotive largest: It could be the heaviest, longest, most cylinders, most horse power, or most wheels. It is often defined as the longest in absolute length, however there is even a debate on whether or not to include the tender in the measurement. To establish the "largest" category, several base factors simply take precedence: overall weight, which gives traction over driving axles; actual size (length & height of engine itself);
Wow! Just ran across this by accident but impressive unit... I'm an armchair modeler these days but Athearn's come a loooong way since the old days of $20 units... I'm all for the fine details these days, fragile or not. Nice review and shall have to check out some of your others soon. Thanks for sharing this...
The reason Athearn puts McHenry couplers on their locomotives is because they own the company that manufacturers those couplers. So they would not pay some other company for their couplers, when they essentially own their own couplers. It wouldn't make much business sense.
I saw one at my LHS today (mine will be here Thursday) notice the trucks! They are a work of art. Also, I believe the loco has 2 motors, that's why the walkway is open. The couplers are McHenry (also owned by Athearn). They are decent but Kadee's are still better. I'm ready for Athearn to bring out the DD35 A & B's now followed by the 8500hp Turbine. JW, one of the reasons the loco may be struggling is due to the length of the auto racks plus being on a curve which increases drag.
Hey mate. Your layout is looking great. Really impressed with your collection of auto racks and it looks like Athearn is back to making great quality models again. Thanks for sharing and take care.
Great job as usual, you must be a tactical briefer in your day job, lol. I've looked at oodles of your reviews to get up to speed on things since my absence from the hobby. Athearn has really stepped up. I sent Athearn a new product suggestion to make a "display deck" to allow a loco to be on a section of track with a wall wart powering the deck and which allows everything to operate minus the wheels, would make a great gift or allow us to enjoy one at our place of work (if applicable) lol.
In my book ,athearn is still just in front of bachmann in products but bachmann has stepped up their game with their GG1 ,I model the Pennsy, have 12 bachmann GG1 s ,and a 3unit set of f-3 by MTH ,1 alone can out pull anything athearn has done, my horseshoe curve has 54 inch radius curve ( inside rail) up a 1.85 % climb ,80 hoppers get pulled up by these loco's Broadway limited --- one J1 texas --- one I1 decapod with an extra traction axle added ,one M1a , one L1 mike ,one set of centapedes , 3 sharks as a set, two Atlas H-24-66 trainmaster, and it takes 4 of my buds athearns DDa40x to pull ,once I get farther a long I will do some horseshoe curve videos , with a J1 on the point followed by 2 F2 ab set, followed by a centapedes snapper ( pusher) on the rear moving 100 + loaded hoppers, just like the Pennsy did ,
The DDA40x's did not have ditch lights. None of the locomotives of that era did because the FRA did not pass that regulation till years later. The one remaining DD40 is the only one so equipped because current regulations require ditch lights now.
James super video again . Athearn is climing the detail ladder and raising the bar in the plastic model market . However it is not enough yet . I want to see the roof fans , ie cooling fans , rotate and in addition I want to see smoke come out of the exhost stacks . I say this to you James because Athearn will listen to you before me . LOL . Keep up the super videos .
I finally picked mine up. I got 6904. I love the detail. I notice in the instructions they have foglights and mention its for 6936. I'd like to get one if they make it.
i agree with jlwii2000, but i believe myself that the largest in my opinion is the y6b triplex also the challenger had even more pulling power than the big boy because it also had steam powered [pusher] axles under the cab which also helped with tractive effort also keep in mind that southern pacific had a cab forward loco with the same wheel arrangement as the big boy... as you can see there is much to debate but it all depends how you compare them.. it very subjective hope this helps
i got to play with these at work today. good thing im not interested in getting one because they're to expensive for me. but they're great looking, and sounding units.
Ok. I need to add one of them to my collection. I have two DD35's. At least that's what it said on the box. One is completely done and the other needs work. Can you still by the Helix Humper motors? that was a very good motor. Thank you for sharing. SP DD-35 Athearn. I'm not sure I like the becon on the new engine. Mine looks & operates like a real one.
Every time I watch one of your reviews I wind up broker, now ya got me buying this one! lol... Great review, definitely going to grab this thing ...... Thanks for the time you put in, really helps in making a decision.......... Ricky'
what i have noticed about pulling power in any ho scale locomotives is that most have a max pull of 20-25 cars only Katos top them ho ac4400 80 cars. i think the intermountain ho gevos can do 30 ish
In addition to my comments to one of the author’s posts, if you want to decide the facts about Big Boy vs. other simple articulated stream locomotives, check out Robert A LeMessena’s, “Articulated Steam Locomotives of North America.” The description and statistics for every articulated steam locomotive of every railroad that used them in the U.S. and Mexico is compiled with an outline of their service expectations. The book was published by Sundance Books in 1979 and is similar to a “Jane’s Fighting Ships” format. There are LOTS of photos of excellent quality. The pages are smooth so the images are crisp. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. A simple search will direct you to a source. It
I have two Southern Pacific DD35x from Athearn. I paid $45.00 For one & $35.00 for the other. DC only. I have been told that there is no such thing as a DD35X. In one I put two helex humper motors in & north shore trucks. It runs great. Plus a lot of other work. Now I have to Find time to do the other one.
The EMG DD35 did indeed exist. See George Cockle's "Giants of the West" book for many pictures (which also includes the DD-A40X). The DD-35 were sadly all scrapped after the UP was done with them so unfortunately no examples exist anymore. The book shows a great picture of two DD40 and two DD35 pulling a train that got stuck in a snowstorm.
They had a review of this model in Model Railroader. It has good info and even includes the current draws of locomotives. Price, manufacturer, all that good stuff. Maybe that could help you in your reviews.
I agree with Shrinehillrail when your paying 400 bucks their should be no corners cut at all. I couldnt imagine if i paid 400 and then when i received it the railing came off or a horn was off. I would be very upset
Great model gives Brass a run for there money.Thanks for your reviews. Just realized this thing has around 200 dollars worth of sound decoders in it.Do you know if they are pluged into the board or just integrated in 1 single board?
I agree with Ricky Knight....Thanks again JL, you planted the seed on this so, I picked one of these monsters up today, couldn't wait to get home and fire it up, it didn't let me down! The detail under the frame was nice, didn't expect that. It's one hefty of a loco though, could use it as a weapon if needed, lol. Kevin D.
Been with Athearn since the early 70's, They have never had good couplers or lights it's just the norm for them. I pull the offensive parts off and throw them into a bag just that simple. But you would think they would learn.... I have a grade of 2.8% that is 61 ft long so I am constantly changing out couplers to KD's. I pull consist's of 12-17 cars up this grade, half of which is hidden trackage , so a runaway is unthinkable, One set of Mchenry couplers did let go 3/4 of the way up. Athearn RTR tank cars are not cheap. It ran all the way into the yard and stayed on the track 8 cars actually stayed on the track. Went thru 4 turnouts and onto the lower loop . I was in shock.... The throw away bag got heavier after that.....
sorry i just read your comment and wikipedia and really was misinformed (understatement) i will educate myself b4 making further comments thank you for correcting and informing me
I have a buddy of mine that picked on of these up, sans sound. From the start, we had nothing but problems with it. The lead truck would stop turning the wheels. We traced it down to being the lightboard for the decoder. We don't have any idea what the lightboard's problem actually was, but I decided to hardwire the insides of the engine, and parallel wire the motors together with 1 Digitrax DH126D decoder. Haven't had a single issue with it since the rewire. The DH126D seems to have a higher current push-through than the 123 did, and pulls a 60 car ore train up a 2% grade like it was on level track. I was wondering if anybody else has had issues with their DDA40X? JL, maybe do another review 6 months or so down the road, like a performance review after she's had some tough time on the rails. Lol.
+BigDave8802008 I don't own an Athearn DDA40X but I have an Athearn GP15-1 and have had nothing but problems out of the stock light board. I am quickly leaning towards the "scrap the factory light board in favor of a LokSound Select Direct" attitude...obviously Athearn's circuit board manufacturing has gone downhill over the last few years because I have a #3985 from several years ago (the old MRC decoder run, not the new Tsunami) and it runs like new to this day.
+K4Robotics. The biggest issue I have with them is the lighting problems. The surface mount resistors don't allow enough power for LEDs, so I usually end up cutting the blue yellow and white wires off of the circuit board, and hardwire the lights to the harness, but leave the rest of the wires attatched. Idk what is goin on with these curcuit boards, but they are just junk.
+BigDave8802008 with the resistor problems, you mean the Athearn stock boards, or the LokSound Select Direct ones? I'm considering buying a LokSound so I'm wondering.
I've seen a video of this locomotive taking a 24 in. radius curve with a train and it didn't derail. So you can go to 26 in. and even 25 if you have to.
You seem to be a student of HO and UP in particular. So I wonder if you know why MTH and Bachmann call the DDA40X, DD40XA? I can't find that DD40XA designation ever existed. Even looked on the UP web site. Keep up the good work,
However if you were to ignore all of the unsuccessful and experimental locomotives, then look at the overall ratings of the remaining steam locomotives in the above categories, it would become clear that the Big Boys hold more distinctions of the biggest than others. The big boys (along with the N&W Y6 and A, DM&IR M, and perhaps the C&O H-8 locomotives) were the "largest" among all successful steam locomotives.
Hi, first of all, thank you very much for your informative videos! I am a beginner model railroad enthusiast. I have learned to make good decisions after looking at your videos I appreciate your efforts and passion towards Model Railroading. Do you plan to sell any of your old dcc locos (HO scale) sometime soon? If not, it's ok. But keep up the good work! Good Luck!!
and power, which may be given in terms of raw horsepower, tractive effort, available power at axles (shaft horsepower) or in the case of steam locomotives, available steam on a sustained basis So the question itself is bogus because the largest steam locomotive can be determined many different ways. Most books call the big boy the largest though.
jlwii2000 Big Boy was a nice balance of power and speed but not really the best of either. Physically, the Allegheny wins; boiler horsepower, the ALCO boilers employed under late model NP articulated win and in raw tractive effort the Great Northern R-2 easily wins. I always say though that you can cherry-pick the statistics like you can the Bible to prove whatever belief you have. And every steamer was designed to perform in specific service so it’s difficult to effectively compare them. If you want to go by tractive effort, which is indicative of how much useful work the locomotive can perform, Big Boy’s 135,000 lbs. comes in at fourth place behind Great Northern’s R-2 (153,000 later bushed down to 143,000 lbs.); Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range’s M3 Yellowstone (140,000 lbs.) and Western Pacific’s M151 (137,000 lbs.). So, no, Big Boy wasn’t the most muscular thing but, like all the other steamers, it did what it was designed to do and it made tons of money for the UP which in the end is the largest measure of success. At least UP had the good sense to save an example when people so obviously wanted them to. Tiny DM&IR left us three Yellowstones but thanks to J.J. Hill’s spendthrift policy, the GN greedily melted down every last R-2 for scrap.
OK.....how about the beacon light on top of the cab....does that light up too? I know I'm thinking of Bachmann's not-so-hot effort on the DD, but then Bachmann doesn't hold a candle to Athearn.
Awesome review. One question though,how in the world did you get the beacon light to come on ? I have tried everything on mine and can't seem to figure it out !
12:58 "20 autoracks is a little too much for it." Give the DDX to a German model train company, and the capacity will be a far sight more than 36 cars.
James, I just noticed this video is over 11 years old now? This around the same time I returned to the hobby after retiring from the Army. I picked up one of these (DDA-40X w/ sound) at a local train store here in San Antonio, TX and I remember watching this video to help me with the features on this model. I recently picked up another Athearn DDA-40X from their latest production run that I found on eBay for $275 (with sound also) so I’m pretty happy, I’m amazed at how well this model has held its value over the years, almost like investing in precious metals, lol. Hope life is treating you well and thanks again for these videos.
Stop at 0:28 LOL
THE FACE XD =)
Sorry that but it to funny!!!!!!
I know I thought the same thing
Stopped in😂
Books and magazines will often state that the Big Boy was the largest steam locomotive ever built. When steam locomotives are compared, many different quantities can be considered. For example, weight, length, horsepower, and tractive effort are all characteristics of how "large" a steam locomotive is. In each of the above categories, a locomotive "larger" than a Big Boy can be found.
my Bachman DDA40X is quite rough to operate and doesn't have an empty walkway in the middle. Great video! Thanks for friending me on Facebook!
James-just enjoying this review and not sure if anyone mentioned yet, but that roof beacon is LED, and is spot on with a rotator. They are using the same circuit as for model aircraft...low light, then a sudden burst for the reflector sweep passed effect.
I just got mine in the mail. No. 6939 same as yours. Absolutely stunning locomotive to say the least
Just dropping a line im a conductor on w&a heading off for deployment for a few months where u stationed out off. And thanks for all the vids really help out alot
Excellent review,"I have the U.P. 6936 DDA40X ,"I love the engine and all the detail,"Job well done Athearn and jlwii2000
Yea it lights up. Its in the video if you watch the whole thing.
Gotta love Big Jack!!!
Nice review! Just received the latest Athearn news update and the next release of this model includes the 6936.
It is very hard to determine what factor makes the locomotive largest: It could be the heaviest, longest, most cylinders, most horse power, or most wheels. It is often defined as the longest in absolute length, however there is even a debate on whether or not to include the tender in the measurement. To establish the "largest" category, several base factors simply take precedence: overall weight, which gives traction over driving axles; actual size (length & height of engine itself);
Wow! Just ran across this by accident but impressive unit... I'm an armchair modeler these days but Athearn's come a loooong way since the old days of $20 units... I'm all for the fine details these days, fragile or not. Nice review and shall have to check out some of your others soon. Thanks for sharing this...
Great intro! Looks like a great locomotive, really liking the beacon light to!
There's great HO stuff out there. I'm using 3 rail O scale trains but I still like the HO trains for the size and price!
The reason Athearn puts McHenry couplers on their locomotives is because they own the company that manufacturers those couplers. So they would not pay some other company for their couplers, when they essentially own their own couplers. It wouldn't make much business sense.
I touched the DDA40X at the Illinois railway museum it was number 6930
i almost picked one up at an event recently, it was $600, luckily i found a bachmann one for $110 and I love it
I saw one at my LHS today (mine will be here Thursday) notice the trucks! They are a work of art. Also, I believe the loco has 2 motors, that's why the walkway is open. The couplers are McHenry (also owned by Athearn). They are decent but Kadee's are still better. I'm ready for Athearn to bring out the DD35 A & B's now followed by the 8500hp Turbine. JW, one of the reasons the loco may be struggling is due to the length of the auto racks plus being on a curve which increases drag.
Very nice loco. Mine just came in so I have to make a run to the hobby store to pick it up. Can't wait. That would be nice to have number 6936.
Hey mate. Your layout is looking great. Really impressed with your collection of auto racks and it looks like Athearn is back to making great quality models again. Thanks for sharing and take care.
Very nice review. The duel decoders sound amazing. Thanks!
Great job as usual, you must be a tactical briefer in your day job, lol. I've looked at oodles of your reviews to get up to speed on things since my absence from the hobby. Athearn has really stepped up. I sent Athearn a new product suggestion to make a "display deck" to allow a loco to be on a section of track with a wall wart powering the deck and which allows everything to operate minus the wheels, would make a great gift or allow us to enjoy one at our place of work (if applicable) lol.
Athearn will announce the 6936 version next month and will deliver mid to late 2013. I'll get that one.
0:28
In my book ,athearn is still just in front of bachmann in products but bachmann has stepped up their game with their GG1 ,I model the Pennsy, have 12 bachmann GG1 s ,and a 3unit set of f-3 by MTH ,1 alone can out pull anything athearn has done, my horseshoe curve has 54 inch radius curve ( inside rail) up a 1.85 % climb ,80 hoppers get pulled up by these loco's Broadway limited --- one J1 texas --- one I1 decapod with an extra traction axle added ,one M1a , one L1 mike ,one set of centapedes , 3 sharks as a set, two Atlas H-24-66 trainmaster, and it takes 4 of my buds athearns DDa40x to pull ,once I get farther a long I will do some horseshoe curve videos , with a J1 on the point followed by 2 F2 ab set, followed by a centapedes snapper ( pusher) on the rear moving 100 + loaded hoppers, just like the Pennsy did ,
I have 6904 and love it. I wish they would do a 2nd run and do the class unit 6900 as delivered from EMD.
Love this train. Will own someday for sure.
Very nice Engine, love thw detail on it.
Yep sure does. Everything fits on that turntable...even a big boy
The DDA40x's did not have ditch lights. None of the locomotives of that era did because the FRA did not pass that regulation till years later. The one remaining DD40 is the only one so equipped because current regulations require ditch lights now.
James super video again . Athearn is climing the detail ladder and raising the bar in the plastic model market . However it is not enough yet . I want to see the roof fans , ie cooling fans , rotate and in addition I want to see smoke come out of the exhost stacks . I say this to you James because Athearn will listen to you before me . LOL . Keep up the super videos .
I finally picked mine up. I got 6904. I love the detail. I notice in the instructions they have foglights and mention its for 6936. I'd like to get one if they make it.
My eyelids are taking their sweet time at 0:28
Yep the new SIII
i just got 6904 for $400 with sound and it actually works on my 22 radius curves on my branch
I find it intesting that the in the EMD E unit Tsunami decoders they dont start up the same way because the E units have two prime movers also.
The only one with ditch lights is 6936, which I hope Athearn releases soon.
And just re released with 2 . 0 Version ! With l.e.d.s, rubber hoses, two sugar cubed speakers and yellow side sills for 6936.
Dammit... just bought a vers1 DDA40X last week!! Oh well I guess more 1.0 genesis dda's will start appearing on ebay!
yep everything fits on that turntable..even a bigboy
VERY nice DD40X locomotive.
Now I know what I want for my birthday.
Preordered mine with tsunami 2.
cool locomotive
i agree with jlwii2000, but i believe myself that the largest in my opinion is the y6b triplex also the challenger had even more pulling power than the big boy because it also had steam powered [pusher] axles under the cab which also helped with tractive effort also keep in mind that southern pacific had a cab forward loco with the same wheel arrangement as the big boy... as you can see there is much to debate but it all depends how you compare them.. it very subjective hope this helps
Fantastic detail, Great video review!
i got to play with these at work today. good thing im not interested in getting one because they're to expensive for me. but they're great looking, and sounding units.
Ok. I need to add one of them to my collection. I have two DD35's. At least that's what it said on the box. One is completely done and the other needs work. Can you still by the Helix Humper motors? that was a very good motor. Thank you for sharing. SP DD-35 Athearn. I'm not sure I like the becon on the new engine. Mine looks & operates like a real one.
I have Dda40x ho 6922
Every time I watch one of your reviews I wind up broker, now ya got me buying this one! lol... Great review, definitely going to grab this thing ...... Thanks for the time you put in, really helps in making a decision.......... Ricky'
Does that locomotive fit on your new turn table? and please keep more videos coming!!!
what i have noticed about pulling power in any ho scale locomotives is that most have a max pull of 20-25 cars only Katos top them ho ac4400 80 cars. i think the intermountain ho gevos can do 30 ish
In addition to my comments to one of the author’s posts, if you want to decide the facts about Big Boy vs. other simple articulated stream locomotives, check out Robert A LeMessena’s, “Articulated Steam Locomotives of North America.” The description and statistics for every articulated steam locomotive of every railroad that used them in the U.S. and Mexico is compiled with an outline of their service expectations. The book was published by Sundance Books in 1979 and is similar to a “Jane’s Fighting Ships” format. There are LOTS of photos of excellent quality. The pages are smooth so the images are crisp. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. A simple search will direct you to a source. It
DCS can only be used on MTH locos or to operate any DC loco in DC mode.
I have two Southern Pacific DD35x from Athearn. I paid $45.00 For one & $35.00 for the other. DC only. I have been told that there is no such thing as a DD35X. In one I put two helex humper motors in & north shore trucks. It runs great. Plus a lot of other work. Now I have to Find time to do the other one.
The EMG DD35 did indeed exist. See George Cockle's "Giants of the West" book for many pictures (which also includes the DD-A40X). The DD-35 were sadly all scrapped after the UP was done with them so unfortunately no examples exist anymore. The book shows a great picture of two DD40 and two DD35 pulling a train that got stuck in a snowstorm.
SP Had a cabless DD35.
I think it's a bit too loud for an HO Scale Diesel, Don't you think?
just can't find these at a good price any where.. super nice diesel my man.
After seeing that one on the trainworld add I went looking
I have a DDA40X HO 6922 FOR SELL !!
I'll get one next year when they drop in price lol.but all in all its a awesome engine and great review
Love the video, but I have one question I noticed that you had the DCS system were you using that on the Athearn
Thanks
They had a review of this model in Model Railroader. It has good info and even includes the current draws of locomotives. Price, manufacturer, all that good stuff. Maybe that could help you in your reviews.
Excellent training. Cheers!
I agree with Shrinehillrail when your paying 400 bucks their should be no corners cut at all. I couldnt imagine if i paid 400 and then when i received it the railing came off or a horn was off. I would be very upset
F5 or F6. I would try both. If it doesn't come on call Athearn because it may not be hooked up right.
Great model gives Brass a run for there money.Thanks for your reviews. Just realized this thing has around 200 dollars worth of sound decoders in it.Do you know if they are pluged into the board or just integrated in 1 single board?
I agree with Ricky Knight....Thanks again JL, you planted the seed on this so, I picked one of these monsters up today, couldn't wait to get home and fire it up, it didn't let me down! The detail under the frame was nice, didn't expect that. It's one hefty of a loco though, could use it as a weapon if needed, lol.
Kevin D.
Great review to a great engine! Send me one!
I keep them until I get a good replacement, then I sell them to people I know or sometimes ebay.
yes but there are no ditch lights and there are other little details that are different
Been with Athearn since the early 70's, They have never had good couplers or lights it's just the norm for them. I pull the offensive parts off and throw them into a bag just that simple. But you would think they would learn.... I have a grade of 2.8% that is 61 ft long so I am constantly changing out couplers to KD's. I pull consist's of 12-17 cars up this grade, half of which is hidden trackage , so a runaway is unthinkable, One set of Mchenry couplers did let go 3/4 of the way up. Athearn RTR tank cars are not cheap. It ran all the way into the yard and stayed on the track 8 cars actually stayed on the track. Went thru 4 turnouts and onto the lower loop . I was in shock.... The throw away bag got heavier after that.....
Didn't understand a word of that.
sorry i just read your comment and wikipedia and really was misinformed (understatement) i will educate myself b4 making further comments thank you for correcting and informing me
I have a buddy of mine that picked on of these up, sans sound. From the start, we had nothing but problems with it. The lead truck would stop turning the wheels. We traced it down to being the lightboard for the decoder. We don't have any idea what the lightboard's problem actually was, but I decided to hardwire the insides of the engine, and parallel wire the motors together with 1 Digitrax DH126D decoder. Haven't had a single issue with it since the rewire. The DH126D seems to have a higher current push-through than the 123 did, and pulls a 60 car ore train up a 2% grade like it was on level track.
I was wondering if anybody else has had issues with their DDA40X? JL, maybe do another review 6 months or so down the road, like a performance review after she's had some tough time on the rails. Lol.
+BigDave8802008 I don't own an Athearn DDA40X but I have an Athearn GP15-1 and have had nothing but problems out of the stock light board. I am quickly leaning towards the "scrap the factory light board in favor of a LokSound Select Direct" attitude...obviously Athearn's circuit board manufacturing has gone downhill over the last few years because I have a #3985 from several years ago (the old MRC decoder run, not the new Tsunami) and it runs like new to this day.
+K4Robotics. The biggest issue I have with them is the lighting problems. The surface mount resistors don't allow enough power for LEDs, so I usually end up cutting the blue yellow and white wires off of the circuit board, and hardwire the lights to the harness, but leave the rest of the wires attatched. Idk what is goin on with these curcuit boards, but they are just junk.
+BigDave8802008 with the resistor problems, you mean the Athearn stock boards, or the LokSound Select Direct ones? I'm considering buying a LokSound so I'm wondering.
I got a Bachmann DDA40X to run on 18 inch radius.
Very nice review man that's is a very nice dd40ax locomotive
I've seen a video of this locomotive taking a 24 in. radius curve with a train and it didn't derail. So you can go to 26 in. and even 25 if you have to.
It will do 22" without hesitation.
Was hoping this unit would have killer tractive effort...but sadly it did not!
You seem to be a student of HO and UP in particular. So I wonder if you know why MTH and Bachmann call the DDA40X, DD40XA? I can't find that DD40XA designation ever existed. Even looked on the UP web site. Keep up the good work,
However if you were to ignore all of the unsuccessful and experimental locomotives, then look at the overall ratings of the remaining steam locomotives in the above categories, it would become clear that the Big Boys hold more distinctions of the biggest than others. The big boys (along with the N&W Y6 and A, DM&IR M, and perhaps the C&O H-8 locomotives) were the "largest" among all successful steam locomotives.
Very nice locomotive. Maybe I can re-mortgage my house for one of those...ha, ha, ha
parabéns bela locomotiva
It must be a Bachmann 6936 or custom numbering as Athearn has not done a 6936 number yet.
Is running one of those HO locomotives hard on sharp turns or pretty easy o and awesome video oil man out
Well, it has two SD locomotives combined to make it, so two SD engines.
You got 2 now got to have one
You do know how to turn down the loco volume ...right?
in bachmann the couplers are E-Z couplers
Best horn yet!!!
That is one big loco. If I'm correct, the largest diesel ever built.
it is but the athearn is more detailed , has sound , will not run on 18 in curves does not have a huge slit in the front and costs 3x as much thanks
They should've added a standard plow on the front, would have looked better.
Start, stop motion is way too jerky. You need to adjust the startup voltage and your speed curve on that DCC decoder...
Hi, first of all, thank you very much for your informative videos! I am a beginner model railroad enthusiast. I have learned to make good decisions after looking at your videos I appreciate your efforts and passion towards Model Railroading. Do you plan to sell any of your old dcc locos (HO scale) sometime soon? If not, it's ok. But keep up the good work!
Good Luck!!
and power, which may be given in terms of raw horsepower, tractive effort, available power at axles (shaft horsepower) or in the case of steam locomotives, available steam on a sustained basis So the question itself is bogus because the largest steam locomotive can be determined many different ways. Most books call the big boy the largest though.
jlwii2000 Big Boy was a nice balance of power and speed but not really the best of either. Physically, the Allegheny wins; boiler horsepower, the ALCO boilers employed under late model NP articulated win and in raw tractive effort the Great Northern R-2 easily wins. I always say though that you can cherry-pick the statistics like you can the Bible to prove whatever belief you have. And every steamer was designed to perform in specific service so it’s difficult to effectively compare them. If you want to go by tractive effort, which is indicative of how much useful work the locomotive can perform, Big Boy’s 135,000 lbs. comes in at fourth place behind Great Northern’s R-2 (153,000 later bushed down to 143,000 lbs.); Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range’s M3 Yellowstone (140,000 lbs.) and Western Pacific’s M151 (137,000 lbs.). So, no, Big Boy wasn’t the most muscular thing but, like all the other steamers, it did what it was designed to do and it made tons of money for the UP which in the end is the largest measure of success. At least UP had the good sense to save an example when people so obviously wanted them to. Tiny DM&IR left us three Yellowstones but thanks to J.J. Hill’s spendthrift policy, the GN greedily melted down every last R-2 for scrap.
Good review & thanks!
OK.....how about the beacon light on top of the cab....does that light up too? I know I'm thinking of Bachmann's not-so-hot effort on the DD, but then Bachmann doesn't hold a candle to Athearn.
Cool will do
Great review I do believe the prototypical one has ditch lights that don't flash I am I correct
Q: How does it do on 18 Radius curves? Does it do good on 22 radius?
Did they forget the Ditch Lights??? Look Sweet tho.
I'm guessing not all of them had the ditch lights.
6ft wide by 22 ft long
Awesome review. One question though,how in the world did you get the beacon light to come on ? I have tried everything on mine and can't seem to figure it out !
12:58 "20 autoracks is a little too much for it." Give the DDX to a German model train company, and the capacity will be a far sight more than 36 cars.