Building and tuning a "new" Athearn blue box kit!

[@cacline72]

Classic Blueboxes, can't go wrong with one of these!

[@district2productions]

Love em not 400 dollars also!

[@Iconoclasher]

Far as I'm concerned there's only one manufacturer of locomotives. I have about 30 old bluebox units and they all run great. Some from the early 70s are still running with original motors. I use the chassis and drive units for other manufacturers. A Tyco GP20 on an Athearn GP35. Proto 1000 F3 A&B set on Athearn F7s. An Atlas GP38 high nose on an Athearn GP38. Proto 2000 GP7 on an Athearn GP7. Tyco Alco Century 430 on an Athearn SD9. The extensive project was redoing a Lifelike Alco Century 628. Required a new chassis fabricated out of brass using trucks from the FM TrainMaster. A challenge for sure. 😊

[@SouRwy4501Productions]

I’ve had several blue box locomotives and pieces of rolling stock, and I can say from experience that they’re really well built. I don’t know how but Athearn somehow made arguably the most reliable budget model trains that are easy to convert to dcc, have really good 5-pole motors, and still have them cost less than $40-60. You would have to really screw up on a major level to make one of those things stop working.

[@Burlington_Route]

I never took too much time on building bluebox locomotives till today. Thanks for posting this, its making my bluebox engins look better

[@DarthSantaFe]

I'm glad the video is helping with your blue box kit builds!

[@varrunningtrains4112]

Very nice video! I have a blue box addiction, and have worked on dozens of them, however never checked for flywheel balancing too closely. Might have to go back and try that! As much as I love the Sd40s being the later tooling and all, the GP9s are still my personal favorites to build. Can't wait to see the next project! *That horn hook you cut is going to haunt you for the rest of your life*

[@DarthSantaFe]

I first learned how to balance flywheels when I got an Athearn FP45 (early production), and one of the big iron flywheels (they didn't use brass until the 80's) was so off balance that the engine would shake! I drilled some big holes in the side of that thing, and it's been a smooth and much quieter runner ever since. And don't worry about haunting, because horn-hook couplers don't have souls. :D

[@varrunningtrains4112]

@@DarthSantaFe Haha I'll definitely have to try the balancing now. I use primarily horn hooks because it would be out of my high school budget to upgrade every piece of rolling stock, and I really don't want to deal with the long reach McHenry couplers on the Riva / IHC cars. I will concede that Kadees are the better looking coupler though!

[@Metal9040]

I agree, I really wish they brought these back. I remember a few times I would spend a few hours making one.

[@edsel6818]

I've have many these locos, which is what I started with this EXCELLENT HO hobby, and still have most of their boxes they came in bran new, including 4 Atherns DD 40x UP and several undecorated units as well, great job. THANKS for sharing this with me 😊😉 Happy Rail Roading. 😁👌👍 MORE PLEASE.😃

[@Iconoclasher]

One electrical trick I learned is using an electrically conductive grease by MG Chemicals. A little dab under the top contact strip and on the bolster and on the two contact points under the motor. The stuff is strange. I took a small amount on a piece of paper and put my resistance tester probes in it and it read 0 ohms. Just be careful, it's extremely messy to work with. It's a grease embedded with graphite. I've added it to rusted contact strips that didn't work at all and it ran fine.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Interesting, thanks!

[@davidokelly1140]

Athearns are like Humpty Dumpty. They may have a big fall, but can always be put back together again. God Bless Athearn blue box for being affordable and reliable.

[@williamsantangelo]

Excellent Assembly and Tune Up! Darth Santa Fe you have the best most detailed Tutorials for our wonderful miniatures !!! Be Well!!! And Thank You!!!

[@thomasbeutel7931]

Love those Athearn blue box kits. It's amazing that there were no screws in the design.

[@SantaFeBob]

Very good demonstration and assembly video. Most of my fleet is Athearn because they are very reliable. Thank you for sharing.

[@Patrick-xp8bb]

Great video 📹 I too have a number of Athearn blue box locomotives.I still enjoy running them.

[@MozanaRN]

Excellent video tutorial. I learned a lot even after working with Athearn Blue Box for over 30 years now. The flywheel balance information is completely new to me. I never considered wear and tear for a locomotive being run for long periods due to flywheel issues. Thank you.

[@espeechoochoo]

Great video, great tips. I have many of these but have only assembled a few but not as good as you. Encouraged me to get back at it. Thx.

[@DarthSantaFe]

I hope the tips help! This is all just stuff I've learned along the way trying to make them just a little bit better, and every little bit helps!

[@Harrisonidk]

Great work once again!, I find myself getting these locomotives more and more ,they run pretty good for there age and they are so simple and good beginning locos

[@ACLTony]

VERY Good presentation. Excellent step-by-step tutorial with a clear voice, good lighting. Nickname for these durable Athearns was "Bullet Proof!". Respectfully, be cautious when drilling is required and a hand/fingers are very close, it's a better route to just put the item in a vise. I've taken short cuts before and winded up with minor injuries.

[@magnuswettermark8293]

The "blue boxes" is great. Still have many of these i buyed back in late 70's early 80's and they still run like new. These and the Atlas "yellow box" (that i also have)is awesome.👍😁

[@steveandulsky566]

Great video. Well organized and prepared. Good lighting and camera work. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.

[@animalyze7120]

My favorite part the hobby is grabbing up old Athearn BB's and restoring them to their full glory. You won't make much reselling them but the people who do buy them now have a runner without worry. Use the kit rails as templates and just buy stantion sets then keep all the yellow pouch kit parts in the box, keeps them complete and sought after.

[@dustinstroh4604]

Do you have any for sale?

[@gacj2010]

Its wonderful to see how these engines are actually put together...gives great understanding ...I can see its essential to have an idea just what is what and what does what before building one of these or more taking one apart to repair .. great full description here..always so knowledgeable.

[@DarthSantaFe]

One of the great things about these is they make it easy to open up and figure out how things work, so it's a good way learn about maintenance and tuning.

[@gacj2010]

@@DarthSantaFe Understood ..Tx

[@joediberardino4419]

Awesome video

[@SolidCold]

Amazing! I have always wanted these :). Well done!

[@Zebrails]

Nice simple review. Just subscribed. You can also note that the worm gear bearings are identical to the wheel bearings. Knuckle couplers need angle adjusting, then, with those same needle nose pliers you can bite-twist the ends to expose bare metal to look like real metal glad-hands. John BC, Canada p.s. I agree with others... Athearn needs to get back to Blue Box kit production, especially for DC-strong operators.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks for the extra tips! I forgot to mention the bearings on the worm and axles being the same. The couplers on this one seem to be sitting at the correct height, but I do remember now that my C44-9W needed raised coupler heads.

[@Alerrecks]

Awesome job darth! I love how you painted the handrails, they look so much better. Painting the horn and adding some numbers to the number boards would make things even better! Love the solution to the horn hooks too lmao

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks! I've only kept the unpainted steel on one of my Athearns to keep it as a sort of "purist" model, but the rest of them get painted. It gets humid here in central IL, and exposed steel parts don't like it one bit. I once had to pull the railings off my Athearn tankers to clean them up because they'd all turned red with rust.

[@Alerrecks]

@@DarthSantaFe yikes! Down in florida we experience the same.

[@YeOldeGeezer]

A quick tip advice. Use Labelle 106 grease with ptfe on the gears inside the trucks. If you don't, you'll have major gear noise once you go back to running it.

[@YeOldeGeezer]

I did that to my weathers special fp45 built by athearn. That thing is as quiet as a mouse when it comes to running.

[@YourLocalRailfan]

Oh how I want one

[@jimweikak457]

Love this Train engine!!

[@larrydee8859]

Great Work! Thanks for sharing.

[@rogermahler9686]

To isolate the headlight from the number boards, I glue 1.5 to 2.0 mm fiber optic filaments to the head light castings before installing them. Then I use warm white ultra bright LEDs with resistors (you can also use incandescent bulbs) and shrink tubing, also add diodes for directional lighting if you are running DC vs DCC and to protect from reverse polarity which can fry the LED

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

I learned so many modeling skills working on blue box locomotives and it was one of the saddest days of my life when they discontinued true undecorated locomotives. With a blue box, detail parts. paint and decals it was possible to make truly great models to be proud of instead of glorified ready-to-run toys.

[@Iconoclasher]

Fortunately they pumped them out by the millions so there's still plenty around.

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

@@Iconoclasher At superinflated prices. They price them at the same level as the latest-and-greatest which is why I won't buy them on ebay anymore.

[@BriansModelTrains]

Wonderful - thanks for sharing.

[@randyj6245]

I love the blue box

[@whiteknightcat]

Never seen the idea of drilling into flywheels before. Seems like it might have been more precise to chuck the motor assembly into a vise and then lightly touch a file to the spinning flywheels. Never done either before, but that just "seems" like another way to do it. Fun fact: This particular locomotive was originally built as SP 8291 and delivered in 1980. After the UP merger she was one of the first batch of units to go through a complete shopping, emerging in full UP paint and re-numbered 4555 in 1996. She only wore the number a few years before being re-numbered again as 2947 around the turn of the century. The last photo I can find of her was in Nampa, ID where she was sitting in a deadline, eventual disposition unknown.

[@DarthSantaFe]

I've tried doing that, but it actually takes a really long time compared to marking and drilling.

[@dennisbailey6067]

Nice in depth video.Athearns just keep going.You might mention next time to check the axle gears,as they split.Replacing the metal pickup strip with wire and the bulb with an led are some more improvements.The original design with no screws,all clip together,is hard to beat.

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

I remember having something like this kit for a Conrail. When I was younger, maybe 9 or 12, all those hand railing supports were the bane of my existence. They kept falling off for me. This would have been maybe 93-95

[@paulmcmahon1129]

Old Blue Box locos can run beautifully on DCC, thanks to back emf etc. Those old handrails stay straight too!

[@churrodead7191]

I would of changed the steel wheels for nickle silver ones, but very nicely built and tuned!

[@DarthSantaFe]

The sintered iron wheels actually work very well as long as they're made properly. I've only replaced them when they were drilled off center and caused a lot of wobbling.

[@kentheld3733]

FYI for your next Athearn Blue Box kits the side frames on the trucks can come off for easier application of the detail parts.

[@casstelles]

The only change that I would do different would be eliminating the top metal strip. I found using direct wires for the strip as a better replacement, but I do understand that leaving the strip makes for more simplicity in the process. Also, I use the same method for the handrails, but I remove them after the glue process to prevent paint getting on the body. Once painted, I reinstall them to the body.

[@DarthSantaFe]

I've also replaced the strip on some of my other BB kits for improved performance, and it can make a difference! I thought of removing the handrails to paint, but the handrails on this one had a tight fit into the holes, so I was afraid the glue would be damaged along the way and decided to paint them in place instead. When the fit isn't quite so tight, removing first is definitely the best option.

[@dustinstroh4604]

Thank you!

[@robby062]

I’m curious why you pulled the motor off from the top. I usually push the mounts up through the frame holes, using a Torx screwdriver. I go around pushing each up a little at a time. Great tip for balancing the flywheels.

[@MrAcrfan]

I was told that if using metal couplers such as KD #5s, you should use the KD draft gear boxes to insulate the couplers from the frame. This is so you don't get a short when running 2 locos back to back. I drill out the hole and tap the hole in the frame for a 2-56 screw and install the couplers that way.

[@DarthSantaFe]

That is true, if you link 2 units together with the frames grounded to opposing rails, you’ll get a short without insulating them. I haven’t had to worry about that since my layout’s small, but it’s something to keep in mind!

[@uprrivera952]

Amazing!

[@longviewkelsolines644]

I have a rio grande sd40t-2 that's a athearn blue box as well

[@jimflagg4009]

Very nice.

[@Thebanjoberk]

gotta love tunnel motors

[@DarthSantaFe]

Yeah, especially in the case of the SD40 for me! I always thought the regular body looked too short on that chassis.

[@Thebanjoberk]

@@DarthSantaFe i like the porches on the 40s

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@Thebanjoberk It does make it look interesting. I actually have a GSB SD40-2, which was undecorated and became my first custom paint job on a diesel. Painted it for CN with the golden beaver, and it looks great! I just said I like the tunnel motors more is all. :)

[@Thebanjoberk]

@@DarthSantaFe i like how the sd45 fills up all of the frame, the 45t-2 looks like it’ll pull more than the 40t-2

[@northpennvalleysteamrailroad]

Great video!

[@gilmenin]

Very nice❤

[@parts323]

Nice job. I would have also painted the horn U.P. Gray.

[@gregginter5867]

Surprised you re-use old contact strip instead of soldering wires directly to motor contact pts to enhance performance via more direct electrical contacts!

[@DarthSantaFe]

I’ve done that before, but this was sort of an “as-is” build. The contact strips do work well as long as they’re clean and have good tension against the truck contacts.

[@anthonyxuereb792]

No screws and NO Solder/wires to break off in the hands of the hobbyist who's terrified of them lest they have to resort to their soldering iron. Great design if maybe too basic for some and I think it would be a good idea to replace the flat contact strip with more reliable wiring as was stated.

[@agwbcfjc2]

This is my first visit to your channel. An excellent presentation, factual and informative. I'm amazed too by your voice. You speak calmly and gently, but you are still interesting and engaging. After almost half an hour of the smooth and calm narration, you slip in a dig on the horn hook couplers--"...oops I broke it." That was very unexpected, and very funny. New subscriber. May I ask you, and your viewers, about an issue I have? I have several Athearn blue box locomotives that were in a "fresh" water flood--ie. creek not ocean. Do I need to take the motors apart and clean off the silt, or can I just rinse them under running tap water? Or, should I buy new motors? Any advice you , or your viewers, could offer would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks, I’m glad you liked the video! The motors are easy to take apart, so I would clean them up gently with some soap, water and a toothbrush to get rid of any dirt that may have gotten in. The brushes and springs can be gently brushed clean without using soap and water. Dry the rest of the parts as much as you can, then let them sit for maybe an hour before you reassemble the motor and add some fresh oil to the bearings. I hope that all works to get them going!

[@agwbcfjc2]

@@DarthSantaFe Thank you for your generous and detailed reply. Your expertise is very helpful. You saved me a world of doubt and confusion. I will certainly try your advice. BTW, I watched you oil a couple of open frame motors in the few videos I've seen--my being new to your channel--and that too has been very helpful. Best wishes to you and yours.

[@bcrail_productions]

Nice video also 26:45 made me die of laughter I don’t know why

[@houseoftrainsgarcia9794]

Great video just subscribed

[@BmdZero]

You got a subscriber!

[@robertallen5531]

Could the flywheel no being balanced cause vibration in the body. Mine seems to have a vibration even though it runs great and is nearly new.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Yes, unbalanced flywheels can cause a lot of vibration through the body. If you take the motor with flywheels out and power it up, and you feel a lot of vibration from it, then the flywheels are unbalanced and need to have some careful work done to quiet things down.

[@robertallen5531]

@@DarthSantaFe thank you

[@tombarnes7196]

If you haven't done it before, would you consider replacing the steel bar and rear air intakes in another video?

[@DarthSantaFe]

I'm planning to keep this one as-is, but I'm sure I'll do some ventilation work on other models in the future!

[@RailFan61]

The only part that kind of is a pain is the rail stanchion you have to squeeze over the rail. If you slip, it's ruined. My vintage Tyco/Mantuas have a hoop at the top that just slides over the rail. Much easier and a nicer finished look. Other than that, can't beat the blue box locomotives. I've been using them since the early/mid 70s with no real issues.

[@DarthSantaFe]

The railings did get a lot easier to put together when Athearn started folding the over like in this kit! The DD40 I put together had the older ones that had to be folded during assembly, and it was a tedious process.

[@crystaljasper8390]

Pretty much of what I got is blue box cheap to buy especially at train shows some detail work weathering and good old fashend maintenance and you should be good what's cool is both small and fullsize loco motives is the both use electric motors to drive them diff is size.....

[@donttreadonmetal5073]

I just got a pre-built blue box GP9, but when it came the long hood-side railing above the coupler was bent inwards as a unit. How to fix?

[@DarthSantaFe]

If it's one of the plastic railings, that's going to be a tough one. You might be able to bend it back by hand a little at a time, but there's also a risk of breaking it in the process. I haven't had much luck with that myself.

[@donttreadonmetal5073]

@@DarthSantaFe I can't tell if it's plastic or metal because it's a custom and painted. How do I tell if it's plastic or metal? Would a whole plastic unit bend as one?

[@donttreadonmetal5073]

@@DarthSantaFe it's a dummy btw forgot to mention that.

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@donttreadonmetal5073 Plastic railings are flexible and will bend and spring back with only a light touch. Metal railings are hard to the touch and don't bend easily, but they can also be bent back into shape better than a warped plastic railing.

[@donttreadonmetal5073]

@@DarthSantaFe I just looked at it again, the rails are rigid and don't move at all. Would that mean metal, and do I use pliers to bend them back?

[@amyreynolds3619]

Panio wire works for handrails.

[@farmerdave7965]

Putting non-conductive oil on axle bearings and truck pivot points is asking for trouble. These are electrical paths.

[@DarthSantaFe]

When it’s only a small droplet, it actually doesn’t cause any electrical issues. I’ve been doing this for years on points like this, and the prevention of oxidation has actually kept things running trouble free for longer.

[@jacobthorson8666]

@DarthSantaFe I had a question

[@DarthSantaFe]

What's the question?

[@peterforden5917]

LOCTITE is beter than superglue, it's grip can be broken incase of repairs

[@diesel10rules23]

I had a blue box but it fell off the table It still works just the part that connects the drive shaft to the bogie is missing

[@DarthSantaFe]

That is fortunately an easy part to replace, so I hope you can get it up and running again!

[@horacioavelinovillela3619]

This is to old ...now Athearn use the failure celcon for the handrails Its better by far the wire

[@DarthSantaFe]

The new plastic handrails on the Ready To Roll and Genesis models are much finer. There are still a lot of Blue Box kits out there though, and they all include metal handrails. For a lot of them, Athearn hasn’t made a plastic replacement.

[@13thBear]

Your patient voice and actions while making this video really annoys me! ;)

[@Joe-sn6ir]

some good stuff, but a lot of bad stuff in this video. :(

[@DarthSantaFe]

I'm sure I made some mistakes here and there, but it all turned out well in the end. Of course, I can't know where I went wrong if all you say is there's "bad stuff in this video."

[@RobertSimon-o1n]

The problem I have is it's UP😅. Long live Southern Pacific. 😊