The prototype. The 1,500-hp GP15-1 built by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division is essentially a road switcher version of the firm’s MP15 switcher. Railroads commonly use GP15-1s for yard, local, and transfer work.
Electro-Motive manufactured 368 GP15-1s from 1976 to 1982. The Chicago & North Western received the first 25 GP15-1s, and most of the C&NW locomotives are still in service on the Union Pacific. During the production run there were variations between orders, and EMD also sold GP15AC and GP15T (turbocharged) versions.
You can read more about the GP15-1 in the January 1990 Model Railroader. The Athearn model matches prototype drawings published in that issue.
railroad added extra louvers above the engine room doors. These features are modeled on the C&NW version of the Athearn GP15-1.
The overall quality of the molded detail is good, although there are visible sink marks from the injection molding process on top of the hood. There are many separately applied parts including scale-profile acetal plastic handrails, a three-chime horn, and m.u. hoses.
The cab interior has engineer and fireman seats and a brake stand, although no figures are included. The fireman’s side window opens and the engineer’s side has the correct three-pane all-weather cab window.
The paint scheme matches prototype photos. The separation lines between the yellow and green paint along the sides of the hood are slightly fuzzy. All the printing is straight and the warning stencils are readable under magnification.
The DCC decoder in our sample is mounted above the motor assembly. The printed-circuit board on the DC version has an eight- and nine-pin DCC decoder socket. Four screws attach a downward-facing speaker and plastic enclosure to the rear of the frame.
All of the model’s metal wheels are chemically blackened. None of the wheels have traction tires, yet the GP15-1 still has enough power to pull 34 HO freight cars on straight and level track.
I ran the model around an 18″ curve without any difficulty. The headlights and sounds of the HO GP15-1 remained constant, even as I ran the model through turnouts and over uneven track at a crossing.
In DC the sounds of the engine idling start at 6.5 volts. As I advanced the throttle, the engine rpm levels increased. Like the prototype there is a pause between the increase in rpms and the
actual acceleration of the locomotive.
The bell turns on automatically as the locomotive gets under way and shuts off at about 10 scale mph. Rapidly increasing the throttle causes a grade-crossing signal to sound, while decreasing the throttle quickly triggers a squealing brake effect. These features can be disabled with a DCC system.
Using a DCC system, I had access to additional user-triggered functions, including a long and short horn blast, bell, and coupler crash. I was especially impressed with the accurate-sounding gong bell. I could also control lighting effects such as the headlight and a pulsing rooftop beacon, which is correct for the C&NW prototype.
The Tsunami decoder has many programmable configuration variables (CVs) that control individual volume levels, speed tables, and other features of the locomotive. Extensive user and technical manuals are available as a free download at www.soundtraxx.com.
Following instructions in the manual I set up the decoder for manual notching. After setting CV116 to a value of 0, I used functions 9 and 10 on my DCC throttle to increase and decrease the rpms independently from the locomotive’s speed.
Effects like the distinctive gong bell and all-weather engineer’s window on the C&NW version show the attention to detail that Athearn paid to accurately model the appearance and sound of a specific prototype. If you’ve been waiting for an HO scale GP15-1 or are interested in an four-axle light road switcher that fits in the modern era, you should definitely check out this Athearn Genesis model.
Price: $269.98 (DCC sound), $169.98 (DC no sound)
Manufacturer
Athearn Trains
2883 E. Spring St., Suite 100
Long Beach, CA 90806
www.athearn.com
Road names: (multiple road numbers) Chicago & North Western, Burlington Northern, Conrail, CSX (GP15T), Frisco, Missouri Pacific, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific. Undecorated versions available.
Era: 1976 to present day
Features
