Arriving in hobby shops now is the Athearn HO scale General Electric Dash 9-44CW diesel locomotive. The newly tooled model features a variety of railroad-specific details.
Road names offered on the first run of the six-axle road locomotive are Canadian National (red, white, and black with “wet noodle” herald); Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (warbonnet); BNSF Ry. (warbonnet); Fortescue Metals Group (white, blue, and yellow); Norfolk Southern (black); and Southern Pacific (scarlet and gray with “speed” lettering). The HO scale General Electric Dash 9-44CW is offered in three to four road numbers per paint scheme.
Features on the Genesis-series model include etched-metal see-through walkway steps; illuminated number boxes, ground lights above front trucks, front and rear walkway lights, and illuminated marker lights (where applicable); and rotating roller-bearing caps. Other details on the road unit are flexible rubber m.u. and trainline hoses; Celcon handrails; factory-installed and painted wire grab irons; a detailed cab interior; separate, factory-applied wire grab irons and windshield wipers; and a detailed fuel tank with fillers, gauges, and breather pipes.
The Athearn HO scale General Electric Dash 9-44CW features all-wheel drive and electrical pickup and a Genesis driveline with a five-pole skew-wound motor, machined flywheels, and a multi-link drivetrain. The model is fitted with McHenry scale couplers and RP-25 contour metal wheels.
Direct-current models with a 21-pin NEM connector sell for $259.99. Versions with a dual-mode SoundTraxx Tsunami 2 sound decoder and dual cube speakers are priced at $349.99.
Trains.com Product Review videos showcase the latest new items from manufacturers of products in Z, N, HO, S, O, and large scales. In the videos, you can watch locomotives in action, take a close-up look at details on freight cars, see kit components, and much more.
If you are a manufacturer and have products you would like reviewed, please email Senior Editor Cody Grivno at cgrivno@kalmbach.com for more information.
Cody, Just read your review in Model Railroader. Impressive loco. Would love to see it in N scale.
A couple of comments – 1. With all the lighting effects it would have been real nice to turn down the lights so that we could see how effective they are like the walkway lights. 2. Given the draw bar pull A 30+ car freight on the MR&T would have been more impressive.
Thanks, Amby N