Trackside  “Tid-Bits”  Product Review

Buy Athearn RTR Locomotives

EMD’s GP40X was not exactly a mass produced prototype.  With 23 units produced  between 1977-1978, it was designed to serve as a test bed for the upcoming GP50 unit.  High speed intermodal and manifest freights were the idea behind their creation, and used to obtain GP50 orders from railroads. Not all prototype modelers may count rivets,  but those that do will find plenty of details and rivets to count on Athearn’s rendition of the GP40X.  This is a ”diesel lovers” diesel.  From the aspect of details and features there are plenty of fans, light, grilles, vents to check out here.  Not to mention the “gorgeous” HTB trucks.

Dana Stark of the Rail Power products line came out with the original GP40X kit back in the 90’s, and it was a decent kit.  When Dana sold his line to Athearn a few years back,  they went through most of the Rail Power line heavily upgrading and embellishing the tooling in addition to giving them an upgraded drive.

The GP40X for our review is SP #7200 (ATH 94719). The re-tooling of the GP40X starts up front with a correct 88” nose with anti-climber, correct horn placement and light package as when it was first delivered.  Very good renditions of the roofline fans  and “cantered” radiators are also done, and done correctly!  The massive “elephant ears” located at the rear have been faithfully reproduced to give the unit its distinctive one of a kind look.  The trucks are a job well executed, as is the fuel tank with a correct contour.  Again this is a diesel lovers engine with plenty of details, details, details!

The ready to roll unit comes right out of the box and weighs approximately a pound and a half.  The standard Athearn drive includes the DCC Quick Plug board for any of the appropriate decoders produced today.

There are instances on some units that the drive may seem a little noisy when first taken out of the box,  but after running for a while it should smooth out, such is the case with our sample. This engine is capable of pulling at least 18 to 24 cars on level track, as well as negotiate an 18 inch radius.  It obviously would look better with at a 22 inch and up radius, particularly in a consist with other units.

The GP40X is a diesel that if anyone 10-15 years ago wanted the option, would have been either to buy brass or engage in some heavy kitbashing.  Now Athearn has brought it to life and very nicely done at that.  For the money it represents a very reasonable purchase and should be considered by any modern day diesel buff who craves a well painted accurately detailed loco.

Buy Athearn RTR Locomotives