These locomotives are in pretty bad shape, two of them are dismantled and the Kato engine seems to have some decoder trouble. All of them are missing parts or otherwise in need of attention.
The SD70M is an original Athearn release from back in 2002, and although it is in pieces it still has it's original bag of detail sprues untouched and the locmotive looks as if it was either dismantled before use, or had very light use before being taken apart for weathering. The detail on this engine is amazing, it even has a cab interior and see through grilles and fans. This is my first modern SD unit, and I'm surprised at just how flimsy the plastic shell is compared to the old Blue Box engines I'm used to.
The SD70MAC is a Kato unit, and again it has an incredible amount of detail, matching or surpassing the Genesis in some areas, where it lacks detail is in the roof and handrails, the handrails are a thicker plastic than the Athearn and the shell has a less crisp feel to the details. That said, this engine is complete and should be the easiest of the three to get back on the rails, it has a decoder issue that seems to be preventing it from working so I will need to take it down to the next club meet and get it looked at by one of the DCC experts.
The third and final engine in this lot is an Athearn SD50 in conrail livery, although the shell has been partially stripped. This locomotive was originally a very nicely detailed model, close to Genesis quality in fact, but now it is in bad shape, at least one of the quiet fans from the roof is missing and there are several other parts missing including the cab glazing. I think this one is going to need a replacement shell as the body is in such bad shape that it's hard to imagine it being possible to fix. We shall see.
So three new engines, and a lot of fun ahead getting them back into running condition! I'm looking forward to trying one of these once I get the GP38-2 project out of the way.
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