Review

For their first piece of N scale rolling stock, Athearn has chosen the F59PHI diesel locomotive. It has been released in two numbers each of Amtrak West and Metrolink. To be released soon are two numbers each of the Sounder (Seattle), Coaster (San Diego), West Coast Express (Vancouver, B.C.), and the Trinity Rail Express (Dallas).

Prototype Information

EMD didn't want to build the F59 series. Basically, building B-trucked road locos with cowl bodies was a yesterday thing for them, but Canada's Toronto "GO Transit" insisted. The first version, the F59PH, featured a three-window comfort cab of the CN/GMD design with a front platform and nose-door access. In 1994, the State of California ordered nine F59s but wanted some changes. They wanted a more streamlined, isolated cab, leading to an additional "I" in the unit's designation. Thus, the F59PHI was born.

All F59s are powered by a 12-710G, the twelve cylinder version of the V16 powering the SD70 series. This 3,000 horse prime mover doesn't have to share its juice with the passenger cars behind; a separate Head End Power (HEP) package deals with that. With its rounded fiberglass nose, the PHI weighs in at 254,900 pounds. The "California F59," as it is sometimes called, isn't universally appreciated for its design aesthetics, but the railroads who operate them and the passengers who ride behind them seem to like them fine.

Small wonder. They are a high-reliability package which pulls and powers the Bombardier coaches in California service and the Talgo Tilt-Train in the Pacific Northwest. This locomotive has a design capability of 110 miles per hour, far more than it is using in any of its current assignments. It's a tall loco, the same height as the bi-level "California Cars" and Bombarier coaches. It dwarfs the low-rider Talgos to the point that farings have been added to the connecting Talgo car to smooth the transition.

Despite their earlier reluctance, EMD is now proudly carrying the F59PHI in its catalog. In fact Amtrak number 450, is on their website at http://www.gmemd/en/locomotive/passenger/. I'm sure they'd be glad to sell you one, but if you can't afford it and don't have the room, then read on!

The Model

We got a quick look at this model when Athearn announced its entry into N-scale back at Chicago in September of last year. They were not yet in the paint jobs of real railroads, being a solid gold. Our sample did run, however, and it came with genuine Micro-Trains couplers. That much hasn't changed.

We received California Amtrak (Amtrak West) number 450, a real, working unit. I examined a variety of pictures of this very unit, and the model looks like a good match to it. The paint is very even and smooth while the lettering is sharp and crisp. I put an 8X printer's loupe up to the model and found that while the lettering was excellent, masking along the white lines was a bit rough. In some places, the edges were jagged and on the nose, the blue and white curved lines did not coincide. Of course, if you don't use a magnifier, you'll never know any of this.

Vertical grab irons on both sides of the cab doors and the shorter ones by the rear deck are user installed, though this is not a difficult task. The roof contains a lot of detail, most of it hidden below the side farings. Just behind the exhaust stack is the five chime horn followed by four fans. The trucks on this ultra-modern puller are Blombergs! They have been modernized, of course, and the detailed truck sideframes on the model reflect that.

There are numbers in the number boards, two in the front and one in the back. The rear crew access door, instead of having a porthole window as is found on the prototype, has the lens for the backup light doming out. Lighting is directional with the door window and backup light coming on in reverse and the dual headlights illuminating forward. Neither the ditch lights or red markers actually light.

Operation

The gold introductory version has very tall gearing, causing it to run at nearly 300 scale miles per hour at 10 volts. I was curious if the little guy had been tamed in the decorated release. While a 9 volt 215 scale miles per hour might be a dream for Amtrak if they could get the infrastructure to support it, it's a bit fast for a model. Still, this is down from 260 smph at 9 volts for the prerelease version. This makes all the difference in the world since a misadventure up to 12 volts won't find it flying off 11 inch radius curves.

At lower voltages, this model performs very well. In real life, these locos can really scoot, precisely what Amtrak and General Motors had in mind. At a volt and a half, our sample managed a very sedate 1.4 smph. At 3.0, it was rolling at 51 smph, a very nice running speed. What this loco really needs is a power pack throttle which gives good control in the range from 1 to 6 volts. I use one of Athearn's little trainset power packs which has a very good throttle scale and could get the F59 to crawl a single inch in over 38 seconds. That calculates down to 0.2 scale miles per hour or 12 scale feet per minute.

It's kind of a noisy little guy, but not objectionable. If you put some cars behind it, the track and gear sounds all blend in. This is designed to be a puller and its performance improves as it is given some cars to haul. With four bilevel 85 foot coaches behind it, the three volt speed dropped to just over 46 smph, while the six volt speed was reduced to under 146. With eight coaches, the three volt came in at 38.4 while the six volter was 138, all without slipping or complaint. Of course, it looks better at the head of a train, too.

Summary

I've enjoyed watching Athearn's N-scale F59PHI mature. The prototype is bound to appeal to the many millions of people who live where they run the rails. They should be no less popular among N-scalers who want to model the modern, urban existence. If you don't live where Amtrak runs these beautiful beats, point your web browser to "Amtrak F%(PHI" and enjoy. Meanwhile, this is a quality model to collect and run. It handles switches and rough track very well and puts plenty of pull on the bar. Hey, what's not to like?