Athearn 1990s Bluebox 9-44CW

Here's an almost 30-year-old project I started but never quite finished, an Athearn bluebox kit for a Union Pacific 9-44CW complete with metal handrails.

I first wrote about this model last year. Last week I got around to adding a Digitrax DH126P decoder:

UP 9820 would be an ex C&NW unit built in 1994 and renumbered UP in 2001. The lightning sripe pattern and the nose wings were new at that time, but the sill stripe was still red. Considering the date of the prototype Athearn seems to have followed, this must be at the very tail end of Athearn's domestic production.

For companrison with this model, here is my ScaleTrains 9-44CW 9643 that represents an ex SP unit with the straight upper stripe, no wings, but the post-2005 yellow sill stripe. I see that I still need to add Kadees to this loco.

I have parts on order to complete the details for UP 9820, including a set of Run 8 cab windows for the Athearn 9-44CW off eBay. I will probably also add PTC antennas to the cab roof but keep the red sill stripe.

As I compare the two models, I see that there are enough paint and detail differences to make it worthwhile to have them near each other on the layout, but they clearly represent two very different generations of model.