HO DC Powered Athearn 3603 Burlington Northern EMD F45 Diesel Engine Locomotive #6615

Description

HO scale DC Powered Athearn 3603 Burlington Northern EMD F45 Diesel Engine Locomotive #6615.

For Sale at ShowMyHobby is a consigned, slightly used, older HO scale Athearn Blue Box Ready-to-Run Burlington Northern EMD F-45 Diesel Engine Locomotive #6615 in its original but modified box.  The locomotive runs good as can be seen via the video.

Previous state of the locomotive:

On 1/23/2026, I opened the box and found the locomotive in an incomplete state.  The rear coupler assembly was in pieces, no handrails were attached, no front coupler or coupler cover was in the box, and the horn was in 3 different pieces and broken off of the shell.  Two of the doors round windows were not installed and only 1 clear circular window was in the box.

Efforts applied to the locomotive and its current state:

I removed the shell first thing and looked at the power transfer bar.  It appeared to be a little rusty.  So, I used a fine grain piece of sandpaper and cleaned up all the contact points of the bar, the light, and the 2 contact points that rise up from the inside of the trucks. I put the circular window inside one of the doors of the shell. I installed a #5 Kadee coupler at the rear of the frame. I looked through a lot of small parts provided by the Consignor and found the front coupler clip, a Hornhook coupler, and a long piece of a horn.  I installed the Hornhook coupler at the front of the frame.  I installed the available handrails to the front of the shell.  Although 3 stanchions were found, I only installed the middle front 2 stanchions.  I taped the 3rd stanchion inside the modified box (see it in the last 2 photos). Then, I put the shell back on the locomotive.  I glued the horn stand to the roof of the shell, glued the 2 horns to the base, and then then glued what turned out to be a large horn belonging to a different type of locomotive to the back end of the horn base.  Next, I put together a small oval of Bachmann E-Z track on the floor.  I put the locomotive on the tracks, turned on the power, and ran the locomotive around the tracks.  I have a Burlington Northern graphite pad track cleaning boxcar. I connected it to the loco and ran both trains for about 25 minutes forward and backwards, most of the time using my track cleaning car.  Then I ran the loco back and forth solo for about 5 minutes.  After that, I recorded the video which shows how well the locomotive runs and what it sounds like (note: this is a DC only locomotive and doesn’t come with a DCC sound decoder or speakers).

This Athearn Burlington Northern EMD F45 Diesel Engine is a heavy locomotive weighing about 1 lb 4 ounces (give or take an once or two).  It has 12 metal Medium Flange Wheels (mMFW).  There are some scratches on 1 side of the shell that appear to be arranged like the letters “E Z”…

Near the end of the photos, you will see pictures of what the loco looked like inside the box, with its shell off, after I sanded away the rust from contact points, and after I put the shell back on it.  Then you will see the Styrofoam that I glued into the box to hold the locomotive in place and prevent the horn, handrails, or couplers from getting damaged again during storage or shipping.

Depending on when you view this item, there may be 3 HO scale ATT Burlington Passenger Cars as well as an HO Santa Fe FP-45 Diesel Engine locomotive still available that might make good running companions for this locomotive.

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