Athearn Genesis Announces HO SD80MAC, Atlas Teases Alco HH660 Diesel

Athearn Genesis made the biggest buying decision of the roundup with an HO scale SD80MAC that is already slated for May 2027, and the pricing tells the story as clearly as the tooling. The BN #9811 DCC-and-sound version was listed at $389.99, while the direct-current model came in at $289.99, putting a modern, high-horsepower freight unit squarely in premium territory. The model’s feature list was aimed at the details people notice first: a detailed fuel tank, cab interior, see-through windows, wire grabs, etched-metal walkway steps, Celcon handrails and stanchions, body-mounted couplers, and a die-cast frame. The roadnames covered Burlington Northern, Chessie System with Chesapeake & Ohio reporting marks, CSX, Great Northern, Norfolk Southern, Springfield Terminal, and Wisconsin Central, giving it reach across several heavy-freight eras.

That matters because the prototype SD80MAC was not just another large road unit. It was introduced in 1995 as a 5,000-horsepower AC-traction locomotive powered by EMD’s 20-cylinder 710G3B engine, and it earned a place in later-era heavy freight service that still attracts operators who want a layout to look busy and contemporary. A Genesis run in those colors gives HO layouts a shot at a locomotive that bridges 1990s muscle with modern display appeal.

Atlas took a different lane with its HO Alco HH660, a switcher that speaks directly to short-line, industrial, and preservation-focused rosters. The model was priced at $199.95 in DC with a speaker or $319.95 with LokSound, and the offered schemes broadened its usefulness beyond a single road. Atlas’s own historical material also adds the kind of context that makes this release stand out: “HH” is a rail-historian term for Alco high-hood switchers, not a factory designation, and of the 177 high-hood switchers built, only 18 were HH660s. That rarity gives the HH660 unusual roster value for anyone trying to represent a less common first-generation diesel.

Rapido Trains rounded out the freight and road power story with its FL9 diesel-electric locomotive, aimed at Metro-North and related commuter service in Connecticut and New York. The model included a MoPower capacitor system for uninterrupted DCC power, steam-generator versions with third-rail gear and rooftop pantograph details, and a suggested minimum radius of 18 inches. Rapido also lined up HEP-equipped variants and DC, DCC, and sound choices, keeping the FL9 in the same practical lane as the Atlas and Athearn releases: era-specific power with enough configuration depth to match real operating assignments.

Taken together, the roundup showed a market that is still rewarding prototype fidelity and roster gaps, not just repaint cycles. The common thread was clear: premium pricing, sound-ready expectations, and locomotives that let a layout tell a sharper era-specific story the moment they roll out of the box.