Last week, I received the Flyerchief Wabash Gp9. It is a beautiful engine, however runs rough. My concern is over the startup in Bluetooth. It jolts forward at the start,rather than gradually. It is almost like there is play in the gears, or truck. My Flyerchief Berkshire has an easy startup. I recently made the change from Lionel O Legacy to S Gauge due to space considerations. Is this possibly some sort of defect, or am I expecting too much from Flyerchief. Has anyone else experienced this. Thanks!
I recently moved from Lionel O Legacy to American Flyer S due to space considerations.
I assume you have a 2221040 Wabash GP7. I have a first run UP GP7 prior to the incorporation of BlueTooth. I run it with the included handheld FlyerChief contoller. While the slow speed on the first speed step is ok after startup, it has the same starting lurch you describe. Once in motion it is smooth. The engine has enough running time that it is fully broken in. the pulling power is great. It will pull 18 freight cars up a 2.25% grade on my layout.
The UP GP7 is the only engine I kept as FlyerChief. I had the FlyerChief NYC Northern and Erie Berkshires converted to TMCC/Railsounds so I could run them with the Legacy system. They sound better and run better with the Legacy Cab2 in the R100 mode.
I think FlyerChief is fine for most operators, it is way better than conventional running of engines. It is not as good as TMCC or Legacy which I use exclusively on my layout.
I asssume you are aware that S gauge Legacy has key differences from O gauge. What you will notice immediately is except for the first S gauge legacy engine, the 2010 Big Boy, the S gauge boards are smaller so the 200 speed steps are "relative" rather than absolute as in O gauge. This means each different model of engine (Challenger vs Y3 vs ES44 vs U36) will run at a drastically different speed a given speed step. The other significant difference is S gauge Legacy engines do not have BlueTooth. In its place they have DCC compatibility because many S gauge operators use DCC.
Thank you for your reply. That is what I thought. Coming from Lionel Legacy, I guess that I am used to the smoother operation of O Gauge Legacy engines. The Flyerchief Berkshire works fine, but I plan to move on to Legacy as soon as I sell my O Legacy equipment. Once again, thanks.
I have 49 TMCC plus Legacy engines with one new Lionel Legacy engine pending delivery. 31 are Lionel, 18 are American Models converted to TMCC/Railsounds. They all run good and I greatly enjoy operating the layout. The Legacy engines features and performance are close, but not quite the same as O gauge however historically they only cost 1/3 as much. I am happy with the products and would rather have the S 2 rail than O 3 rail.
Do you know if the new AF GP9 is large enough to be fitted with TMCC?
AF by Lionel GP7's made prior to FlyerChief have been converted to TMCC/RS. The shell is large enough, there is a short video of one at goldinhands.com. I have had several FlyerChief engines converted to TMCC/RS but not a new GP7. Recommend you email Ed Goldin and ask him directly. Contact info is on his site. Ed has installed TMCC/RS, electrocouplers and fan driven smoke units and custom lighting in all my American Models engines. Smoke units only in the steamers.
Thank you!
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