does anyone own one of these, if so how well do they run, pull etc
I have the original run, with the Soundtraxx motor only decoder. It runs very well. Totally silent. The keep alive is WAY too much for it, it will run across my workbench multiple times if lifted off the track, like a windup toy. But it won't stall over even a full sheet of paper (if it stays on the track). I didn't have much for it to pull, but it should pull a a handful of cars, it's pretty heavy (body is all diecast). It's not like the prototype of these pulled 50 car trains.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I don't own one, but I would buy one if I did not have such a fleet of switchers at home . Have only read good things about the model, and that the keep-alive is pretty much a must-have because of the wheel arrangement. It basically allows it to go through turnouts without interruptions - and switchers are highly likely to go through them... The only risk I see with the powerful keep alive is with a lift-out. Mine shuts off the power when lifted-up - which would not work if by chance a switcher was running when the power is shut off. Then the great leap might occur. But that's not very likely...
Simon
Thanks for the responses
my only other question is with such small wheels how well do they track through turnouts? They would primarily have to negotiate Peco medium & large code 100 turnouts
Hello All,
Yes, I have one and for a "critter" it's amazing!!!
My pike is entirely Atlas Code 100 sectional track with Snap Switches and a few PECO curved and #2 turnouts- -all code 100.
With the built-in energy storage device (ESD) it negotiates all the dead-frog turnouts with no problems.
This unit is assigned permanent duty on the upper unloading area for my Tyco operating hopper cars.
It pulls the empties out of the unloading shed and shunts them to the waiting GP30 for the trip down the spiral trestle (helix) to the mainline.
The ESD in the ML-8 unit inspired me to fit a TCS KAM4 decoder in my Athearn EMD Model 40.
Unfortunately, the EMD Model 40 "critter" stalls on all the dead-frogs making it unreliable for switching duties. Installing a decoder with a built-in ESD should solve this problem, making it just as reliable as the Walthers unit.
If you can get one of the Walthers Plymouth ML-8 Switchers you will not be disappointed.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I ordered a DCC one today Couldn't pass on the price around $46 with shipping around 56/57
hopefully it will be here in a few days
I saw that price as well. Next MR purchase is a pack of decoders, but if they are still around when the next hole in my budget opens up, I might have to get one. That Plymouth would make a nice companion for my Bachmann 45-tonner, which is one of the engines for my 3-to-four-car excursion train.
They lowered the price to $39.99, but by the time I got on the phone with my LHS to ask them to order one, they sold out. :(
Those have to be all the old run. I do see some of the new run on eBay for $60 or so, and then some on eBay for $20 OVER MSRP - seriously people. Modeltrainstuff seems to have all the current run, sy $105 (MSRP is $150 on these). MRSP on the old run was I think $99, I know I got mine for a lot less. Guess this was the final closeout of the old ones. The new run has an ESU decoder which I would prefer, but they don;t have it in the blue and white scheme that is an exact match for pictures of other types of locos that my cement plant used as plant switchers, so I got my first run one - long after they were supposedly "sold out". Preorder? what's that?
I recieved mine in the mail on Saturday. I must say I am impressed on how quiet & smooth it runs & the ability to go thru turnouts without stalling.
Now for the Negative...i put 3 of my better free rolling cars behind it (cab end) The pull on the coupler when going forward causes the locomotive to do a "Wheelie" lifting the front wheels off the rails causing it to slip & chatter No issue pushing the cars in reverse because that actually puts "weight " on the wheels
I am looking at how I may be able to add some weight to the loco maybe some steel or copper bar stock mounted along the underside of the walkways. It would hide the wheels from sight but I would not find that to be too bad looking..esp if it improves the performance of the loco
Mine pulled a couple of cars no problem - both ways, pulling and pushing. Is the coupler on the car coupled to the loco high by any chance? A couple of cars is about what these would move for real - mainly things like shuttle cars around in an industrial plant of some sort. These days, a Trackmobile may be more likely, unless the company still has a working small switcher. Instead of paying the mainline railroad to shuttle cars around over an unloading pit in a grain elevator, for example, the mainline road would jsut dropa cut on the siding, and the plant's switcher would pull a couple at a time over the pit, unload them, and then shove them to the empties track for the mainline railroad to pick up.
Here's what the first run ones do, with the Soundtraxx motor-only decoder:
https://soundtraxx.com/content/Reference/Factory-Installed/Walthers/Ply-ML8_923-25E0000DD.pdf
No, DC operation is controlled by CV29.
http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm
CV14 controls which functions out of the lights and F9-F12 are active on DC. Soundtraxx usually defaults this to 3, which means the lights will work on DC.
Well, it appear that's the Soundtracc motor-only decoder is NOT dual mode and will NOT work with DC, no matter what.
https://soundtraxx.com/products/dcc-mobile-decoders
I'm not sure there are ANY other current product DCC motor decoders that won't run on DC. This is right up there with not supporting CV6 for simple 3 step speed matching.
Several years back there was a member here who has since passed away, who put sound in the little Grandt Line 23 ton boxcab. That's SMALLER than the Walthers Plymouth. And no tricks, like tying 2 of them together and putting the decoder in oen and the speaker in the other, just one single unit, with motor, decoder, speaker, and some stay alibe because of the super tiny wheelebase. And it could move cars - he posted videos of it working.
Making the decoder dual mode wouldn't make it any bigger, it's all in the firmware. And since other Soundtraxx sound decoders can operate on DC, they already have the code to detect the lack of a DCC signal and switch the motor drive on to allow the DC power to come through. Like any other dual mode decoder (non-sound), with about 2 diode drops worth of loss through the two drive transistors (total .12 to .14 volts peak).
Apparently the real world has trouble with wheel slippage with Plymouths as well.
I just happened to be driving past an industry & spotted this...of course I may have trespassed a few seconds to get the shot...LOL
Appears to be solid steel blocks of weight on either side of both the front & rear couplers
Looks like you don't have to hide the extra weight you are planning on installing.
As has been said many times before, "There is a prototype for everything."
I wonder whether the lack of dual-mode support (DC/DCC) in the decoder-equipped ML-8 has anything to do with how Soundtraxx integrated the keep-alive circuitry into that specific decoder board.
Having asked that, I'm not aware of anything specific that they did or did not do along those lines.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
No 5. It does pretty good. only moves at most two cars at a time. slight grade out of the feed mill gives it a challenge. but makes it rather protoypical
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
NVSRR(O)nly moves at most two cars at a time. (S)light grade out of the feed mill gives it a challenge. but makes it rather prototypical(.)
As I posted, this unit only handles one car at a time.
I did a load test on the main oval of my pike.
There is a slight tilt to the entire pike creating a 1.22% grade when running on the backside.
This unit could handle a single unloaded Tyco 34-foot operating hopper [3.0 oz (-0.14 oz NMRA RP 20.1 Car Weight)] up the 1.22% grade.
With two cars there was some wheel-slip but it could make it up the grade.
Three cars cause wheel-slip as soon as it rounded the curve to the bottom of the grade.
For my purposes, shunting one car at a time, it gets the job done.
When I need more pulling power I rely on either a GE 44-ton or 70-ton switcher.
dbduck
Looks like an uparmored combat bulldozer or something.