HI All,
Just wondering about what kind, if any, issues you might be having with your ES44AC? I would also like to have some info on the sound please.
Richard
Hi,
I can not write about the sound being that my locomotives are DC and without sound.
Aside from the paint issues, it is difficult to remove the shell without breaking some handrail. Also when looking at them from the front, with the lights on there is this slot at the front where the hood meets the walkway where the light shines out from. Extremely annoying for me. Looking at the locomotive from the side they seem to sit a bit higher on their trucks then the Kato AC400's.
On the positive, these locomotives weigh exactly the same as the Kato AC4400,s. The drive train looks very similar and once the motor feeders are wired directly into the supply wires from the track they run at the same speed as the Kato and Atlas locomotives. It would not surprise me if these locomotives are made in the same factory as the Atlas locomotives. The packaging is identical.
Hope it helps.
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
Thank You Frank. I thik you're onto something with the common mfg of certain components.
The DC engines run very slow. Won't match Kato or Atlas without rewire. After rewire the lights don't come on early anymore. Broke 2 handrails on the front trying to remove the shell. Other than that very nice model.
Bob
Yes they were definatley not built to run on DC. So if you have DC don't get this loco. They run really good on DCC and the sounds are really good.
I think the detail on them rivals the Athearn and MTH ACe's.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
bobwrght The DC engines run very slow. Won't match Kato or Atlas without rewire. After rewire the lights don't come on early anymore. Broke 2 handrails on the front trying to remove the shell. Other than that very nice model. Bob
You have experienced exactly the same as I on my Intermountain locomotives. In this post I tried to explain how to rewire the locos: http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/184473.aspx
Hope it helps those that are interested in this loco.
Motley Yes they were definatley not built to run on DC. So if you have DC don't get this loco. They run really good on DCC and the sounds are really good. I think the detail on them rivals the Athearn and MTH ACe's.
I have contacted Intermountain directly and they are working on a fix for the DC starting voltage / speed issue. I would not let that keep me from buying their GEVO. It is very nicely detailed, as noted, and runs smoothly and quietly right out of the box. I bought two of them.
John Timm
It does seem like they would have fixed that before releasing.
I may be going overboard here..... I Apologize...
Are these Tower 55 molds/dies?
If so, they are excellent & I hope Brian came out OK on this one.
I wanted the T55 ones since their first GEVO ad in '06..
Just glad they were not 'lost' forever...
On Dc they do run slow. IMR did this so they would run with the sound units out of the box. I have two non-sound and they run fine out of the box with my Atlas QSI sound units on DC. Not a problem here as i have several dummy units Athearn C44 and Ac4400 to also run them with.