Well now most of you probably have heard Lionel has brought out an American Flyer SD70ACe. Several road names, UP, BNSF, NS and KCS to name a few. I picked up the KCS which was offered with scale wheels. Otherwise they come with highrail wheels which means larger flanges and fatter treads. Both versions come with the AF coupler but Lionel included spacers and screws to install Kadee couplers. So these pictures of my scale wheeled KCS still has the big AF couplers but it was photographed on code 83 flex track.
Hi Greg, That's a beauty, but it looks gigantic! How does it run, and what kind of curve radius does it require? Do the scale versions have fixed pilots or do the pilots/couplers pivot along with the trucks? Bill in FtL
Hi Bill, The prototype is a big locomotive in its own right. I haven't run it yet, need to change out the AF style couplers before I can couple it up to anything. There are a few youtube videos that show it running, seems real nice and smooth. Now about that pilot. It can be fixed to the frame. It currently pivots but it is attached to the frame so its pivot is seperate from the the truck turning. Lionel has used that method on some of their newer O scale engines with success. On a side note, I did a quick test run of my U33C's after I put my scale wheel sets in them. While it was upside down it ran fine in both directions so I know my changing of the wheels didn't bind anything up. I have high hopes for these new engines, Lionel seems to be trying hard and having success. Back to the SD70ACe, a couple of reviews have shown it to handle code 100 rail very well and scale turnouts as well. Hope this answers your questions Bill. Greg