I believe he is referring to The Railwire, another model railroading forum, and probably this thread. Short answer: there is no DCC socket and installing DCC in a non-DCC Kato Big Boy looks to be quite a job.
If you go to TRW...be sure to wear your fire suit ! They don't proudly call themselves "asshats" for nothing....lol
Kato's web site still says July 2023 but it's the 30th already and haven't seen anything yet from my pusher..... ummmm I mean dealer, so Maybe August will be the magic month?
I was surprised that the DC version was out on time as my experience has been kato is usually 2-3 months behind on their ETA's. I won't complain too much though... too many things change all at once good or bad and I get very concerned
Unfortunately, it's looking more like December at this point. Also note that the price has been increased to $599 for DCC+Sound at most retailers, not all are up-charging to the new price point though.
I'm actually going to pass on these for now. They look fantastic, but I'm likely approaching that time when the trains will have to go. If things go well, I'll likely be looking at assisted living in 20 years. If not so well, maybe ten or fifteen. Kato may very well still be selling these new, so if I change my mind I can just buy one then. Otherwise, it will be one less thing for me or my family to sell at ten cents on the dollar. Yeah, maybe that should be 20 cents, or 50 cents; but none of us really know. Will trains become the next classic muscle cars or beanie babies? Likely something in between, but closer to the beanies. Until this morning*, the last N scale train I bought was the pair of second release SDP40F's in January 2021. Scaling back is okay. *I did finally find a Kato NP NW-2 in new condition at a fair price on ebay ($119), so that's on its way. Just something I always liked but failed to pull the trigger on when they came out. Unlike the subject Big Boys, I doubt Kato will ever build any more of those.
Many vendors appear to have the DCC w/sound in stock or arriving very soon. DCC only is due end of March per Kato customer service.
I'm holding out for the just DCC version so nice to know it is only a month or so away now. I just hope the prices hold at what most places have them listed for
I've been holding off too for the DCC only but now I'm thinking since it's such a special loco I mine as well go big.
The big boy made it in yesterday. Sound is good and default address is 4014 so nice that was already done. Likes 128 steps speed control so you can get creep speeds at the lower steps which it does nice and smoothly. Nice default momentum settings. This will be a first where I'm not reprogramming a loco out of the box. I do have a couple of Athearn big boys and I have to say they are close as far as details and looks but I think the edge goes to Kato with a slightly better finish and more realistic relief such as the rivets etc. My only operable layout is my coffee table which is old and the track is showing it's age such as the insulators for the power zones (originally DC) are disintegrating and track joins in those places (turns) are not as clean as they used to be. I can run most of my diesels and steam no problem but these larger locos as well as rolling stock with large overhangs tend to have trouble negotiating some of those joints. I was hoping this big boy would overcome the issues but no such luck. The pilot kept popping out on the problematic joins in the turns. Not fair to blame this on the big boy and just motivates me all the more to get the track properly sorted. Time to replace the insulators with metal fish plates since zones are no longer needed/used. It does run so smooth and quiet though without any herky jerky start/stops. Traction is no joke as shown in some of the Kato vids. Makes it a little bit of a PITA to rail it but the pulling power should be rewarding for those who want to pull long trains. I was on the fence when I ordered mine and almost backed out a few times but now that I have it in hand I am glad I stuck with it.
I read that the DCC and Sound version may not run on T-trak, 282/315 track, due to the wiring for the decoder. Anyone tried it yet?
I was among those who did cancel. The plastic crosshead/valve gear parts soured me on it. In your book, do they affect your visual impression of it? My username might suggest (rightly) that my interest lies in the C&O railroad in West Virginia, and I decided the 4014 wasn’t a good “programmatic fit” either, especially a glossy, showy one. I decided on a BLI y6b instead. So, I get my articulated “jones” taken care of via it, a Clinchfield Challenger (Athearn, needs new traction tires), and a C&O 2-6-6-2 (Bachmann, needs new decoder & traction tires, too).
Funny about that but for the first bit of unboxing and getting it running on the layout I didn't even notice as like you that bothered me too when the production pics were released. It wasn't until I remembered and was looking for it that I could tell. From stand off it's all pretty close but definitely would show in close up pics. This is one place where Athearn has the advantage with everything being done in blackened metal. I'm used to Katos being like this though as I don't think I've ever seen any type of their steam not having plastic valve gear. It holds up well as my 25 year old Mikado still looks like it did when I first bought it and works problem free.
I'm amazed it will run on 11" radius. I'm not really into steam too much but I wouldn't mind having a Big Boy excursion train on my layout one of these days.
