I've always read that these Dash 8-40C and CW units ran fine and looked pretty good, so I snagged a pair of silver and red Santa Fe CW's off ebay. I've read that they run slower than any other brand, hence my purchase of the pair so they could always be MU'd alone. Two of them cost the same as a good used Southern Pacific Kato SD45. So . . . anyone got any opinions? I kind of like the looks of the UP 8-40C's too. My layout will one day have mostly SP, some UP and a little Santa Fe action on it, with Amtrak superliners of course. It should be fun. *edit* how about the life like F40PH? I can't find the search engine on this site so I might as well ask.
Those Spectrum are (in my opinion) one of the best values for the money. They do run & pull very well. Only problem (twice) I've ever had was a little flash in the gear sets, which is easily removeable. The search engine tab is near the top of the page on the right, just under the flashing "Reply" button. Good luck, Bill
FD - I've never even seen them in person, so you'll have to give us a report when you get them. I've got some Kato and Atlas Warbonnets already - and didn't go for any of the Spectrum units based on the reports I heard. I have 1 LL F40 - I run it very little, but it runs pretty smoothly.
I have a few of these units and found that they do in fact look good, but do not run all that well. They are extremely noisy and tend to derail on switches. I have other Atlas, IM, and Kato engines that run better and do not de-rail. Another problem is the conversion to DCC on the older engines. They have two frames, and one model must be milled out to gain access to the brushes. At this point, I have relegated my remaining two engines to scenery... Both have the frame that required milling and it was not worth the expense to convert them to DCC. I understand the newer release of this engine runs extrememly well and is reasonalby easy to convert to DCC. I do have Spectrum steam (Conny and Mountain) and could not be happier with these two engines. They run like a dream, and were easy to convert over to DCC. Jim
Are you talking about the New and Improved Spectrum units that came out a few months ago, or the old units with the black metal drive? I have several with the old drive that I stripped, re-painted, and remotored, with KATO drives, wire handrails, and fiber optic headlight & ditchlights. Too much work for me now. Atlas will probablly come out with one soon. The old drive spectrum units were hit and miss. The best medicne for them was frequent use. Brian
Sounds like the two non-spectrum diesels I used to have, an SD40-2 and GP40 that ran Ok most of the time, until I bought my first kato and realized what good locos run like.
I've got two of the newer Bachmann Spectrum SD45's and I love them. They MU with my Kato GN SD45 with no problem. I think for the money you can't beat them. Although I must admit I was VERY leary of them at first until I got my first one. I had visions of the horrible Bachmann units of my youth in the early 80's
I have 2 Dash-8s from the previous run. The first I bought was my only loco for about a year and it runs very quietly - heavy use. The second I bought on closeout and is now a dummy. Have seen but didn't consider the latest run due to price and iffy QC.
My pair of Dash 8-40CW Santa Fe spectrums just arrived, and here are a few pics. These were from the old run, and cost under $60 shipped for the pair. They appear to be new in boxes, and have different road numbers. I'm pretty surprised that they look this good. They run great. They run smoother than my atlas locos which always seem to have a periodic but mild lurch motion when moving, although my Katos are smoother still, and much quieter. It takes a lot of throttle to get these guys to move, and they don't go at the same speed, but they are close enough to each other to make a functional MU pair. The headlights show through the body but they are directional, and I can fix the front handrails that are bent back slightly. They are going to look very nice with a little ink weathering to shade the grilles and panel lines. The only real issue with these badboys is the open front pilots and truck mounted couplers. Overall, I think that they are a great buy and I'm very happy with them. I'm probably going to look for an excuse to buy a pair of the UP ones, but as a -C and -CW pair for some variety.
Lookin' good! I think you're gonna like these units. You just can't wear them out! (They're really like that Energizer Bunny...they just keep going, and going, and going.....) Good luck, Bill
To Fluid Dynamics, You two units are the early run with the gaping hole in the pilots. The later run units have closed pilots with Accumate style couplers. The handrails and grabirons are imprived, much finer. The old units run very smoothly and pull very well. They are just slow runners. The pulling power is surprising when you see how small the motors are. My son has five of them, they were his first 'big power'. We bought a brand new spartan cab version out here in Australia for $30! Good price. Only catch is the price for MT pilot conversion is $24. No way I was paying that sort of money. We kitbashed our own pilot conversions/MT coupler mounts. The one surprising find was the frames are different between the wide cabs and spartan cab units. Saw one of the later run units last weekend at Sydney N. They look better than the old units, but would like to see one run.
I've seen one of the new units, too, and it looked as good as or better than an Atlas, for detail and appearance. I might kitbash a pilot conversion to them later on. I'm a real fabricator.
Here are a few pics of a UP Dash8-40C spartan cab that just arrived: It runs great . . I mean real smooth and scale like, just amazing. My track is Atlas Code55 and the flanges have no trouble with it. Sorry about the pics, my camera really needs a tripod! It needs a front plow and the details are nowhere near as crisp as a kato, atlas, or modern lifelike but it's hands down the best $11 loco I've ever bought. [ 25. November 2004, 06:48: Message edited by: Fluid Dynamics ]
Hmm 11 is probably cheaper than buying the shell. Maybe I should try to buy 2nd hand. for my "diesel generators". Something I notice in the first pic is a "lip" on the edge. I don't know how to describe it better. Does this serve a purpose? Sorry if this was explained in a different thread.
I picked up a couple of these a couple years back and was actually surprised at how smooth they ran (although WAY slower than anything else, eliminated hopes of MUing them to non-DCC Atlas or Kato units). Although the overall look was not too bad, I was distracted by the thick and crooked handrails, lack of window detail and lack of pilot details. With one of my units (the other I never finished), I did the following changes/details: * GMM stanchions and brass handrails * Custom bent cut levers * MT Pilot conversion * Custom flush-mount windows (acetate) * Custom dashboard, sun visors * Sunrise brake pods, speed recorder, MU hose, plow, underframe bell * Windshield wipers, mirrors, antenna * Custom grab irons on top of nose * Sand fill hatches (Kato C44-9W) The unit retains its factory paint, which is a little pink compared to Atlas 8-40BW's and the (rather maroon) ATSF kato C44-9W. But, it passes OK as an older, faded unit.... I understand the the newer release has improved the look of the handrails and window detail, however I have not seen one up close and personal. Russ [ 25. November 2004, 16:51: Message edited by: tehachapifan ]
Hmmm, lip on the edge of the loco or on the edge of the trackage? Or on the layout? All my locos except for the one SD40T-2 I have were used ones off ebay. Only one was a POS and it probably just needs some internal cleanup to run fine. (LL F40PH) Always impressive work tehachapifan! It's amazing what you have done with the SantaFe unit. Some day when I finish this &*% layout, maybe I'll try a pilot conversion for them. I really need some main line trackage right now more than anything else . . I miss running trains.
tehachapinfan, that is beautiful. Jeff, I looked again. Now I see it correctly. it is a deliberate ridge of earth where the track cuts through the curve. the little rise across from the caboose. Thanks again.
Lol, actually that is beyond the threshold of finished foam carving. It's sticking up until I figure out what kind of terrain I want over there.
oh, my bad. oooops. Well, I _think_ it might be cool to make a low cut there as that is what i visualized. Nice, I'm at least 6 weeks from laying track.
