Hi all, Can anyone give me some info on these bruts please? How do they run? Can they be decoderised? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Anything can be decoderized, it just depends how much work you want to invest. Now easy swap 'n go? I doubt it. Sounds like a wired decoder installation to me. I could be wrong, but I don't think Overland makes a DCC-friendly engine.
Phill: You'll have to hardwire this loco. A new lenz mini Gold series decoder will give you the most "bang" for the small amount of space it occupies. It's about 1/3 smaller than a Lenz 521W/511 or a Digitrax DZ 143/123. Stay cool and run steam....
I have two of em! They are brutes, which is slang for GREAT pullers. I put one of mine on when I was running a 104 Kato/Deluxe Bethgon Coal Drag, and it (technically they) did it. You see both the A & B units are powered, so it is a good puller due to weight and number of units. I DCC'ed one so far (again technically 2). I have them set to the same decoder address so they work together fine. If you did not know the A&B are metal draw-barred together, and then the fuel tender is draw-barred (is that even a word, even though I used it twice) to the B unit. There is enough room inside to add a z-scale wired decoder, just be carefull with the coupler on the front of the A-unit, as it easily is damaged. So, so far, everything I said about the Overland Turbines is that I love em! Now for a little bit of the not so good, and this is not that bad. It, as most brass is, is on the noisy side, but not nearly as noisy as the real "Big Blows". I would be happy to answer any other questions you have. By the way. DO NOT PAY MORE THAN $600.00 for these. They went on sale a while back and could be had for as little as $450.00 American. My only regret is I have not been able to pick up one of the "5-unit" ones. That is the one that comes with the extra Fuel tender and a UP CA-Type waycar (Caboose).
Here's the link to my album you can see some more detailed photos here. http://www.railimages.com/gallery/richardreid Sweet runners not metion the details. I would love to drop a decoder in some day.
UP_Phil you won't be dissappointed. It runs very well and it's also pretty fast (not that you're gonna run it flat out). The detailing is also fantastic. Where did you purchase the set? I got mine on ebay. There is a variant where the B unit is a bit different from that in your set, I'm current prowling ebay for it. There's also a special edition five unit set… am I getting carried away or what? Bottom line that's a very nice replica of the 3 unit gas turbine. ENJOY!
