The 2-8-8-2's with sound arrived in the shop today. The DC units are a bit behind still. I ran one at the shop for just a second and am blown away by the chuff timing and volume. I will post more and pictures of the unit I brought home with me in the morning.
Must keep an eye on my credit card balance in case Feather River gets mine, they are said to be a very limited run. Odd the DCC/sound versions arrive first, opposite of Athearn's FP45's. How do they pull?
Skip: Thats good to hear. I was concerned about the quality of the sound decoder that Walthers would use in the 2-8-8-2's
I'll get more info tonight but I have run 2 of them now. The decoder is a QSI Quantum, same as their HO offering. It has some interesting features when running on DC, you can access the bell and whistle in DC. It is more than loud enough with dual speakers. I tried to take a video this morning without much luck. Will get it tonight.
I have the same question as Westfalen. How do they pull? That was the biggest downfall of the LL releases.
I have many other items on reserve which are going to be November releases, so this news is potentially going to put me over budget (like I really hold to that ). I'll lobby congress for a cash injection to support my railroad. But...do they need to know its a 'model' railroad? Its good to know that the sound is of good quality but running ability is the ultimate test. I need to know how well these engines pull (as mentioned above). I don't like to buy steamers until they are proven runners because of some poor releases in prior years (the prior 2-8-8-2 for instance). If they are going to be very limited releases... may miss out...
"I will post more and pictures of the unit I brought home with me in the morning." "Unit"? What "unit"? When your talking steam there is no such thing as a "unit". (Darn youngin's.)
I am uploading a video of the loco now. Soon as YouTube finishes, I will post. Some more things I have learned so far: Rear engine has at least the last 2 axles geared. The traction tired driver is the #4 driver on the rear engine and it is not connected to the side rods in any way so it has to be gear driven. The decoder sound effects are phenominal: * The headlight warms up as the loco fires up and the pyle generator spools up. * The chuff sound is very well timed at any speed. * The chuff has a built in doppler effect that randomly varries the volume slightly. * The chuff is load dependent and when throttling down or going down grade the volume decreases noticably. * Rear tender light that is dim when in reverse but not moving then brightens as the loco moves. * Volume is too much without any appreciable distortion. Will be glad to turn it down later. Plenty of headroom for the sounds. Pull is good, could always be stronger but you will see in the video what it did.
The pulling power certainly appears adequate. The true test will be on grades. I cheated and looked before you posted a link. The sound is excellent as are other QSI decoders available in some BLI and possibly other locos. I'm looking forward to the day QSI decoders are offered for sale to other than manufacturers. Can volumes for the various sounds be separately programmed? Ben
Here is the link to the video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Aup369Shg"]YouTube - Walthers N Scale Y3 DCC/Sound[/ame] It took forever to upload and process last night. I confirmed last night that the rear engine has the #3 and #4 drivers gear driven. The #4 driver has a traction tire on it and the loco comes with a spare non TT driver should you want to replace it.
Please, please, please do a pulling test. I'm not interested in buying an articulated that can only pull 10-15 cars. I'd be happy with a test on the flat through a curve or 2. I sold the LL 2-8-8-2 I had because it started slipping at 12 cars.
Ya never know for sure until you test on your own railroad. Tony's estimate of 40 cars seems adequate for my purposes, certainly more than the L-L model. But we'll see. Ben
I saw 28 cars being pulled in the video. It didnt seem to even flinch with the 28. I am NOT a steam guy...but thats looking pretty good to me. JMO :thumbs_up: .
Okay now the big question. Can we upgrade our old models with the running gear parts from the new? Can someone post the exploded parts diagram?
That pigtail connecting to the tender looks awfully stout. Any issues with it pushing the tender off of the rails? How much does the locomotive and tender weigh? The first and second run tenders weigh 27 grams/.9 ounces. the first and second run locomotives weigh in at 93 grams/ 3.2 ounces. As I said on another forum; the sound of the whistle is spot on to recordings on DVD. THe other sounds are pretty close too. Bob
Walthers has already said no repeatedly. This run is completely sold out, both DC and DCC versions. If you or your dealer didn't have them on pre-order, you won't get one. It looks they used all the parts to make the loco's we got. To upgrade an older version would require a complete rear engine to add the traction tire. They added the tire on the #4 driver which also required adding a second idler gear which the first runs did not have provisions for.
They learned from the 0-8-0's. These wires a very flexible. My primary complaint is the white connector. Black would have been soo much nicer.
