Just got my "pay for your preorder" notification for my ST Conrail SD40-2s

[turbowhiz]

FYI from scaletrains.coms -

"The only physical change was to the screws that retain the fuel tank to the frame. They were shortened just a bit so that they don't bottom out before the tank is tight. The other thing was for the factory to make sure the paint wasn't too thick on the bottom of the chassis so that when the screws were put in place the paint around the hole didn't pucker and keep the tank from seating properly."

-Mark

If those are truly the only changes made in the second run, the fuel tank will still be significantly (~6 scale inches at minimum) too low relative to prototype height. The fuel tank/speaker cavity frame section is fundamentally too tall in the 1st run. The subtle scenarios of too long screws/thick paint/raised screw hole bumps might make the difference between the tank catching joints or not on reasonable track, but it will still be way too low if they didn’t fix the root issue, which they don’t claim to have done.

I had to take off a LOT more then the paint thickness off the frame to correct the height to something close to accurate. I seem to have lost my notes on exactly how much I took off, but by the looks of the pictures its in the range of a 1mm or close to it.

[lock4244]

I ordered a few from Lombard as soon as they hit the website. One each CR, MILW, and EMD Leasing MILW patch. Though I've been very tempted with the C39-8 and the tunnel motors, the SD40-2 is really the only model they've done that I can justify in my location and era, so these will be my first ST locomotives.

[lock4244]

Got mine today. Wow! ST showing some of the other mfg's how it's done in terms of road accurate details and not shipping junk. I feel that some thought went into these as they seem to be at the least a well executed model without the glaring flaws seen with other attempts at road specificity. I wish ST made models that fit my prototype, because I could really go for a bushel of CP Rail SD40-2's or CN SD40-2W's, but CR showed up in my turf often enough repaying HPH (maybe not in my era but a minor detail). They also run very nicely, which can seem to be a sacrifice made in favor of details.

Bravo to ST for putting in the effort and getting it right. Now I'm not saying that they're perfect matches of each road (I honestly wouldn't know), but MILW have the short fuel tanks and the CR's have the flexicoils that Big Blue's fans have craved for so long. To me this is how it's done, and I get why Ed's smitten with his... they're smitten ready 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Got mine today. Wow! ST showing some of the other mfg's how it's done in terms of road accurate details and not shipping junk. I feel that some thought went into these as they seem to be at the least a well executed model without the glaring flaws seen with other attempts at road specificity. I wish ST made models that fit my prototype, because I could really go for a bushel of CP Rail SD40-2's or CN SD40-2W's, but CR showed up in my turf often enough repaying HPH (maybe not in my era but a minor detail). They also run very nicely, which can seem to be a sacrifice made in favor of details.

Bravo to ST for putting in the effort and getting it right. Now I'm not saying that they're perfect matches of each road (I honestly wouldn't know), but MILW have the short fuel tanks and the CR's have the flexicoils that Big Blue's fans have craved for so long. To me this is how it's done, and I get why Ed's smitten with his... they're smitten ready 

Not only that, but they even got little things right on them. Sure, including a cab signal box is nice, but ALSO replicating the non-standard placement of the nose grab irons that they required means they paid attention.

But you know what REALLY got me? The plows. The Conrail units all have the little debris kickers like I modeled on my 6366. I was a bit surprised that ALL of the ST units came with them instead of the bigger ones that seemed more prevalent and at first thought "well that's lame". But then I started digging up photos of each of the three units I got and you know what? They all had the smol bois. Another point to ST. They did their homework.

[milw156]

Back in 1992 I was competing in (well sort of) and officiating at USCF events when I saw a picture of 6373 in Velo News and thought it was pretty cool advertising. 10 to 15 yrs later, I came across the Micro Scale decal set, but at that time, undec Kato 40-2s were almost impossible to come by, but the decal set showed a 60 in that scheme, and 6726 came to be. When Scale trains announced the 40-2s I was super excited that they were doing the Milwaukee Road with the correct fuel tanks and solid end railings/no drop steps, I didn't think it could get better. When I finally saw the Conrail offerings, and saw the 6373, I was really glad that I hadn't been able to find any Kato under! Here are the "tiwns". I doubt they ran in real life together but SFW, it's my basement and railroad

[lock4244]

Not only that, but they even got little things right on them. Sure, including a cab signal box is nice, but ALSO replicating the non-standard placement of the nose grab irons that they required means they paid attention.

But you know what REALLY got me? The plows. The Conrail units all have the little debris kickers like I modeled on my 6366. I was a bit surprised that ALL of the ST units came with them instead of the bigger ones that seemed more prevalent and at first thought "well that's lame". But then I started digging up photos of each of the three units I got and you know what? They all had the smol bois. Another point to ST. They did their homework.

It certainly shows that it can be done if the mfg choses to. ST certainly has made an impression on me.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It certainly shows that it can be done if the mfg choses to. ST certainly has made an impression on me.

And don't even get me started on the "luxury feel" of the always lit number boards. That's just freaking cool.

[lock4244]

And don't even get me started on the "luxury feel" of the always lit number boards. That's just freaking cool.

Yes, even a feature in my DC world. About the only issue I've noted is they're hard to control at the low end of the throttle... I assume this is either due to the Kato power pack that mine are DC versions of a model that's designed to be DCC.

[peteski]

Yes, even a feature in my DC world. About the only issue I've noted is they're hard to control at the low end of the throttle... I assume this is either due to the Kato power pack that mine are DC versions of a model that's designed to be DCC.

Not sure how that would work.  Every DCC medel lis DC model with a decoder added.  It uses a DC mechanism (gearing and motor). It is not like there is a special DCC motor. I don't know which specific motor Scale Trains uses in that model, but it is just a plain old permanent magnet DC motor (likely not even a coreless motor).  Should work just as well on DC as on DCC.

[lock4244]

Not sure how that would work.  Every DCC medel lis DC model with a decoder added.  It uses a DC mechanism (gearing and motor). It is not like there is a special DCC motor. I don't know which specific motor Scale Trains uses in that model, but it is just a plain old permanent magnet DC motor (likely not even a coreless motor).  Should work just as well on DC as on DCC.

Nor do I.

The low speed control is about the same as the Rapido DC GMD-1 (the ones that came after the first run), incredibly touchy, jerky. To me, they're as touchy as the models that have on board DCC that can operate on DC (first run GMD-1, Bachmann 45/70 tonners). Non-DCC Atlas GP40-2W's do not exhibit this behavior at all for example, or pretty much any Atlas or Kato locomotive. Since I've not heard of this as an issue from the DCC crowd I've just assumed it was a DC thing and when I convert to DCC the problem will go away.

[nscaler711]

I don't know which specific motor Scale Trains uses in that model, but it is just a plain old permanent magnet DC motor (likely not even a coreless motor).  Should work just as well on DC as on DCC.

Yup just a 5 pole.

Also it's a PITA trying to line up the sand pipes. They like to get caught on everything.

I have yet to install a sound decoder as they went to that new *E24 plug...  guess I'll figure another project for the Soundtraxx N18 decoder. (Yes I like their products more than ESU. The Tsunami 2s are easier to program without added stuff like a lok programmer that I don't own. I am allowed to be biased like AMD and Intel guys. So  )

Anyway...
Chassis & Motor
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Speaker wire routing, I did this, not factory. (See where BLI gets brownie points? Speakers already installed in stealth)
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There is a Hole for the wires.
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Fiddly Sand pipes!
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*Edited, Thank you @peteski I swore I typed 24 on my phone. Granted I wasn't sure what the new version was called, and now I do!

[peteski]

Yeah, that motor looks very similar to the typical motors used by Atlas (and similar to Kato).  In DC it should theoretically behave just like Atlas DC locos.
Besides BLI Stealth, Atlas also includes speakers in their recent DC locos.  Did you run yours in DC?  How did it behave?

You probably mean E24 connector (not 25-pin plug).  Not sure why there seems to be lots of negativity about it.  Yes, it is delicate and fragile, but so are all those superdetailed N scale locos we deal with.  The decoder simply snaps into the connector.  Just like Next18. E24 also has more functions available than the more robust Next18 connector.

Who knows, since Digitrax is now making E24 decoders, maybe Soundtraxx will also start making E24 Tsunamis.   

[nscaler711]

Again, thank you for the clarification, I can't say I have had issues with it, because clearly I did not expect it to be on these already. I think the biggest issue with the E24, is that it is new to the scene and people were finally adjusting to Next18 I know I was. Though, I will admit that I am worried about the type of current it can handle, I know that n scale locomotives don't normally draw a lot of amps, but shorts usually do, and it is not hard to have a short as we all know in this hobby...

They run a tad like Atlas, not super fast nor super slow.

[peteski]

We have discussed the current ratings of the E24 contacts here in the past.  I looked up the technical specs.  The track pickups are rated 2A and the smaller contacts IIRC are rated 500mA each.  Since the motor outputs pins doubled, that is 1A for the motor.

ESU sells H0 scale decoders with the LokSound/LokPilot 5 nanos connected through the E24 connector to the "motherboard".


If you look  carefully at this H0 decoder, the E24 LokSound nano is sitting on top of the larger board.

[samusi01]

Speaker wire routing, I did this, not factory. (See where BLI gets brownie points? Speakers already installed in stealth)

Atlas does this as well for their Silver locomotives... I wish ST would do the same. At the least a speaker pre-installed would add some mass into that hole in the fuel tank.