Scaletrains.com SD40-2 - C&NW 6847

[allegheny1633]

Hi All,

I recently took delivery of one of the second run of this model.

Mine is a C&NW in 'as delivered' "old yellow" or "Stagecoach" yellow, in the 'Rivet Counter' series, fitted with a Loksound decoder.





I do like the class lights that change colour with multiple presses of F5.




Correct northwestern style nose mounted 'gong' bell.




Great detail on the trucks and that detailed knuckle is metal.




Nice fans.




I was expecting better detail on the horns though. Strangely, the number boards only seem to light up when the sound is on.




The roof is everything you would expect.




Really? A sweeping brush fitted to the nose! F7 sets the warning flasher going.




Looks every inch a northwestern SD40-2 to me.

The paintwork and lettering detail is very fine indeed - there is nothing to do but add weathering & crew.

I've now got quite a few C&NW SD40-2's from Athearn, Kato, Broadway, this is as smooth running as a Kato, better sounding than Broadway and exquisitely detailed. I'd say that Scaletrains.com have indeed made the definitive classic American loco. I'm very pleased with it, it's a heavy model too so I will have no haulage problems on anything I can run it on.



I'm rubbish at shooting videos but here's my effort at demonstrating it;





Cheers,

John.

[annarborfan]

Nice to see different sized lift rings on various hatches and hood. It's a pet peeve of mine. I'm not sold on their OPERATOR series line having some glaring shell and frame faults which is a bit disappointing. Rivet-Counter is the way to go I guess.

[EMDX6043]

Looking closely at the cab photo, it appears that the horns have those protective cloth covers molded on. CNW used fabric, others like Amtrak use metal mesh "snow cones". I don't have any photos in front of me, but I think they were usually orange or blue.

That's probably why you can't see inside the actual horn trumpet-they added a detail that's almost never included. Very nice attention to detail.

[allegheny1633]

Hi Dave,
Many thanks for that, I'd never even heard of that before!
I did ask about it amongst other things but no mention was made in their prompt reply.
Looks like their lovely metal knuckles may become available in the future though. I would certainly like to fit them to other items of motive power only, not on rolling stock though.
Cheers,
John.

[mta224]

John -looks like you got a winner there.Love the class lights.
Anthony G.

[EMDX6043]

Feb 27, 2018 17:19:26 GMT -5 allegheny1633 said:

Hi Dave,
Many thanks for that, I'd never even heard of that before!
I did ask about it amongst other things but no mention was made in their prompt reply.
Looks like their lovely metal knuckles may become available in the future though. I would certainly like to fit them to other items of motive power only, not on rolling stock though.
Cheers,
John.

I'd go with Sergent's couplers.