New Toys!

During the last few weeks a couple of new items were added to the rolling stock roster of my model railway. As per usual I had totally forgotten having “pre-ordered” them over a year ago. Model train manufacturers tend to announce new future projects with an option for the customer to “pre-order”. This pre-ordering process gives the manufacturers a rough idea on how many model train enthusiasts would be interested in a given new product, thus getting a feeling on whether or not the project is actually viable.  My experience has been that, more often than not, new projects are announced with great fanfare and then quietly dropped months later because of lack of interest on part of the model train community. Very often the lead time on these projects is more than a year. In the case of the Stadler EuroDual model it has been close to two years. No wonder I keep forgetting about having “pre-ordered” them. (Perhaps better record keeping on my part would help!)

Let’s start with the above mentioned Stadler EuroDual model. This particular model is made by Sudexpress Scale Model Trains out of Braga, just north of Porto in Portugal. They tend to specialize in Portuguese model trains, so why the EuroDual model? After all the prototype is made by Stadler, a Swiss company, and none of them operate in Portugal.  Obviously SudExpress did see a viable opportunity to produce this unusual model. It is already sold out at the factory! No other model train manufacturer has this particular model in their lineup.

The EuroDual locomotive was designed to be able to operate on overhead catenary electrified rail lines, as well as on non-electrified tracks. This idea is not particularly new. Electric locomotives with “last mile” diesel engines have been around for a while. However these were intended to operate mostly on the electrified main line and then just shunt a couple of wagons onto a non electrified siding, thus negating the necessity for a shunting locomotive. “Last mile” diesel engines are usually small and low in horse power. The Deutsche Bahn Class 249 is an example. The “last mile” diesel in that class produces around 750 horse power. Here is a TRIX model of this particular class. Notice the yellow contraption on the front of the loco. That is the automatic coupler hook for one person shunting:

The Stadler EuroDual (classified by Deutsche Bahn as Class 2159) by contrast has a main line diesel engine which is used for heavy freight haulage on non-electrified main lines. The diesel engine generates about 3800 horse power. For more technical details click here and here.

SudExpress has done a great job of replicating the locomotive in HO scale:

My model is equipped with a decoder and sound. The locomotive has all the expected light functions, including cab lighting. The pantographs can be digitally raised and lowered. The model runs well and has no issues dealing with a piece of dirty track or short gaps in the power supply. Coupler pockets and buffers are according to NEM standards. There is a bit of a learning curve regrading the decoder settings. Also be aware that, if the model is run in “electric” mode, one of the pantographs (depending on direction) will be raised by default. This could be a problem if, like on my layout, catenary is only partially erected. This issue can be addressed however by changing some of the configuration variables on the decoder. I personally believe that raising the pantograph as the default setting is not a good idea. Instead it should be a selectable input function. Messing around with decoder configuration variables is tricky business. The whole model train decoder business is getting way to complicated as it is. But that’s a topic for another blog!

A few more detail photographs:

Up next is a new HO model from the folks at PIKO in Sonneberg, Germany.

A very short bit of history. During the 1960’s the Southern Pacific Railroad, as well as the Rio Grande Railroad needed more powerful locomotives. In the US diesel-electric propulsion was, and still is, the “standard” for railroad locomotives. However in the 1950’s/1960’s diesel-electric locomotives were technically not up to the tasks required by the Southern Pacific and Rio Grande. US locomotives just did not have a high enough horse power output. In contrast European railroads, particularly the Germans, had always worked with diesel-hydraulic propulsion locomotives and had relatively high horse power units. Thus the two railroads decided to try out a high horse power diesel-hydraulic locomotive from Germany. The German locomotive builder Krauss-Maffei delivered the first units to the Southern Pacific in 1961. Some more units were ordered by Southern Pacific. However by the late 1960’s US locomotive builders had caught up in the horse power race and Southern Pacific ended it’s diesel-hydraulic experiment in 1968. Diesel-electric propulsion was just more reliable and less maintenance intensive. All but one locomotive were scrapped.

Interestingly enough the Germans stuck with the diesel-hydraulic system for a lot of their locomotives. The Voith Maxima diesel-hydraulic locomotive with a power output of 4800 horsepower:

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

And there is of course the ubiquitous Deutsche Bahn Class 218. Built in huge numbers in various configurations. Apparently very reliable and still doing it’s thing:

Photo by Lars Steffens (Wikimedia Commons)

More information here:

Diesel-Hydraulic Propulsion

Diesel-Electric Propulsion

Southern Pacific ML 4000 Locomotive

American Rails

Niles Canyon Railway

The new PIKO HO scale Southern Pacific Krauss-Maffei ML 4000 locomotive model. Just as was the case with the EuroDual model above, I had totally forgotten having pre-ordered this:

PIKO, out of Sonneberg in Germany, is probably my favorite model train manufacturer. The company seems to be able to hit the sweet spot of model detail, price and availability. They had a huge hit on their hands with the HO model of the Czech railways “Laminatka” S-499 electric locomotive at an incredible price point. (Here is a link to my write up of the HO “Laminatka”) Now they have done it again with the Southern Pacific ML 4000. Frankly I am surprised that PIKO was able to make the business case work with this unusual model. But then again it might just be doing well because it is such an unusual piece. I mean how many model railroaders are Southern Pacific fans? In any case the PIKO ML 4000 is already sold out at the factory.

The model comes in two DC versions: without sound/decoder or with sound/decoder. An AC (three rail) version is also available. Again with or without sound/decoder. Several road numbers are available. The detail on the locomotive is amazing. I am not sure how or where PIKO got the manufacturing blue prints to be able to convert them to 1:87 (HO scale) to produce the model. Krauss-Maffei’s locomotive manufacturing was bought by Siemens and Southern Pacific Railroad was eventually absorbed by the Union Pacific Railroad. Perhaps there are archives with the blue prints somewhere.

My model is DCC and sound equipped. It runs exceptionally well and starts moving with the controller set at “1”, crawling slowly along the track. Not many model locomotives can do that. The front of the loco has classification lights, as well as headlights and a top center mounted Mars light. There is a cab light and the engine room can also be illuminated. All light functions can be individually called up with one’s DCC controller. There are a myriad sound functions, most of which, except for the horn and prime mover (engine) noise, I find silly and probably will never use.

Speaking of prime mover noise. It drives me nuts when I turn on my model train layout and consequently all the decoder/sound equipped locomotives start up their prime mover noise automatically. PIKO is doing it now with this ML 4000 model, but the worst offender is Bachmann. Among others, I have 12 Bachmann locomotives and also now the PIKO unit and they all start up when I flip the layout switch. The ensuing cacophony is super annoying. What is even more annoying is the fact that, to shut off the racket, I have to go to each locomotive’s DCC address and turn the noise off with my controller. Usually by pushing “8”. Not ideal! Roco got it right: if you want engine noise, put in your loco’s DCC address on your controller, then push “1” and it will turn on. If anybody has a solution please let me know.

Here are some photographs of the HO ML 4000:

The SudExpress model of the Stadler EuroDual comes in at 465 Euros MSRP. About 500.00 US dollars. The Piko ML 4000 has a suggested retail price of US$ 400.00

Needless to say that nobody pays MSRP!

All photos by the author, unless otherwise noted. Sony A7C and iPhone 15 Plus.

As usual comments are invited and appreciated!