Model Railroading > What 'Brown' brought from Benton, TN Today - ET44AH's & AC's

Today UPS showed up at the house with the first of two separate shipments from ScaleTains.com. In today's box was a pair of NS ET44AC's and a pair of CSX ET44AH's, one from 2015 and the other from 2016 production runs. In 2015, GE was using a large square housing around the exhaust stack, which was changed to the 2016 design of a triangular design because the square housing got knocked off of a unit while getting flood loaded at a coal load-out in 2015.

I ordered the Rivet Counter versions with full DCC & Sound. The units are as heavy as the early P2K E8's & E9's. They are loaded with photo etched parts and include rotating bearing caps on the appropriate axles. Also included is an extra 6 bearing caps, in case for some reason they become lost during layout operations. The dynamic brake air intake grills on the engineer's side of the long hood are photo etched and backed with the blower fans. The air intakes under the massive radiator wing, are also see-through and have all of the interior equipment behind them.

The paint is well applied and matches prototype photos. ST has partnered with Tru-Color paints, so if you need to touch something up from regular use, exact paint matching is not an issue. Lettering on the multitude of data stickers is clean, crisp and legible. I haven't had a change to test run them as of yet, but expect them to perform as well as their GTEL Big Blows and EMD SD40-2's. The units include LED lights for the headlights and ditch lights. Both the front and rear ditch lights oscillate per NS standard when the horn is blow as it approaches grade crossings.

The NS units are from NS' first production order, which can be distinguished by the non-standard NS road numbers. The number series for the first order is #3600-3646, the second production which has NS's standard road number font is #3647-3680. I would suspect that future runs of these units, will have the later number series for NS.

Image #1 - The end plates of the boxes, which include a tri-fold set of instructions, foam and plastic crating as is pretty much industry standard today, so all four units were completely intact and undamaged when I unpacked them.

Image #2 & #3 - A frontal line-up of all four units.

...more to come...

Russ

Russ



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/17 15:57 by NSTopHat.

---

---

---

Images #4 & 5 - Some overhead views

...more to come...

Russ

---

---

Image #6 - An overhead shot of both CSX cabs

Image #7 - A blown up shot of the cab of CSX #3279 and it's PTC antenna array.

Image #8 - A rear view of both CSX units and the big wing

...more to come...

Russ

---

---

---

Image #9 - A side-by-side comparison of the radiator wing and the 2015 vs. 2016 exhaust housing the 2015 design is in the foreground. The only photo etch issue I saw is a slight puckering on one of the rear grills, as can be seen in this image. Shouldn't be much of an issue to press it flat carefully with a thumb.

Image #10 - Engineer's side of CSX #3279, a 2015 unit

Image #11 - Conductor's side of CSX #3279

...more to come...

Russ



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/17 16:00 by NSTopHat.

---

---

---

Image #12 - Engineer's side of CSX #3383, a 2016 production unit

Image #13 - Conductor's side of CSX #3383

...images of the NS units are coming up next...

Russ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/17 15:51 by NSTopHat.

---

---

Image #14 - Seems to match...

Image #15 - An overhead of both NS cabs with their variant of the PTC platform

Image #16 - An overall of both NS units. NS's units were built in 2016 and have the later triangular exhaust housing

...more to come...

Russ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/17 15:52 by NSTopHat.

---

---

---

Image #17 - A rear view of the NS pair. Note that these units have the electronic brake harnesses on both the front and rear pilots, which is the looping cable just to the right of the coupler.

Image #18 - The conductor's side of NS #3607

Image #19 - The engineer's side of NS #3607

...one more set to come...

Russ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/17 15:52 by NSTopHat.

---

---

---

More beauty shots of the NS units please! NS3631 & 3622 crossed the mountains into NC today, thanks to Big Brown. After a hand-off to USPS, should be on inbound yard lead any day now. Yes, I am VERY excited!

Image #20 - An engineer's side of NS #3610

That's all for now. Hopefully box #2 will be here early next week, which will have an Operator's version of the CN and GECX for the kids and a Rivet counter CN and BNSF for me.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Russ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/17 15:53 by NSTopHat.

---

THEY LOOK AWESOME!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING..... 

Mine should be here early next week.

Paul B
Canton, GA

Nice photos, outstanding models.

Now these are in they can get back to the MILW SD40-2 units the rest of us have on order.

UPDATE:

I am glad I have preordered the MILW SD40-2 units I am interested in. I just checked to see if the models are in production yet but there is no factory icon on the status chart. All versions of the Milw Rd units sre sold out save the MILW 3000 DCC ready version. So if you have been thinking of one of the MILW units do not hesitate now. Other roads SD40-2s are also completely sold out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 16:18 by fbe.

They sure look nice.

Nathan

Can't wait for the yellows and oranges. Looking forward to seeing them side by side with the Intermountain versions too.

Rugby
UK

Very very impressive! Not my era but they are beauty! What I love about Scale Trains is that they are all experienced and knowledgeable in the hobby.

Patiently waiting for my ATSF SD40-2s.


sphauler

The units have a noticeable lean to one side. I hope that's just a case of the surface they are sitting on. Otherwise they look good.

-Ryan N.

Posted from iPhone

Great-looking models, very nice shots too.

Lots O modern injuns lately. Anything for us anachronistic old guys?

Posted from Android

dal3294 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The units have a noticeable lean to one side. I
> hope that's just a case of the surface they are
> sitting on. Otherwise they look good.
>
> -Ryan N.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Ryan;

The lean is an issue with me not rotating the images 1 degree counter clockwise in Photoshop. I put a speed square against them and they sit correctly.

Russ

---

---

I see that now, looking forward to my NS 3646. Going to try and find a second unit.

-Ryan N.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 17:46 by dal3294.