Model Railroading > Sponge Bob Square Cab Revisited

ScaleTrains.com's second edition of the CSX SD40-3 rebuild arrived about a week ago and I've had a little bit of time to explore it. ScaleTrains seems to have this SD40-? down pretty well because this one is awesome. Although I tend to favor western railroads, I have had to acquire some CSX stuff just because it is so familiar to me. 
Out of the box this model had absolutely no issues. I've come to expect slightly bent, loose or detached parts from all of the manufacturers but I was happy to find absolutely nothing wrong with this model in terms of workmanship and it runs like a Swiss watch. The sound from the LokSound decoder sounds very good and I don't have the desire to replace the speakers as I did with my fleet of SD40T-2's. Before I even run the models I always adjust the sound to roughly 30% and I find that level to be quite pleasing and thus far I've not been told by my wife to quiet these toys down. In a large club environment I might want to turn them up just a tad bit. Something else I do (because it's easy with a Lok Programmer) is dim the numberboards. In real life you just can't see them lit except in dim light, so I prefer to have mine dim enough that they look like they are on, just not blinding bright.
Speaking of numberboards... One item I will critique. ScaleTrains prides itself of getting the details right on its Rivet Counter models. After the first run of CSX SD40-3's I sent a couple of e-mails to ScaleTrains mentioning that the rear numberboards of these locomotives are not lit (never got a response). They don't even have the ability to be lit. In fact the GP40 and GP38 rebuilds are the same way. The hardware isn't back there anymore. On my first SD40-3 I had to go inside the shell and disable the rear numberboards... I was hoping I wouldn't have to do it with this run... Alas, I'm going to have to do it again. See the second post for a picture from inside the long hood of a rebuild...

There you have it... This model has only one prototypical issues which most will consider minor. Other than that, I find ScaleTrains has done an outstanding job on these. They just seem to be getting better and better...

Andy



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/19 18:59 by wheel_slip.

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Inside the long hood end of an SD40-3... Not a bulb in sight....

;)

Andy

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 Thanks for the review! I look forward to more photos once you have the product weathered.....

I wonder if the factory and decoder is set up to put number lighted number boards on all the models. Units that do have lite numberboards may wind up having unlite number boards.

I think the model manufacturer probably just left the rear numberboards lit because people would complain that  "my unit is defective"..
Darned if ya do, darned if ya don't! =)

Neat lookin' units.. too new for my era, but great to see highly detailed models like this.

Cheers,
Harry

 

The last shot of the model shows the rear platform with a stanchion type piece in the center about waist high in stand alone fashion with blue/yellow diagonal stripes.  Can someone tell me what this is?

needles_sub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> boejoe Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The last shot of the model shows the rear
> platform
> > with a stanchion type piece in the center about
> > waist high in stand alone fashion with
> > blue/yellow diagonal stripes.  Can someone
> tell
> > me what this is?
>
> Posted from Android

Electronic brake maybe?

It's the electric handbrake.

needles_sub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> boejoe Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The last shot of the model shows the rear
> platform
> > with a stanchion type piece in the center about
> > waist high in stand alone fashion with
> > blue/yellow diagonal stripes.  Can someone
> tell
> > me what this is?
>
> Posted from Android

Thanks Andy. How is the brightness of the lighting? especially the ditch lights?  Digital images always make the lighting  look better. Thanks Bruce

Yes, the sent-from-Heaven electric hand brake.  A marvelous invention and back saving device!

Nice feature on the CSXT SD40-3 from the Box Car logo run have V% LokSound and the 1st run has V$. The V5 has smart sound meaning that at idle it will shut down and then restart in a couple minutes, just like the prototype. I will upgrade the V$ with the new version file from the V5 run so they will both be correct.
 

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL

Bruce,
The lighting is fine (headlights and ditchlights)... I don't feel the need to turn them down. Like I mentioned, the numberboards are too bright, but easily turned down with a LokProgrammer

Andy

brfriedm Wrote:
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> Thanks Andy. How is the brightness of the
> lighting? especially the ditch lights?  Digital
> images always make the lighting  look better.
> Thanks Bruce