Model Railroading > Thoughts and Observations on the SD45X

Some thoughts on the ST SD45X. I finally got a chance to play with my SD45X, shown here doing some speed match testing alongside a old Athearn RTR SD45 that I had detailed long ago. Detail wise the new locomotive is spot on. No complaints there. A true king of the SD45's. Note how much longer it is compared to the standard SD45. Even the distance from the cab to the exhaust stack is longer.

But I did have several disappointments with the programming of the ESU decoder. First thing is the Gyralight goes completely dark during it's cycle which I didn't like. But that proved to be a easy fix as I changed it to oscillating headlight in JMRI and now it stays on but dim during it's cycle.

I was really disappointed that the frog clanking sound very much sounds like freightcars pounding across a diamond at slow speed, and not the expected six axle locomotive crossing a frog. I'm thinking someone screwed up and loaded the wrong sound on the decoder. Really need to get that changed!

The curve flange squeal sound effect is another disappointment. The effect is not sensitive enough. It wouldn't activate going through #6 crossovers. I had to take it through #4 turnouts to get the sound effect to activate. And the sound is more like a slow speed groan on lightweight rail rather than the sharper squeal of the high iron.

It's been a while since I heard one, but I believe the ST Turbine got the sounds and effects right, compared to this SD45X. Does ST offer the ESU Sound profile to download for a Lokprogrammer? I might attempt to change the sounds myself.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/24 06:49 by funnelfan.

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Thanks for the info Ted. I heard the non sound or DCC ready versions come with a speaker anyway. I wish the Scaletrains crew would partner with Scale sound systems speakers for their locomotives. The SSS speakers have spoiled me. 

Weird, ESU’s gyralite effect does not typically go all the way dark. Are you sure that’s what is was set to? Does the model have LED’s or bulbs?

Posted from iPhone

Here are a few from my collection.
I should of purchased one when at the Train Shop in Santa Clara a few weeks
ago but got an SP Atlas B/W SD 9 instead.
Regards, Jim Evans

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tehachapifan Wrote:
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> Weird, ESU’s gyralite effect does not typically
> go all the way dark. Are you sure that’s what is
> was set to? Does the model have LED’s or bulbs?
>

Yup. The "Gyralite" effect on ESU wasn't this way before in the past.  All ScaleTrains locomotives (including this one) use LEDs.  As the OP said, changing the effect from "Gyralite" to "Oscillating Light" works around the issue.

Cheers,
Harry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/24 00:16 by tracktime.

tracktime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tehachapifan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Weird, ESU’s gyralite effect does not
> typically
> > go all the way dark. Are you sure that’s what
> is
> > was set to? Does the model have LED’s or
> bulbs?
> >
>
> Agreed. The "Gyralite" effect on ESU wasn't this
> way before in the past.  All ScaleTrains
> locomotives (including this one) use LEDs.  As
> the OP said, changing the effect from "Gyralite"
> to "Oscillating Light" works around the issue.
>
> Cheers,
> Harry

It is a work-around but I personally don't like the oscillating light effect as much as the gyralite effect from ESU. I suspect that something other than the gyralite effect was set up as the default.

tehachapifan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> It is a work-around but I personally don't like
> the oscillating light effect as much as the
> gyralite effect from ESU. I suspect that something
> other than the gyralite effect was set up as the
> default.

Agreed that the old ESU "Gyralite" effect was superior for sure. I hope a future firmware update from ESU will get us back to the proper "Gyralite" effect..

Cheers,
Harry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/24 22:09 by tracktime.

Email ScaleTrains - they have sent me numerous copies of the esux sound files in the past for my N scale fleet. Only drawback will be you'll need ESU's LokProgrammer if you don't already have one.

This is why I prefer Tsunami's. Easy to go in and adjust things. Only reason I got the ESU in the SD45X's is the plethera of lighting that come with the Museum level equipment. No way am I going to buy a programer just to fix ESU issues.

I love your weathering Ted, it will be nice seeing what you do with the X. I look forward to your analysis when you change out the couplers for Kadees.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/24 19:00 by TomG.

tracktime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tehachapifan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > It is a work-around but I personally don't like
> > the oscillating light effect as much as the
> > gyralite effect from ESU. I suspect that
> something
> > other than the gyralite effect was set up as
> the
> > default.
>
> Agreed that the old ESU "Gyralite" effect was
> superior for sure. I hope a future firmware update
> from ESU will get us back to the proper "Gyraltie"
> effect..
>
> Cheers,
> Harry

Wait, there’s a “new” gyralite effect? I have a few LS5 decoders I’ve programmed with LS5 sound files and have not noticed any difference with the gyralite effect from the previous generations.

Posted from iPhone

TomG Wrote:
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> I love your weathering Ted, it will be nice seeing
> what you do with the X. I look forward to your
> analysis when you change out the couplers for
> Kadees.

Funny that you should mention that. I noticed the stock couplers were too low to begin with, so a long shank coupler wasn't going to help matters. I installed the long shank coupler to keep coupled Kadee trip pins from tripping on the plow and causing unintended seperations. I first trimmed some Kadee fiber washers to fit in the coupler box to reduce vertical droop. The red proved to be too thick, but the gray was just right. But the coupler was still too low by a lot, so I resorted to putting a bend in the coupler shank to raise the head up to where it needed to be. It's trial and error to get the height right.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Did ScaleTrains use a unique sound file for the 645E3A, or use one of the existing ESU sound files for the 20 cylkinder 645E3?

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

Back to the coupler issue for a second. Has anybody tried an underset coupler as height solution? If so, was that enough? If not, what else can you do?

Posted from iPhone

Does anyone actually use the scale trains couplers?