That was a great review, I really liked the comparison with the Kato and BLI! I was wondering if you’ve had a chance to look at modifying the beacon or work on the “tinny” sound? Thanks again for the review and you have a great looking layout.
Hi Scott, thanks for writing in. I haven't made any attempts to modify the beacon by adding an LED or made changes sound, it's sort of an aspirational but lower on the list activity (maybe a good rainy day project). Curious whether anyone has!
I'm disappointed with ScaleTrains that they didn't add working ditch lights to this model. Not sure if they will but they should've done a BNSF H3 SD40-2 model as well. I re-badged my old Kato SD40-2 BN model and also converted it to ESU LokSound 5 with a LokSound speaker and it looks great. I added modern, white, rooftop AC units plus PTC antenna stands and the remote control whip antennas with their stands as well plus lift rings, rear view mirrors, wind deflectors and sun visors plus MU cables and hoses. I also moved the horn to the middle of the long hood. Now I need to figure out how to add ditch lights to them.
The sd40-2 is by far my most favored train engine. I have a kato with lok sound that i installed. I dont run it much because of the tinny sound that you described. But scale trains installing rear ditch lights is a step above. I plan on getting one.
It's also worth noting the V5 equipped SXT and Kato SD40-2s you have use different soundfiles, S0845 in the ST and S0508 in the Kato...speaker baffle also plays a role
I'd be curious to listen to the files themselves to assess whether there's a different EQ on them, with the Kato having some of the treble rolled off. To my ear this mostly seems like an acoustics issue, likely speaker and maybe some contribution to how the speaker is housed.
This was a Good video 📹 Engines sounded good I'm an N scale owner as well & Scaletrains hits the ball outta the park when it comes to details & running with others my little Scaletrains SD40-2 is Southern Engine 3221 it's a sharp Engine i like how the cab sits but at same time its a little challenging though to operate because of the cabs position but it's all in the fun of running trains makes me love the hobby more.!
I really enjoy seeing manufacturers push the limit of detailing for N scale. Funny to look back at the N scale models I had as a kid and how much they look like toys compared to what's available now.
Nice review. Good thing Sharpie makes a ultra fine point black marker, lol. The handrails, grills and roof fans on the ScaleTrains SD40-2 are very nice. Hopefully it runs at least as well as a KATO. I'm waiting (patiently, hopefully) for ScaleTrains to make a HO Alco switcher, but the Cleveland Indians will probably win the World Series before that happens.
That's for sure. For blanking these brass plates I made sure to use a paint pen since sharpie ink can be a bit shiny. I'm actually a bit surprised to see ScaleTrains making EMD stuff, they were making Gevos for so long I just started to ignore them :)
Thanks for this nice comparison! It was nice to see the BLI since I do not own one. I received my 2 Scale Trains SD40-2s this past week and your review was spot on. I run Loksound but did not order sound-equipped engines since Scale Trains does not understand speakers and speaker enclosures. They still put holes in the fuel tank to let the sound out which is the last thing they should be doing. I will install sound but it will take some major work to get a decent, properly-enclosed speaker in these engines. Atlas has certainly figured it out. The best N scale sound-equipped engine I have is the Rapido Dash 8-40CM. No tinny engine sounds, no reedy whistle. Rapido got it right on those. Thanks again for your video!
I am curious if you were to swap speakers out if the tinny sound would go away. In my installs I use a Soberton 8mm x 12mm “ sugar cube” in a 3d printed enclosure. I have also used the ESU 9x18 speaker/enclosure with good results. Question, in the kato unit, which speaker is used? Overall throatiness sound goes to the BLI loco. If ST came out with Soo deuces I would in serious financial trouble. 😮 I already have two Milwaukee on pre-order. Thanks for making the video. I don’t care for the contact strips. That is why they make paint and brushes. When I get mine,, I will paint them.
Thanks for the in-depth review and comparisons. Some other reviews mentioned an issue with the clearance between the bottom of the fuel tank and the top of the rails. However, from what I gather, this issue seems limited to sharp changes in the track grade. Nice model otherwise.
Interesting. I could see that being the case for many loco models if the grade isn't done right. These have a fairly long wheelbase. Given my layout's flat, I don't have much to offer on the topic ;)
I ended up buying the CSX SD40-3. Very pleased with it! The visible contacts don't bother me. I don't see them at all while running. I am waiting eagerly for the Norfolk and Western ones. I haven't decided which paint scheme I want yet. I think I'll just buy the big NW scheme. I recently bought both conrail C39-8 paint schemes so I don't think I can afford another double purchase at this time lol
You have to love the rivet counter models. I do have to agree with you concerning the power pickups in the trucks. On such a perfected model, that is a surprise. I’m thinking you might be able to mitigate the issue with some artistically applied paint, not to interfere with pickup but to disguise what must have been an oversight. Not something I’d be thrilled about having to do on such a fine model, but something to consider. The speaker issue could be another place that could be improved, but I’m not much of a sound girl, to be honest. Other than that, it’s a super example! Brooklyn
Totally agree - I went for the paint approach here, I do a lot of fine painting so it's been pretty straightforward. Between that and the sound I'm not precisely sure what I've paid the premium for. It's not egregious in terms of value, but not quite there either.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR I was checking out NSSCOTTTEAGUE, review of the Scale Trains SD-40-2 and his experience with the sound on two separate units is quite different. You may want to check out his video for reference. There may be some inconsistencies in these from unit to unit. Hope this helps.
@@brooklyngraham1151 thanks Brooklyn. I do suspect there are going to be tons of reviews on this product, so will be interesting to crowdsource common or distinct themes.
I have to agree with you on both the pickup plates and sound. You’d think for the price of a Scale Train’s loco they’d be pretty perfect but… I recently purchased an SD7 (C&NW) Atlas Master Gold series from Lombard Hobby, I found the sound to be quite good, down to the toggle switches be thrown when it was being shut down, pretty impressive. Just a slight jerking at step one but it smoothed out after running a bit. Great review! Ron
@@ronaldjoyce7374 thanks for the feedback Ron. I've got a lot of Atlas stuff and by and large it's pretty dependable at slow speeds. I do find that some of the older Atlas locos I got secondhand really lose torque, I suspect the lubricant may gunk up. None of my old Katos have that problem though.
I'm waiting, and waiting, for the Scale Trains GE ES44AC Iowa Interstate with sound. I recently picked up an Atlas GE Dash 8-40B and I think it sounds amazing.
Ha, true that. Growing up I lived near the IHB tracks which had a lot of Conrail traffic in the '80s. Still really enjoy that livery. Probably need more conrail stuff on the layout quite frankly :)
@ChicagoCrossingRR I live in Anderson Indiana on the old Big 4 Dow line so I saw the transition from NYC to PC and Conrail then the split which gave CSX the district from Avon yards to east St Louis and Avon to NY city while NS got the Dow line from Anderson to Elkhart yards!! I saw a ton of IHB coil cars along with South Shore coil cars all coming down from Gary Indiana to a steel splitting company plus our now closed GM plants!! I think Conrail used to make its appearance at Blue Island yard for freight going West in outer Chicago!!! I imagine you got to see a lot of CNW, BN and the famous SF Warbonnets!!!
@@conrailfan6277 absolutely. I the tracks were three blocks away so I used to hoof it over to the corner of the big street to watch the trains go by. Saw pretty much every livery you could imagine, including Conrail (I used to draw those locos with crayons). Meanwhile on the BN side I saw SD40s and SD40Bs running freight all day long.
You are dead on with what I thought about mine. Mine is not so tinny. I can fix the brass pickup. But I wish there was a way to get the beacon to work. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ellery I'm looking forward to the patched ex-MILW EMD leaser version that will be released in the fall. It'll look nice, maybe in a consist with my MILW SD40-2 from Broadway.
That was a great review, I really liked the comparison with the Kato and BLI! I was wondering if you’ve had a chance to look at modifying the beacon or work on the “tinny” sound? Thanks again for the review and you have a great looking layout.
Hi Scott, thanks for writing in. I haven't made any attempts to modify the beacon by adding an LED or made changes sound, it's sort of an aspirational but lower on the list activity (maybe a good rainy day project). Curious whether anyone has!
I'm disappointed with ScaleTrains that they didn't add working ditch lights to this model. Not sure if they will but they should've done a BNSF H3 SD40-2 model as well. I re-badged my old Kato SD40-2 BN model and also converted it to ESU LokSound 5 with a LokSound speaker and it looks great. I added modern, white, rooftop AC units plus PTC antenna stands and the remote control whip antennas with their stands as well plus lift rings, rear view mirrors, wind deflectors and sun visors plus MU cables and hoses. I also moved the horn to the middle of the long hood. Now I need to figure out how to add ditch lights to them.
Seems like a good customization project!! Thanks for sharing!
The tank is problematic though.
Hi Bernard not sure I know what about it?
The sd40-2 is by far my most favored train engine. I have a kato with lok sound that i installed. I dont run it much because of the tinny sound that you described. But scale trains installing rear ditch lights is a step above. I plan on getting one.
Funny, seems there is a lot of variablity in sound quality coming from different copies of the same model. Wonder what the difference is?
They sound great
Not too bad, they are great locos. Looking forward to the next set of releases, they have some cool patched versions.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR I’m looking forward to them bringing the SOO, ICG, RI and BN B units to n scale
@@jacksonthomas1851 yeah the black-patched MILW with the EMD leasing logo on it will be my next purchase. What a cool model.
It's also worth noting the V5 equipped SXT and Kato SD40-2s you have use different soundfiles, S0845 in the ST and S0508 in the Kato...speaker baffle also plays a role
I'd be curious to listen to the files themselves to assess whether there's a different EQ on them, with the Kato having some of the treble rolled off. To my ear this mostly seems like an acoustics issue, likely speaker and maybe some contribution to how the speaker is housed.
Great review. Good thing is as for the sound if you have a lok programmer you can take care of the tinny sound and add more tremble and bass
I haven't played with the EQ settings to see how and whether that ameliorates the issue. It's a good point.
This was a Good video 📹 Engines sounded good I'm an N scale owner as well & Scaletrains hits the ball outta the park when it comes to details & running with others my little Scaletrains SD40-2 is Southern Engine 3221 it's a sharp Engine i like how the cab sits but at same time its a little challenging though to operate because of the cabs position but it's all in the fun of running trains makes me love the hobby more.!
I really enjoy seeing manufacturers push the limit of detailing for N scale. Funny to look back at the N scale models I had as a kid and how much they look like toys compared to what's available now.
Killer layout man u got everything in the right amount of spacce
Thank you! Be sure to check out the layout tour!
Cool u have one I shall have a geeze
Nice review. Good thing Sharpie makes a ultra fine point black marker, lol. The handrails, grills and roof fans on the ScaleTrains SD40-2 are very nice. Hopefully it runs at least as well as a KATO. I'm waiting (patiently, hopefully) for ScaleTrains to make a HO Alco switcher, but the Cleveland Indians will probably win the World Series before that happens.
That's for sure. For blanking these brass plates I made sure to use a paint pen since sharpie ink can be a bit shiny. I'm actually a bit surprised to see ScaleTrains making EMD stuff, they were making Gevos for so long I just started to ignore them :)
Nice review and beautiful layout. I've got my SC BN livery in the box, just waiting to convert my new layout to DCC. Liked and subscribed!
Thanks Dave for supporting the channel, much appreciated!
Thanks for this nice comparison! It was nice to see the BLI since I do not own one.
I received my 2 Scale Trains SD40-2s this past week and your review was spot on. I run Loksound but did not order sound-equipped engines since Scale Trains does not understand speakers and speaker enclosures. They still put holes in the fuel tank to let the sound out which is the last thing they should be doing. I will install sound but it will take some major work to get a decent, properly-enclosed speaker in these engines.
Atlas has certainly figured it out.
The best N scale sound-equipped engine I have is the Rapido Dash 8-40CM. No tinny engine sounds, no reedy whistle. Rapido got it right on those.
Thanks again for your video!
You bet, thanks for watching!
many of BN's RS3K horns had a whiny sound, so it sounded normal to me.
That's an interesting point. For this model, even the engine sounds were coming across as a bit tinny.
I am curious if you were to swap speakers out if the tinny sound would go away. In my installs I use a Soberton 8mm x 12mm “ sugar cube” in a 3d printed enclosure. I have also used the ESU 9x18 speaker/enclosure with good results.
Question, in the kato unit, which speaker is used? Overall throatiness sound goes to the BLI loco.
If ST came out with Soo deuces I would in serious financial trouble. 😮 I already have two Milwaukee on pre-order.
Thanks for making the video.
I don’t care for the contact strips. That is why they make paint and brushes. When I get mine,, I will paint them.
Thanks Gary. I'll check what's in the Kato. I actually went ahead and painted the strips shortly after making the video.
Thanks for the in-depth review and comparisons. Some other reviews mentioned an issue with the clearance between the bottom of the fuel tank and the top of the rails. However, from what I gather, this issue seems limited to sharp changes in the track grade. Nice model otherwise.
Interesting. I could see that being the case for many loco models if the grade isn't done right. These have a fairly long wheelbase. Given my layout's flat, I don't have much to offer on the topic ;)
16:49 Kaito does make speakers and radios in edition to their trains, so not surprised the Kaito beat the Scale Trains in sound.
If I had time I'd run these locos through an audio spectral analyzer to see just what the quality of the sound is like.
I ended up buying the CSX SD40-3. Very pleased with it! The visible contacts don't bother me. I don't see them at all while running. I am waiting eagerly for the Norfolk and Western ones. I haven't decided which paint scheme I want yet. I think I'll just buy the big NW scheme. I recently bought both conrail C39-8 paint schemes so I don't think I can afford another double purchase at this time lol
Glad to hear you're enjoying your model! Once I blacked out the pickups that was much less an issue for me. I might get my hands on the Conrails.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR how did you black out the pick-ups?
@@UselessNekoGang black acrylic paint marker, just where visible.
Good review, appreciate the time and detail you spent to tell us about it.
Happy to help, you're welcome!
There’s My next Engine.
Enjoy!
Great video!! I didn’t realize you worked for electro motive! One of their facilities was right down the road from where I grew up!
I don’t but family and neighbors did. We lived maybe a mile from the big plant in LaGrange. You and I probably lived close by.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR No way! Small world! Where did you live?! I lived in Western Springs off of 55th street.
@@Dr.K_N.Scaler For sure - 47th and La Grange Road, not too far from the IHB tracks.
You have to love the rivet counter models. I do have to agree with you concerning the power pickups in the trucks. On such a perfected model, that is a surprise. I’m thinking you might be able to mitigate the issue with some artistically applied paint, not to interfere with pickup but to disguise what must have been an oversight. Not something I’d be thrilled about having to do on such a fine model, but something to consider. The speaker issue could be another place that could be improved, but I’m not much of a sound girl, to be honest. Other than that, it’s a super example!
Brooklyn
Totally agree - I went for the paint approach here, I do a lot of fine painting so it's been pretty straightforward. Between that and the sound I'm not precisely sure what I've paid the premium for. It's not egregious in terms of value, but not quite there either.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR I was checking out NSSCOTTTEAGUE, review of the Scale Trains SD-40-2 and his experience with the sound on two separate units is quite different. You may want to check out his video for reference. There may be some inconsistencies in these from unit to unit. Hope this helps.
@@brooklyngraham1151 thanks Brooklyn. I do suspect there are going to be tons of reviews on this product, so will be interesting to crowdsource common or distinct themes.
I have to agree with you on both the pickup plates and sound. You’d think for the price of a Scale Train’s loco they’d be pretty perfect but…
I recently purchased an SD7 (C&NW) Atlas Master Gold series from Lombard Hobby, I found the sound to be quite good, down to the toggle switches be thrown when it was being shut down, pretty impressive. Just a slight jerking at step one but it smoothed out after running a bit.
Great review! Ron
@@ronaldjoyce7374 thanks for the feedback Ron. I've got a lot of Atlas stuff and by and large it's pretty dependable at slow speeds. I do find that some of the older Atlas locos I got secondhand really lose torque, I suspect the lubricant may gunk up. None of my old Katos have that problem though.
Super nice 👍
Thanks!
I'm waiting, and waiting, for the Scale Trains GE ES44AC Iowa Interstate with sound. I recently picked up an Atlas GE Dash 8-40B and I think it sounds amazing.
Cool railroad for sure! I never run GE stuff on my layout, it's EMD all the way (family heritage) ;)
Nice review, there's one problem though, it's not painted for Conrail!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ha, true that. Growing up I lived near the IHB tracks which had a lot of Conrail traffic in the '80s. Still really enjoy that livery. Probably need more conrail stuff on the layout quite frankly :)
@ChicagoCrossingRR I live in
Anderson Indiana on the old Big 4
Dow line so I saw the transition
from NYC to PC and Conrail then
the split which gave CSX the district
from Avon yards to east St Louis and Avon to NY city while NS got
the Dow line from Anderson to
Elkhart yards!! I saw a ton of IHB
coil cars along with South Shore
coil cars all coming down from
Gary Indiana to a steel splitting
company plus our now closed
GM plants!! I think Conrail used
to make its appearance at Blue
Island yard for freight going
West in outer Chicago!!!
I imagine you got to see a lot of
CNW, BN and the famous SF
Warbonnets!!!
Conrail units should be here in late August according to ScaleTrains.
@@conrailfan6277 absolutely. I the tracks were three blocks away so I used to hoof it over to the corner of the big street to watch the trains go by. Saw pretty much every livery you could imagine, including Conrail (I used to draw those locos with crayons). Meanwhile on the BN side I saw SD40s and SD40Bs running freight all day long.
@@johnfiske3466 thanks for the note. Will probably pick one up based on the overall quality of how these run.
I’m someone who does HO but DANG, that’s got the same amount of detail as my HO model!
Pretty crazy isn't it! It's an age of miracles and wonder.
Not quite my friend!!
@@scotabot7826 haha!
You are dead on with what I thought about mine. Mine is not so tinny. I can fix the brass pickup. But I wish there was a way to get the beacon to work. Thanks for sharing.
Yep, good and bad both. It's easy enough to blacken that pickup which is nice.
I wonder if you drill from inside the cab, then attach a pre wired 402 smd LED wired to a separate function on the decoder?
Hmm🤔🤔🤔
@@gmburzynski68 it's frankly something I want to look into. The HO version has a working beacon. I'd love the same on this model.
I Might Get the Milwakee Road Engine.
Hi Ellery I'm looking forward to the patched ex-MILW EMD leaser version that will be released in the fall. It'll look nice, maybe in a consist with my MILW SD40-2 from Broadway.
What We Select for Engines for Enginges Is Our Choice.
A very nice detailed review. You certainly know your stuff Eric.
Ha thanks Mel. I try to pick up on features that really matter to me and communicate them as clearly as possible.