Another excellent review Dan thanks

I definitely had a feeling you'd review this one. Great review Dan!

TRAIN: my coupler height is... TSG Multimedia : splish splash that spike just went in the trash

Great video as always!

I love tunnel motors thanks for sharing this with us.

Gorgeous model. I love the detail. I miss the SP. So, thanks for the review.

wow so much details Dan,

Wow! I like this one

i was waiting for this

Great Review Dan, Good lookin Engine

I was waiting on this review of the ScaleTrains.com version of the Southern Pacific SD40T-2 from you.

I’m a big fan of everything I’ve seen from ScaleTrains. I just wish I could afford one! I’ve seen a few reviews from people saying they received their engines with some QC issues. One guy had a grille completely missing on the back end of a Tier 4 Gevo. I know it’s probably a small sampling of the total number of products ScaleTrains has shipped, but I wonder if it’s more widespread and that they could use some improvement on their QC system.

With the possible exception of Rapido's pending RS-11, I think it fair to say this latest from Scaletrains is the cutting edge of 'RTR' technology. (Certainly the first 100% 'see though' tunnel-motor.) This model was a 'first run' too.. Shame some minor QC issues kept it from a higher score. But as you've always said, we are allowed to decide for ourselves how we score what you're showing us, so I'm giving it +15 for innovative rear truck design (for full see thru), and +5 for the front pilot detail (love that plow w/trainline notch). Don't give a fig for the 'incorrect horn', so scratching that.. and, pow! it's over 100 in my book. Nice job Scaletrains! Great review Dan. Your knowledge and experience is valued :)

Awesome review! I planned on getting one, but missed preorders. Maybe next run.

I bought the 8307 snoot. Like your model, the sunshades were a bit sloppy. In addition, the speed recorder on the fireman's side front axle had fallen off. I had to glue it back on, it wouldn't stay without glue. I consider those issues niggling, the model is so beautifully detailed and painted that the minor stuff is easily off set. It runs flawlessly! Then there is that LokSound decoder, OMG. It's so capable and it sounds just terrific. Thanks for the review, Dan - excellent as always!

Now I regret buying the athearn ones instead of waiting longer for the scaletrains ones. Looks like a great model!

That does look tasty!

The mold lines are very crisp on these when doing a side by side comparison with Athearn's. I wasn't going to purchase any until I saw one :)

Daniel, I'm late in watching your enjoyable review of the 1st Run Scale Trains SD40T-2. Like you, I purchased mine by pre-order, but I ordered 5 of them: 2 SP versions with sound decoders from the factory, and 2 SP and 1 Rio Grande version as DC but DCC ready. I purchased ESU v5 decoders and speakers as soon as they were available, but am just getting to the install jobs. At the time of this video, you said you hadn't looked inside, but my the time of the 2nd run, you did look under the hood. On my DCC ready models, the hood was not easily removed and took some prying with a small flat screwdriver. Once seeing the chasis uncovered, it was obvious how to remove the Scale Trains lighting board from the main board and locate the 21-pin connector for the decoder. What I was puzzled by was where to install the speakers. There was not much spare room around the chasis, and I wondered if the speakers were already installed. After all, it was sold as DCC-ready. The enclosed literature and on-line search for information was not helpful. A call to Scale Trains Support line got me some answers. By removing two screws on either side of the chasis, it splits on a horizontal plane, but longitudinally. Wiring from the main board on the top piece of the chasis run forward and aft to lighting clusters, and down thru holes to the motor and trucks. The wires in the longitudinal channel are secured there by plastic slot covers which are fit by friction pins to the chasis. I used a small screwdriver to pry up the rear cover. Underneath this top half of the chasis, just behind the motor is a pre-installed plastic baffle box size for two sugar cube speakers. I used ESU's 50321 speakers, which fit perfectly. The two 8 ohm speakers were wired in series and secured in the baffle. The wires went up thru a hole in the upper chasis and came out in the wiring groove. I routed the speaker wires forward toward the decoder and bunched all of the original wires back in the channel and replaced the cover. ESU's Support person told me to use the speaker connections on the main board of the model instead of splicing them directly to the decoder. The speaker solder pads are located toward the rear of the board, marked as S+ and S-. I had to push aside other wires to be able to reach the pads with a thin soldering iron tip and got the speaker wires secured. After that, the decoder and shell went back on without much issue. The last and most troublesome parts to reattach were the couplers. The model had large plows on both ends and would not allow the assembled coupler and box to be returned to their proper place. With much finagling, I managed to slide the separate parts into the slot and get them together and screwed in place. Now I have a friend who owns the Loksound Programmer who will load the files for the locos.

Gracias 👍

I still like my athearn ones, but I do want 8558 eventually

I really liked this loco even with the small items you noted. Should get some points back for the fans visible only from the bottom and the grille details! Thanks Dan!!!

I also got the model of 8558. Are you modeling yours with or without the Gyralites?

8558 was delivered with a Nathan P3 Horn, it appears it was replaced sometime in the late 1980’s early 90’s. As far as the STX model, it has the correct “as delivered” horn.

Which Dcc system do u use? It looks like u have Kato unitrack. I am having trouble getting my nec dcc system to work with my Kato track.

Great review Dan, as I have come to expect from you. With your vast knowledge I hope you can help me with a Generic question. I run HO and have 12 locos from various makers. I like to sometimes run night scenes as my layout is well lit, all lighted buildings streetlight, porch lights etc. the only loco that even begins to light up the track is my Lionel Polar Express loco. So why are HO headlights not brighter? And some of the ditch lights are really dim. Thanks and have a blessed day.

Beautiful model but they definitely need a better way of attaching the sun shades to the cab

Dan, I like your reviews. Great Job. Can suggest a slight change to your review points. Do you think when you find a model that exceptional (the see through grills and the fans), that you should have a way of giving extra points for such esceptional detail.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but 1 month prior you made no mention of the horns on your review of Athearn's SP GP40P-2, yet you took off pts for this unit which has the same horn. SP's Nathan horn trumpets are interchangeable (and SP would switch things a lot), so which pix of SP 8558 did you see?? I guess I'm just asking cuz considering all the other details this unit has, it's hard to see how Scaletrains would miss that. Plus, I'd like to know why you take off for coupler heights when most modelers commonly switch to Kadees anyway??

My rivet counter would have made a perfect 10/10 on your review #8553, also why does the horn casting matter? The SP had several variations of the Nathan Airchime P3 horns they were almost never the same. Some tunnel motors in the 8300-8500 series had Nathan P5s but they were super rare.

What was the purpose of having the city's name on the cab?

When a horn is malfunctioning, they will switch it out with whatever they have handy---- at the moment!!! A diesel could go through 3 or more horns in a year with everyone of them being different! It is not difficult repairing a dead bell, the disk is just frozen up and it will not oscillate! It only takes a few minutes to switch one out!

I'm sorry I respect your opinion but I feel scale trains leaves athearn in the dust and puts them to shame...period. athearn is still living in 2002 with their lack of detail such as fake ditch lights on the ge widecabs

Those sundhades are a total joke

I was waiting on this review of the ScaleTrains.com version of the Southern Pacific SD40T-2 from you.