I was asked by one of my loco hobby shops (RC Crew in Sydney) to do a little review on this monster, a MTH HO scale Union Pacific Rail Road 4500 HP Gas Turbine Locomotive. Well where do I start... History of the loco... The GTEL (Gas Turbine Electric Locomotive) was built between 1952 and 1961 with 56 units in total being built by General Electric. They were a massive 83'8 1/2" long and weighed in at 500,000 lbs (230 tonnes). The loco had a top speed of 65 mph (105 kph) and produced 4800 horse power from its GE 5-Frame Gas turbine power plant, although only 4500 hp was for tractive effort. The engine also house a 250hp Cummins 'donkey engine' for initial start up and for rolling around the railway yards. The tender had a capacity of carrying 7200 gallons (27,000 litres) of fuel, as they were quite thirsty locomotives. Each loco cost around $540,000 to build back in the day. Today, only two are in existence and are not operational. The model... It is an excellent model, with a tonne of detail, crisp paint work, lines and all decals are eligible. The loco and tender (yes, a tender for carrying fuel/oil for such a thirsty beast), come in at a whopping 17" (432mm) long and weighs in at 1109 grams ! The detail includes separately fitted handrails, steps, pipe work and all associated linkages on either end of the loco, including the tender. Driver and observer has been fitted within the loco and all the windows are extremely clear and flush fitted. It could have done with separately fitted windscreen wipers ! The bogies on both loco and tender are detailed quite well. These would look awesome with some light weathering to bring up the details even more. The etched grills on this model are very fine and well fitted. Roof detail is supreme and the hatched walk way on the tender is nicely executed. Detail and paint/decal wise, I would rate this very high. Now, I didn't test all the features on the loco, but the sound, lights, announcements are something else. I didn't want to play around with the smoke feature as the loco is brand new (previously run by the shop owner) and I wasn't going to open the tube of smoke oil, let alone putting my own oil in. This loco will also run on DC. The instructions that come with the model are very comprehensive and explains all aspects of the model and it's abilities quite clearly. Performance wise, it is very good, although it was a little sluggish at first as it has been sitting for some time. From a standing start, it ran reasonably smooth (after a warm up) straight out of the box on my short 10' plank layout Jay Dubyew Nth Yard, which I use code 100 track and insulfrog points. I only ran it at slow speeds and not full throttle. It performed through the points with ease due to the amount of pick-ups on the bogies. The locomotive come full of features, such as : *RP-25 wheels *detailed cab interior *detailed bogies * 2 powerful 12 volt 5 pole precision skew wound Flywheel equipped motors *on board dcc receiver *operating Protosmoke system *deatiled hand rails *scale Kadee compatatible remotely controlled Proto couplers *Locomotive speed control (MPH) *Proto sound (with freight yard Proto effects) *operates on code 70, 83 & 100 rail, (also operates on 18" radius curves) *detailed diecast lcomotive and tender boies *diecast metal chassis Can I fault this model ? Simple answer is No. The model is worth quite a few dollars. In the US when it was purchased by the shop owner, it retailed for $499.99 USD (with out trade discount). That equates to approx $650+ AUD. Would I buy this model myself ?? Probably not as I model small shunting/switching layouts. If I had a larger layout, based on the UP, this would definitely be a worthy edition to the fleet. For those of you out there that have larger layouts , I would recommend this model, especially if you model the UP around Utah, Arizona, Nevada & California in the 1950s. So a few pics... The nose of the A unit. As you can see, separately fitted hand rails everywhere, but no separately fitted wipers... The No.2 end of the locomotive. They are not ditch lights below the platform but sockets for the small lighting plugs. Excellent grill detail, nicely fitted. The rivet detail is quite good and not over scale. More grill detail and the separately fitted side panels. As you can see in the pic above and below, the lining and decals are nicely executed. Roof detail is of very high quality. Bogie detail is quite nice especially as they are cast in metal ! The tender... first up the loco end. You can just pick out the plugs that connect to the loco for the rear light. (mid point between steps) The trailing end of the tender. Note that no couplings have been fitted yet. The roof has some very fine handrails and the mesh walkway is nicely finished. Would need care when handling this part of the model. It does come with a foam block that fits between the hand rails. Now the video of some of the sounds but no forward/reverse travel... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u7csSnyjD4 The only thing this model needs is some heavy weathering..., and a rake of at least 100 hoppers or container cars.... Cheers, Gary.
Very Nice ...... pity about the yellow colour Good review Gary - so how long do you get to test the loco for Not sure if that was the genny winding up or JD's legs groaning under the weight. Showing my age, but I'd rather have the big boy. Paul
paul_l wrote: Well, Jay Dubyew Nth Yard is 120" long and the loco is 17" long, so that's about 7 times... Cheers, Gary.
Just about long enough for the brakes to come off - better not let Toto see it, if that came off the end of his layout, it would punch a hole through the shed floor and be half way to Oz (the direct route). Paul
Great review Gary. It is a nice looking loco. What's the price tag on that ? I have my Rail King beastie which I can't test as it is most definately 3 rail. It has a similar level of detail and has a lot of metal parts. A heavy loco. It's good they you managed to get a hold of one for review. Maybe more will follow.
The loco retails for approx $499.00 USD which is currently equivalent to $650.00 AUD or £380.00... Cheers, Gary.
