Kato Operation North Pole Train

[mmyers]

Ordered one of these today from MBK.
http://www.katousa.com/N/ONP/index.html

[m_nanson]

I would love to see a CP rail holiday train manufactured...
http://www.cpr.ca/holiday-train/canada

[EspeeGoldenState]

Ordered one of these today from MBK.
http://www.katousa.com/N/ONP/index.html

Whats so disappointing about this set, is there is 5 cars in the 2015 set, and they did 3 of them. I almost pulled the trigger on getting the set, but like Kobo Amtrak Celebrate the Century locomotive and when they displayed it with the 2 cars everyone assumed they would produce them as well. I had enough projects then and still do to have to try to do the train set. Also changing my modeling time period did help with that decision as well.

And by no means am I knocking Kato for not doing the full five car set or the two cars from the Celebrate the Century, just without decals to do the rest of the cars, its kinda hard for some of us to buy them.

Chris

[mmyers]

Whats so disappointing about this set, is there is 5 cars in the 2015 set, and they did 3 of them.

Yep, I'm wondering why they only did 3. Maybe looking for a target price point or maybe two more next year to keep it going.

[MarcVanCleven]

It is a nice set... For under the Christmas Tree.

We have a couple of members in our NTrak club, the Capital City "N"Gineers, who own the set. It's nicely done, but I agree that the other two cars should be available. Runs just fine as expected for Kato.

Speaking of sets, while attending TrainFest here in Milwaukee, I walked over to the Kato Manufacturers booth. There were handouts for the Milwaukee Road Olympian Hiawatha. Wow!!!

Advertised as a new "Classic Name Train" coming soon! "Experience the train in its post 1952 appearance with the signature "Super Dome" and "Skytop Lounge" cars." Even better!!

"Coupled with a brand new tooling EMD FP7A locomotive!"... Wait a minute... Not a Bi-Polar or Little Joe? Or maybe the Erie-Built, diesel locomotives manufactured by Fairbanks-Morse? Is it me? Intermountain makes the FP7A already. Out of curiosity, I googled Olympian Hiawatha and searched images... Not too many FP7As shown, but a lot of Little Joes, Bi-Polar and Eries. I did find a 45 minute Milwaukee Road promo film from 1952... Showing EMD FP7As. Damn... I'm still going to reserve a set for myself.

Marc in Madison WI

[Ike the BN Freak]

Yep, I'm wondering why they only did 3. Maybe looking for a target price point or maybe two more next year to keep it going.

I asked about it on their Facebook page, they said they may if they do well with this train

[mcjaco]

Yep, I'm wondering why they only did 3. Maybe looking for a target price point or maybe two more next year to keep it going.

I'm thinking they're targeting the train under the tree crowd as well as the regular modeler.  Five car sets plus a loco start to price out the guy who stops into the local shop that just wants a Christmas set for under the tree. 

[nightmare0331]

if these sets do well (they are so far) the other two cars are a possibility as an add on at some point in the future.

Along those same lines, there are plans of doing this year's train next year.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[sundowner]

Would be cool if the did the 2 car with a bookcase like the other Metra sets.

[MK]

I am thinking about getting the new version (2016) and have some questions about the FR-11 and FL-12 circuit board accessories.  I will be getting the two additional coach for a complete set.

I know when running on DC, depending on the direction of travel, the loco will get the headlight and the cab-coach will get the red tail light and it switches when going in the other direction.

Am I correct to assume that FR-11 is required for each coach car to bring DCC lighting to each?  I plan to run it DCC but not sure yet if I want to light the coaches.

Now what does FL-12 do when running DCC?  The description says it provides directional lighting control on DCC.  I'm assuming the red/white lights on the loco/cab-coach?  So this means if I drop a decoder in the loco I would still need this board or will the decoder change the red/white loco/cab-coach combo?  It sounds like FL-12 makes the directional lights addressable independent of the mobile decoder.

And finally, any difference between the TCS and Digitrax decoders?  Kato recommends TCS but is that because it has additional functions for this train?  I prefer Digitrax as it's $10 cheaper (if for the exact same functions) and my entire fleet is pretty much Digitrax.  I'm not sure if I'm going to go with alternating ditch lights which I understand the TCS is better at doing (and handling LEDs as the resistors are onboard).

Lastly, , has anyone run this on 9-3/4?  I know it would look stupidly funny with the long coaches but will it work operationally?  I think Kato design all their (N) stuff to operationally run on 9-3/4 despite it's funky look around a curve.

[nightmare0331]

FL-12 provides directional lights for the tail/cab car.  It's basically a function only decoder that triggers the headlights/tail lights.  Basically, on the bilevels, you take the bottom cover plate off, slide out a spacer and slide in the decoder (with a bit of figeting usually).  You can address it to whatever you want (I find it easiest to just make it the same as the loco number, but everyone has their own flavor)

FR-11 does nothing but piggyback on the Kato interior light kit to toggle it on and off.  You don't actually *need* these to  operate on DCC.  without it, the interior light will just be on as long as the track is powered.

The TCS K5D7 for Metra F40's is different then the standard board for Amtrak F40's.  It has smleds for the marker lights as the light pipes on the Metra and Amtrak units are quite different and a standard K0D8-C or Digitrax DN163KOD won't fit correctly with full sized led's.

9 3/4 will operate just fine.

Here's a set I whipped up with an ESU Loksound micro for grins.

Hope this helps!

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[MK]

TRW comes through again!  Thanks for the info Kelley and that ESU equipped loco is AWESOME!

So in summary, TCS decoder is the only one I should use and not Digitrax.  FL-12 is just to control the cab-coach's red/white/off lights, which is optional.

I'll probably skip the FR-11 but if I do decide on doing it, I need one FR-11 for each bi-level?

[nightmare0331]

on the FR11, you would need one for each light kit you want to control...really only necessary on any car you want to actually control the interior lighting in.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[davefoxx]

I got the 2015 North Pole Express set for my daughter last Christmas- oops, I mean, Santa gave it to her.  I am impressed by how well that train runs, whether in pull or push mode.  I had some 10" radius curves on the Seaboard Central 2.0 (one on a 3% grade!), and the train ran flawlessly.

The only problem that I have now is that, since I switched DCC systems (I gave my Digitrax system and went to NCE), I have noticed that the cab car's lights (in push mode) don't work right.  Get this- the lights will be on in Speed Step 7, but off in Step 8, on in Step 9, off in Step 10.  WTF?!

DFF

[peteski]

I got the 2015 North Pole Express set for my daughter last Christmas- oops, I mean, Santa gave it to her.  I am impressed by how well that train runs, whether in pull or push mode.  I had some 10" radius curves on the Seaboard Central 2.0 (one on a 3% grade!), and the train ran flawlessly.

The only problem that I have now is that, since I switched DCC systems (I gave my Digitrax system and went to NCE), I have noticed that the cab car's lights (in push mode) don't work right.  Get this- the lights will be on in Speed Step 7, but off in Step 8, on in Step 9, off in Step 10.  WTF?!

DFF

That sounds like a typical 14 - 28/128 speed step mismatch between the decoder and command station.  It is a CV29 setting on the decoder, or adjust your throttle to match the decoder setting. If your loco doesn't exhibit the problem then the decoder in the cab car needs to be changed.  I"m surprised that this problem did not show up on the Digitrax system (since this mismatch problem will show up on every DCC system). I know that it is function only decoder but it still receives the speed and direction packets from the track (so it can work in tandem with the locomotive).