Heads up! Arnold/Hornby BOGO sale

[Cajonpassfan]

I got a bit of time to play with my new SW1 toy. It's quite impressive.
As someone already noted, it stalls on Atlas turnouts, the gauge is a bit tight. I'm conflicted about the beautiful new couplers. They look great, but don't play well with MT's so unless they become widely available, I need to swap them. Too bad, pics below show their diminutive size compared to MT's, Kato, Accumate, and "box glove" Bachmann. Interestingly, they seem to mate with Accumates, although I didn't do any real testing.
Otto K.

[wmcbride]

I am happy to report that my new U28C's have very firmly attached handrails as opposed to my first-run U25C's

The end rails on the U28Cs might need a bit of glue but it's no where near what the first-run U25C's had in terms of loose handrails. these really are beautifully executed engines made even more attractive by this sale!

[peteski]

I got a bit of time to play with my new SW1 toy. It's quite impressive.
As someone already noted, it stalls on Atlas turnouts, the gauge is a bit tight. I'm conflicted about the beautiful new couplers. They look great, but don't play well with MT's so unless they become widely available, I need to swap them. Too bad, pics below show their diminutive size compared to MT's, Kato, Accumate, and "box glove" Bachmann. Interestingly, they seem to mate with Accumates, although I didn't do any real testing.
Otto K.

That agrees with my evaluation of those couplers (in the SW1 technical review thread I linked to earlier in this thread). If you bring up that thread, one of the latest posts shows how to convert it to MT couplers retaining the original coupler box (which is smaller than MT box).  I also covered re-gauging the wheels earlier in that thread.

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks for the reminder Peteski, a great writeup. I cheated and regauged the wheels with a twist of a screwdriver, we'll see if that works....
Otto K.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I got my package today, but they messed up. I ordered 2 identical B&M models. The website and confirmation email showed quantity of 2 and the discount (total $89). But they only shipped one (for $89)!  I'll have to deal with customer service now. 

I get a sense they're a bit inundated. A friend of mine ordered an HO U25C, and the N scale version showed up at his house.

[up1950s]

I get a sense they're a bit inundated. A friend of mine ordered an HO U25C, and the N scale version showed up at his house.

Inundation should mean slow delivery , not wrong products delivered . They should have not done this sale so close to Christmas . By doing so they probably felt obligated to deliver by Christmas . To do that they may have needed to hire a Santa's Helper or more . Good chance everyone who wanted a part time job was already employed elsewhere . To maximize their profits if any were to be had after this super sale they probably hired their kids for free or got at least one sloppy order filler in their mix .

A week ago or so I was going to order one to get a pair and did not like the way the order form was printed up as far as stating on it that freebie second unit , so I vacated my order

[rhiadon]

Well, my twofer PC SW1's arrived today, and they look and run really great. Thank you Hornby, what a deal!
Very smooth low speed on my Troller DC test track, relatively realistic high speed. Weigh in at 1.5 oz or 43 grams, respectable for such a small switcher. I'll see if there is room for more weight, and what I'd really like is to get ESU sound inside. And of course, the PC lettering has got to go... 
There is a traction tire on the outermost wheels, one per axle, left front, right rear.  I don't have enough DC trackage to test pulling power, but given the weight and traction tires, should be respectable as well. Pics below, sorry it's hard to get good pics of a black engine.
Otto K.

Sound is doable. ESU is likely the right way to go for a couple of reasons. The board with all electronic components is slightly thinner than a SoundTraxx Tsunami 2 or Econami. I've also heard (no pun intended) that ESU is supposed to have a sound project for the SW1. I've not found one yet though.

Also I was able to pull 11 cars on my DCC track with no traction tires. I replaced the traction tire wheels with standard wheels. That was all the cars I had though because I just haven;t bought that many yet.

You put the decoder in place of the factory PCB and the sugar cube speaker in the cab and it's pretty simple.

[peteski]

Sound is doable. ESU is likely the right way to go for a couple of reasons. The board with all electronic components is slightly thinner than a SoundTraxx Tsunami 2 or Econami. I've also heard (no pun intended) that ESU is supposed to have a sound project for the SW1. I've not found one yet though.

Also I was able to pull 11 cars on my DCC track with no traction tires. I replaced the traction tire wheels with standard wheels. That was all the cars I had though because I just haven;t bought that many yet.

You put the decoder in place of the factory PCB and the sugar cube speaker in the cab and it's pretty simple.

Just remember that in those locos the PC board holds down the worm covers preventing the worms from disengaging from the worm gears. If you replace it with another board which has components on the bottom you'll have have to find another way to retain the work covers.

[reinhardtjh]

I've also heard (no pun intended) that ESU is supposed to have a sound project for the SW1. I've not found one yet though.

It's there.  Sound file #'s 76406, 76806, 76506, 76306 for V4.0, V4.0 Micro, V4.0 XL and V4.0 L
 or File #'s 75406, 75806, 75306 for Select, Select Direct/Micro and Select L

Title is EMD 6cyl 567A (FT)
 You can't link direct ly to the entry but a search links for the Select:
 http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/search?cat=2&q=SW-1#info-2-506

And for V4.0: http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/search?cat=4&q=sw-1

[reinhardtjh]

-->  SW-1 Trade offer  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=40711.0

[MarkJ]

My two U25Cs arrived today and I’m very impressed! They run smooth and the overall finish is really spectacular. The truck and end details around the couplers are especially nice. The only discrepancy I noticed between the two models it that the PC unit has a golden colored headlight whereas the Conrail unit has a brighter “bluish” headlight color. That and the Conrail blue paint is a bit light (more like a “faded” color; not nearly as dark as my Atlas Conrail SD35). These issues are not a big deal to me and I’m very happy that I took advantage of this offer.

I doubt it will happen, but I would like to see Arnold offer a GP30. The Atlas shell, with its too wide carbody, wrong fan spacing, and that conduit cover around the dynamic fan (that most GP30s didn’t have), needs to be replaced with something better. That, and fact that you need to remove the inner bearing blocks to get smooth performance out of the drive is a signal that a new model is long overdue. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks, Mark

[rhiadon]

It's there.  Sound file #'s 76406, 76806, 76506, 76306 for V4.0, V4.0 Micro, V4.0 XL and V4.0 L
 or File #'s 75406, 75806, 75306 for Select, Select Direct/Micro and Select L

Title is EMD 6cyl 567A (FT)
 You can't link direct ly to the entry but a search links for the Select:
 http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/search?cat=2&q=SW-1#info-2-506

And for V4.0: http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/search?cat=4&q=sw-1

This just made my day! I checked every week for the first 6 months this year and finally gave up. Glad to see it's here now. I have a fun winter project now.

[MichaelWinicki]

I tried getting replacement wheelsets for my SW1 so I could removed the traction-tired axles... But they be out of stock with no idea when more are due in.

[peteski]

I tried getting replacement wheelsets for my SW1 so I could removed the traction-tired axles... But they be out of stock with no idea when more are due in.

Ufortunately (per Arvids, their tech support and customer service guy) they did nor get many spare parts.

That often seems to be the case nowadays - either the manufacturer does not request many spares or (more often the case) the Chinese subcontractor simply refuses to supply spare parts to the manufacturer.  Which doesn't see logical but that is what often happens.

[cbroughton67]

Bob:  Interesting that they work with the battery, but not with a DC power pack.  If they already had decoders, the only thing I can think of is that the power supply had pulses or ripples at a frequency that confused the decoder.  If they don't have decoders, I have no idea what caused the problem.  Mine (straight DC) didn't short, or do anything else odd, they just wouldn't pick up power.

The one variable between the 9v battery and the loco sitting on the rails is the angle of the truck. It could be that when using the 9v battery, the truck is at a pronounced angle compared to straight & level on the rails, which could change the way the pickups contact the tabs on the board. The pickups on the trucks are longer on these than on Atlas locos, so the truck angle results in a wider range of movement at the top where it touches the tabs. You may need to tweak the tabs a bit, so they angle down more and contact the pickups more reliably. It's a shot in the dark, but a potentially easy resolution.


Chris