What’s your opinion of Intermountain locomotives? Good,bad or indifferent?
I have 4 (F7’s, from about 5-6 years ago). Good runners, first sound units I had, would buy again.
Hi Willy6
I only have one.
An F3A with sound. It’s great! It has a good low speed, silent transmission and smooth. I only have a small layout so I can’t comment on it’s pulling power but it seems good. At least as good as my Atlas diesels.
Will be getting more when the budget allows.
cheers
I have two of their ES44AC’s, released last year. They run very well–smoothly and quietly. My only complaint is that the starting voltage is very high for DC-only locomotives, which mine are. Intermountain says that this is deliberate because they wanted them to run well with DCC-equipped units. After several complaints, mine included, they claimed they would offer an easy fix for the problem. I have yet to hear anything further from Intermountain on this, but your posting has prompted me to look into it again.
John Timm
Hello,
the Intermountain locomotives that I own are the ES44AC and the SD40-2 in CN. The ES44AC weigh the exact same as the Kato AC4400, run very smooth and pull the same, the drive system looks like a copy from Atlas. In order to speed match them you have to rewire them, here is a link to one of my posts on that subject http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/184157.aspx . Also with these same locomotives there is a issue of light shinning from under the nose, here is a link on how to overcome that issue [urlhttp://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/193936.aspx[/url] . Also the hand rails and stanchions are made from very fine and brittle plastic.
As for the SD40-2, this locomotive is very light, with the same dcc board as the ES44AC. If you operate in DC and wish to speed match this unit with the Kato and Atlas locomotives you will also have to rewire this locomotive. In both cases the locomotive will run before the lights turn on, but at least they consist well in DC. Here too the drive system looks like a copy from Atlas. The only issue is with my engine is that on tight curves this locomotive derails because the outer axles wheel will hit the coupler box on the rear bogie. Not sure of the radius because it is on a section of flex track, but this is the only engine that does that from about 40 diesels from 6 manufacturers.
Overall I give the ES44AC a 6 out of 10 and the SD40-2 a 9 out of 10.
Hope it helps
Frank
I have one FP9A in HO scale and it looks and runs great. It’s the most expensive loco in my fleet.
I have some N scale F-units too: four F7As and an A-B-A set of passenger Fs (two FP9As and one F9B). All of them look good and run well.
My only complaint about the Intermountain Fs is that the air intake grilles are not glued on all the way.
I’m a big fan of Intermountain loco’s and have a number of them. I did have one VIA Rail F unit that had one of the grills come loose but it was an easy fix.
I have a fleet of 'em in HO which I use on DCC temporary layouts: 1 FT AB set, 2 F3 AB sets, 3 F7 AB sets, 4 FP7/F7B sets, and 5 FP7s. All were obtained over last five years. All are great runners and pullers. Most have sound which is excellent. I use them to pull 8 to 20 passenger car consists. As previously mentioned, only problems have been loose grillwork.
My 20 year old grandson has been running model trains with me for the last 9 years. He has several good modern locos by Athearn Genesis, Atlas, BLI, and Proto 2K. However, whenever he wants to pull long freights, @50 cars + with changing elevation, he always goes for “my” Intermountain sets.
If you get any Intermountains, hope you have as much fun with them as we have.
Good overall if you disregard the AC12 steam model, which is absolutely great in detail, but has operating problems. I have three of those and now they want me to send them in for a motor replacement and $75 more dollars for each one. That is not going to happen soon!
CZ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t114AD7li4I Heres a look at my intemountain NS ES40DC if it helps.
I just bought two 44ACE one with sound one without I used them about two hours and put them back in the box and sent them to inter-mountain. Both were very loud the gears, the trucks they ran OK but was just to noise. When I got them back from Inter-mountain the were a little better they replaced the trucks, drive shaft and gears on both. Still not as good as Atlas or Kato for running quit and smooth Took them to the hobby store to sell but the haven’t sold yet no body wants Inter-mountain.
Just my humble option.
My only complaint about Intermountain F units is that the stock headlights “glow” through the thin plastic of the nose. It was easily fixed with some black paint on the inside. It was later fixed by converting to LED. Also note that these were some of the first F units they built. The more recent ones might be different.
I have a number of their F7, F9 units as well as their latest FT series diesels.
Then newer ones are excellent running locomotives and the quality of sound is quite acceptable.
I would recommend the Intermountain F series to anyone interested in a excellent quality EMD F series locomotive.
Check their site as they are always coming up with new roadnames for their locomotives and freight cars.
I have a pair of the CN SD40-2W’s, both with sound. I don’t have much running time on them, but so far, so good. I’d certainly consider more, except I already have way more locos than I’ll ever use on my layout.
Oh, and to get the motor control and sound synchronized, at least on the Tsunami-equipped ones, IMHO you don’t have to rewire anything. Just adjust a few CV’s, that’s what they’re there for. I’d start with this for the SD40-2W’s. Might work for others as well, I just don’t have any to try:
CV 116 - 15
CV 209 - 50
CV 210 - 1
CV 212 - 25
Edit: I just realized that the earlier rewiring reference was WRT matching the “speed-adjusted” DC versions with “non-speed-adjusted” DC locos, and my CV recommendations obviously don’t apply to that situation. But if you want to get your DCC/sound equipped SD40-2W’s running a little better, you may want to try those values.
I am pretty happy with my IM units, I have a couple of GEVO’s, an FP7, & will report on this Fall’s IC&E SD40-2’s!!! As I am excited that they are offered by IM !! The only thing I have not liked is that on the GEVO units the nose Coupler is a Long Shank & I can’t put in a Kaydee SF coupler, as they are only medium shank to my knowledge. Some have mentioned the double resisted ditchlights, but mine may have been corrected, as they look OK in my testing, but I have not really tested them at total darkness.
I will purchase more IM locos, especially the IC&E this fall!!!
I am very happy with the 4 IM ES44AC & DCs I have. They run smoothly, sound great, and have good pull. The detail is outstanding as is the paint.
The ditch lights of the first run of ES44ACs were quite dim. There is a fix you can find online thru a search that is quite easy to perform to significantly brighten them. It is very easy to do. Basically you remove the shell, loosen the LED boards for the ditch lights, and break off/remove an unneeded, extra resistor on that board. Then just replace the board and the shell. Easy. Just be careful with the handrails as they are fragile.
My only gripe is that the handrails are extremely fragile. They dont come loose, but are easy to break if you try to remove them. One rear handrail on arrival was broken out of the box. A DC had the bell and bracket broken off on arrival. Fortunately, IM’s customer service is EXCELLENT, and they quickly got me replacement parts for my broken items.
Again, these locos are among my very favorites. I have been most impressed with IM’s customer support team. By far the best of any manufacturer I have ever contacted. Very responsive, professional, friendly, and helpful. I also have ordered a SD40-2 from their release due out in Sept 2012.
Brad
We bought some Intermountain U18bs when thay came out a couple of years ago - DCC with sound. They run well and sound good; that only complaint we have is they do not pull very well. One of our Atlas GP-7s will pull more cars than a pair of Intermountain U-18s.