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InterMountain Railway Co. HO scale General Electric ES44AC diesel locomotive
I have the model with Soundtraxx Tsunami sound decoder. Let me start by saying that it is a waste of money to get the Soundtraxx model. The model is not baffeled properly and therefore pumps out very low volume sound (volume levels were maxed out). The other problem I noticed with the model was very limited pulling power, I attempted to pull 24 Walther Bethgon coal porter cars with full metal axels and wheels. Wheel slip was monumental, and the engine would come to a dead stop in 28inch radius curves, wheels were still spinning though. This is my first intermountain engine and will most likely be my last, which is a shame because they are the only ones making an ES44 prototype.
i am not saying this to dish any mfg but in my experance mth ho diesels an bli pargon 2 dieselas ac 6000 pull most each one buy it self on straight track can pull app. 35 to forty cas of 40 ft app. 30 50 ft cars ets
I have one unit with the Sountraxx Tsunami sound decoder, and it runs smooth with no spinning or pulling at all. I run it with an SD70ACE MTH, both run together very smooth, pulling is no problem, they run well on 24" radius very fine, and run at slow speeds together very well. I have another one on layaway will pick it up next view days. Runs great on DCC with a 5 amp power supply, for total of 7 amps. Runs well on straight DC as well. Alot better than the Athearn SD70ACE with the Tsunami decoder, far cry from the MTH units.
I have the UP and BNSF models with Tsunami sound. I am highly impressed. They are very nice models with great detail. The Flag on the UP model does seem a tad small, but it seems very close to what UP has on the prototype. To me the flag looks bigger on their ACe, SD70M, and AC4400s so in that regard I believe its very accurate.
It has nice weight to it, and I have had no problems pulling 20 cars up a 2% slope.
As typical for Soundtraxx, the Tsunami’s prime mover volume has to be lowered by about 1/2 to 1/3 otherwise it drowns out some of the other sounds. Horn volume and other sounds are good once the exhaust/prime mover is lowered. Its been very easy to speed match to other locos. The UP model was a snap to consist in DCC to an Athearn RTR. With the BNSF, I adjusted the preset speed table to slow it down in order to match it to a Kato AC4400 that also has a Tsunami in it. That’s just a matter of reprogramming CV29.
I am very happy with this locomotive. Very nice drive, sound, and detail.
I just got the CPR 8705 and i like it a lot. i am wondering if i can reprogram a CV to stop the ditch lights from alternating.
thank you for any help.
i found the info on reprogram CVs to stop the ditch lights from alternating. found @ http://forum.atlasrr.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=63632
Irrespective of whether it looks right the model is far too light and won’t pull the skin of a rice pudding!! Despite the price the thing looks cheap, feels cheap, and since when does any engine stop on a cent, sixpence, dime, etc…?? I’ll NEVER buy any more “Intermountain” products unless they increase the weight substantially!!
Thank you I felt that this was a very nice article. It was very informative. I have been looking to buy one of these locomotives. I have an Athearn SD70ACe and it runs nice. I really like the ES44’s and was wondering what the minimum radius is for it. I have a layout that is a mixture of 18" and 22" radius and wanted to see if it would be suitable. Thank you.
I have the model without sound, and it is a electrical hog. It takes too much power to move it. Also the paint job is faded on the UP unit I have. Overall I won’t buy another intermountain locomotive again, unless they pick up the slack. Kato, MTH
Come on Kato make an ES44 soon in HO!
Iwas going to buy one , but after reading some of these comments i will stick with Proto 2000 and Athearn Genesis.
I am very impressed with the detail, but it took more voltage
to move than other engines I have such as Gennesis and
Broadway Limited. I have the model w/out sound and it runs very smooth. I am pulling 35 cars (all types) with very little effort. It is much better than my last F3 from Intermountain,
which had a lot of grease on the gears and was somewhat noisy!
I had to send both of es44ac units back to Intermountain not once but two times. I was expecting replacement units from the es44dc last shipment recieved from Intermountain, never happened. The units had drive shaft problems from the get go, terrible design to say the least, poor quality control from the factory. If they do not improve the drive lines, maybe they should sell the dyes to Athearn or Kato with possibly a better product outcome. Intermopuntain however issued a credit with my dealer I purchased the units from. i replaced one with a Athearn SD72M, which is a far better locomotive, both weight wise and pulling. I will purchase new units if Intermountain makes improvements with the new release.
GREAT REVIEW!!! I have 3 DCC of these and like you I like the LED lights. I replaced two of the model’s speakers with RailMaster speakers and they are better sounding now.
07/31/2012 1235 hours, I have one of the latest releases from intermountain on hold at my local train store. Ater careful inspection of the unit, upon checking weight of the locomotive and performance. It weighed in heavier then the first run, the sound was better as well, the ditch lights were improved to make them brighte. I will do another review after I get the unit home, and put it through its paces, in a month or so.
08/05/12 I just brought home the latest relaease of the es44ac last week on Wednesday, BNSF 5753, well the unit lighting was fantastic, all lights operated in the manner which they were set up. The unit had some gear noise, the volume on the sound could not go up to CV128-value 225, it was very weak. I returned the unit to my local dealer, and inspected another unit, the sound quality was better, and louder. So we swapped units, now I have 5758, much better sound, no gear noise in this unit either. I will do another review in the near future. The speaker baffle was loose on the first unit, quality control issue from intermountain, as the gear noise was annoying as well.
I just bought one in Ferromex scheme unaware of the brand so far would be so kind to give me some tips to make the most maintenance and decorated