Yesterday I bought my first new engine since getting back into the hobby last year. I bought a MTH Railking Chessie GP-9 Diesel Engine w/ Proto-Sound 2.0, I believe numbered 9978. I think I got a pretty good deal on it. It was marked at $199 & was 10% off. The only engine I had prior to this one was the Lionel 4-4-2 starter engine. I must say that this GP-9 is very smooth & almost smoked my wife & I out of the house. So far we are very impressed with it. Can anyone here tell me if this is going to be a reliable engine & last? I’m still pretty new at O gauge. I had HO before.
It should last a L O N G time, no reason not to. Be sure you follow the instructions on oil & grease in the manual that came with it. I’m not sure anyone can put a number on the years it will run but I would think with reasonable care that it will run as long as you want it to. Jon
Congratulations on your new engine. I’m sure you will enjoy it! You should be very satisfied I would be surprised if you have any problems. Just keep it clean and lubricated.
Congratulations on the new engine. You should get good service from the engine. From what I have seen, the quickest way to damage a new engine with electronics is to run it on an old transformer, with their relatively slow acting circuit breakers. The newer transformers (Z4000, new ZW) trip VERY fast if there is a problem, possibly saving the engine.
Those new GP-9s look good. MTH has a new Southern GP-9 that I’m thinking about…
On the circuit breakers…any (even a cheap set) modern transformer will trip fast. If you are running off an old transformer be sure to add circuit breakers or an in line fuse. If and when you want to purchase DCS from MTH you can control the smoke output and access more fun features. For now it is on or off.
Yes, as Jon said above, JT’s will work great & I’ve been using it in my MTH steam engine almost exclusively for a year & a half now. I don’t think it’s possible to clog an MTH smoke unit & I’ve used Lionel smoke fluid in it to start with when I got it. Now there may be another bran I believe someone mentioned made by LGB that you shouldn’t use, but JT’s smoke fluid works great in all my MTH, Lionel & Atlas engines. You just can’t beat all the scents they make, & I use the Frying Bacon in my K-line diner, too !! My basement smells great now !! [(-D][(-D][(-D]
Me too. In fact I use a mixture. For Lionels, I use 2/3 JT’s and 1/3 Lionel. For MTH, 2/3 JT’s and 1/3 MTH. Straight JT’s seems to “burn” up mighty quick.
I am in fact using MTH smoke fluid. I still have some MTH Christmas scent Protosmoke fluid from last year that I used in my steam engine. I have the smoke & sound levels set at what they were when I took it out of the box. Not sure if the smoke is all the way up or not. Like I said, this is my first new one since I got back into the hobby. Whatever it’s set at certainly produces a lot of smoke [:)]. Even though I’m only 29 I still sit there giddy watching it smoke & playing with the horn & bell. Didn’t have that 16 yrs ago when I was doing HO. This sure is a GREAT hobby, isn’t it.
