I see the new and revamped 70 tonner from Spectrum is out. It features a single can motor and a DCC/DC decoder. Does anyone have one? Can you tell us how well it works? Did they solve the too low fuel tank problem that popped up in the reworked 44 tonners? [:p]
I had one on order from trainworld, but gave up it took so long. It wasn’t their fault, though. They just didn’t have them yet. I was gonna bash one into something cool in On30.
Walthers has a bunch in stock now, with pictures included on their website. Looks pretty nice, but the trucks look like they came off a $5 battery powered train set. Are those trucks really very realistic?
I don’t know. I wasn’t displeased with the looks of the original 70 tonner. I mean, any model of that engine is better than no model at all. I’m hoping that the new single can motor will improve its reliability.
That’s awful looking.
I have never seen one of these. What was wrong with the older model?
Jim
Believe me they look about as bad as the real trucks looked, I built many a 70 tonner at GE (thats where I work), Those slab sided trucks were crude[B)] I have the SP 5101 running on my layout already, runs better than the two motor one (which I also have), I model mostly GE’s because I work there(figures huh !) [:O]
YUP - that is exactly how the GE 44t and 70t trucks look on the real thing!
Jim
It looks like the first version on the outside–hopefully I can just bolt my custom-painted and modified 70-tonner body onto the new frame, as my CCT #32 just burned out one of its motors…to answer Soo Line Fan’s question, the earlier version had two separate power trucks, each with its own motor. This made the model much harder to wire for DCC, and they had a notorious habit of one motor or the other burning out, leaving you with an unusable model unless you banked up extra motors to replace the burnt-out one. The single-motor 70 tonner is much more reliable and gives good performance, but the power trucks are much sought after by interurban modelers who like to turn them to their own purposes.
To add to jetrock’s response, the 44 tonners had the same problem. When improved with the single motor, they ran somewhat better. Unfortunately, the fuel tank hung too low and tended to snag on grade crossings, bridge track, etc. The overall performance was not that much of an improvement.
I’m hoping that the 70 tonner will be better than all previous attempts with the old style and the 44 tonner’s design.