hi to any owners of proto H10-44 w/sound. i am going to purchase one shortly, and i was wondering just how good the sound quality is with regards to copying the sound of the F-M opposed piston engine. from what i’ve heard, that was kind of a quiet? engine, therefore used in subs in WW11. [not that few of us have actually heard this prime mover in real life]. any opinions? thanks, michael r.
your post brought back some memories. back in the 60’s i worked in E ST Louis on the NYC and the TRRA had some of those old FM yard engines. they were really quite, as a matter of fact one could sneak up on you if you were not paying attention. they came into our yard quite often with interchange cars.
if the hogger widened out on the throttle, then the old FM would just hum a little louder in a slightly different pitch.
one other thing that was common to the TRRA’s alcos and occasional FM’s was their distinctive idle. they would sit there with the rpm’s slowly dropping off until they almost stalled and then the governor would catch up and the engine would rev up with a great shudder, pop off the air reservoir and then slowly drop back toward sleepy land. when the governor kicked in, it was as if someone had booted a bear in his behind to wake him up. a few FM’s and all ALCO’s had this quirk.
if you ever heard an EMD behave like that, then it was about due for the shop.
i would suggest you try to find a video on YOUTUBE and learn just how these engines sounded if you can.
grizlump
Michael,
While I can’t tell you how accurate the sound of the Proto 2000 H10-44 is to the prototype, I can tell you that the overall sound volume (even at the maximum CV value of “128”) is quieter than my other QSI decoders.
Tom
Go to youtube.com search proto h10 and you will find at least 2 vidios to watch. I have one and it sounds pretty much like the ones on youtube. I enjoy it but not much room in it for the speaker. Only switcher i have with sound. Runs good.
Bob
thanks bob, great tip. there is a slew of sound video’s on youtube. kind of quiet-reminds me more of a sewing machine on steroids! anyway, i do like it, will buy. regards, mike.