Walther’s Mainline will be releasing it’s version of the SD70ACe soon (eta June 2015). The price for the DCC version is quite good. I saw one retailer offer advance sales at $129 each when 2 or more are ordered. Are there any real photographs of these? I can appreciate higher quality scale models; yet have some Bachman products, for example, running alongside Athearn Genesis products…close up examination does show the quality difference. The price of these new Walthers locos leads me to wonder if maybe I should take a chance and order a couple of these. A real photo would be most helpful in my decision. Walthers does offer a preproduction undecorated photo…but I can’t tell much from that as to whether the product would have a toylike look. Thanks in advance for feedback from the forum. 123mike
I can’t speak to the quality one way or the other. But in the May Walther’s Flyer that arrived a couple days ago the standard DC version is listed as $129.99, and the DCC version is $199.98. So I don’t believe that the $129.99 price you saw was for the DCC version, if that’s what you are thinking.
The Walther’s ad says that it has the same drive as the WalthersProto units. The DCC decoder is supposedly from Soundtraxx.
If you have a concern about the detailing, comparing Bachmann against the Athearn Genesis, I would expect that you would have the same concern comparing the Mainline unit against the Genesis.
Unless some miracle has occurred with the cost of manufacture, which is always a possibility.
IIRC, the internals are the same mechanism as a P2K model, only less detail on the shell.
Maxman, Walthers is showing full retail prices. $199.98 for DCC and $129.98 for DC versions of this new Walthers Mainline SD70ACe. Hobby shop retailers always offer discounts below full retail. Advertised preorder prices with hobby shops are noted to be $129.98 to $149.98 each for the DCC version. The allure to this is that the shell body rides atop Proto quality mechanicals down below. Could be a good econo way to increase the size of one’s locomotive fleet… just hope these locomotives don’t look like toys…A photo of the real product in any of the road liveries would be most helpful to the cautious shopper. 123mike
If it runs well and looks correct, you can always add the grab irons and details that are not on the unit. It probably will run better then the Genesis Heritage models I purchased, but they are detailed very well and look nice.
CZ
I have no use for this loco on my soon to be home switching layout,but club is another story.I will not judge this loco till I can see it up close and personal.If I like what I see I will buy it ,if not I will pass on it but I will not trash it because some little thing that you can’t see at track speed is to big ,or 2mm to the left of where it should be or is not there at all.
Hope they will offer the details and grabs.
I’m of the opinion that rivet counters lose touch with what makes an operational hobby fun. To that end, I have a few mainline engines and love them. They run quite well. I wouldn’t be concerned. For $129 they’re a steal - but only if you go in not expecting a $350 quality product!
I agree. I own a great looking Mailine RS2 and a EMD SW1. They are both nice locomotives at a very reasonable price.
I surely agree that the operational elements of our hobby should bring ‘fun’ to the hobbyist… I got started in the hobby about 18 mos ago with no more background than a memory of a Lionel train and a circle of track . It’s a memory shared with many other baby boomers. The memories continued with HO train sets my children received from Santa.
With Walthers’ approved hobby shops offering advance reservations of this new Mainline locomotive, I think I was of the opinion that the stock would run out. I don’t think that’s going to be the case now. I suspect we will be able to actually see this product on the shelf (or surely via You Tube reviews) and it will be a working-solid-reasonably accurate model. I got started with a Bachman DCC train set and EZ track. Although I advanced to more sophisticated products, the Bachman products introduced me to the hobby.
I may jump in and buy a couple of the Walthers Main Line SD70ACe’s. Two locos for the price of one Broadway Limited loco seems to grab me! 123mike
Working ditchlights, so a winner for me.
It’s not that hard to add on grabs yourself, and for that price it’s not bad.
the fact it was an SD70ACe got my attention. My draw dropped when I saw the price point. I didn’t get to pre order so I will have to scrounge the hobby shops this summer to get a few [CN] units. Walthers released the SW1 not too long ago, maybe this is a sign they are getting back into lower priced stuff.
I personally don’t care for the super detialed stuff, but I can appreciate the time and work that goes into such things. I hope Walthers adds more locomotives to the series. A Mainline series GP30 or MP15AC would be nice.
I just noticed on the Walthers product page that the expected date got pushed back to September. And there I was thinking that I might get some summer fun out of it… [(-D]