Did this choo choo come with a sound decoder? And if it did whose? And anyone that experience with this, good or bad, tell about it...... Sent from my Commando
No, the LL release never came with Sound, or even DCC IIRC. It is a beautiful model, but a lousy puller and is difficult, although not impossible, to convert to DCC.
Life-Like 2-8-8-2 with sound was released in 2008 - http://www.spookshow.net/ll2882.html Cheers, -Mark
Thanks Mark!! I doing this bit of research for my bro. He does not know what decoder is in it. It must be the 2000 version because the decoder is red, and the only mfr numbers he sees start with D. He will dig into the tender later and I will have more info then.. Sent from my Commando
There were four releases of this engine. The last two, IIRC, were after Walthers bought Life-Like. The last release (2009) was the most significantly improved. It DID have sound, so did the some of the others, and had traction tires and improved couplers and so on. I think you could buy with or without sound. They used a QSI sound decoder in this unit. And, as to being bad pullers, not true. My 2-8-8-2 has pulled over 50 cars (loaded coal hoppers or 40' freight cars with MT trucks, wheels and couplers) on a flat surface and had no issues. There were two sets of numbers printed on the decoder. Circuit card 2004 QSI 050-0065-00 and also on the sound chip was 4002-0V7-28-0 2-8-8-2 (C) 2009, QSI I hope that helps. It is my understanding that Walthers basically has nothing for these engines anymore. I just recently burned up my decoder in mine. Looking for a replacement now. A LokSound micro was highly recommended and runs about $80 so I will probably go that way. Here is the link if anyone needs one: [FONT=&]http://www.traintekllc.com/ESU-73800-LokSound-Select-Micro-Sound-Decoder/productinfo/ESU-73800/[/FONT] This was really a VERY nice model indeed. Dean
The Life-Like 2-8-8-2 came with OSI Quantum sound DCC decoders. I have 2 and they run great, sound great and look great. In a consist, 2 of these pull a 40 car train up a 2% grade with no problem. The newer sound equipped version has traction tires on one set drivers. The original DC versions did not.
So, without the traction tires, its not a good puller? Can you gen replacement drivers or parts at all? Sent from my Commando
You could check with Walthers, but I seriously doubt it. They are notorious for not keeping very much in the way of parts on hand. Cheers, -Mark
Well he checked last night, its the older version. A digittrax sound decoder was installed by someone and he now has to re solder most of the connections. Plus, replace the speaker. Unless he opts for a new setup. As for traction, we discussed Walthers lack of respect for 'n'. So he will just cut grooves in a pair of drivers. Thanks for all your info folks. Sent from my Commando
Cut shallow grooves in a set of drivers and use BFS (Bull Frog Snot) instead of traction tires for traction as the BFS provides more traction.
I dilute Bullfrog Snot with warm water and then apply, goes on thin and smooth, I also lock traction tires in place the same way, no different to get off if you need to remove it.
There is another way. I know it sounds crazy, but what I have done with my LifeLike Berkshires (excellent running and notoriously poor-pulling) is the following. I tear off a 2"-long strip of Scotch thin double-sided tape (not the foam stuff, but the thin mounting tape that comes in a yellow-and-black dispenser) and put it on a flat plate (a piece of plate glass would be better, but any flat, smooth surface will work for this). Then I use a steel straightedge and a hobby knife with a new #11 blade to slice off a 1mm-wide strip of the tape. I lift that strip up off the plate, turn my loco over, apply power at the slowest possible speed, and feed the 1mm strip of double-sided tape around one of the driver sets, cutting it off with the very tip of the #11 blade when it fully wraps around the driver. Repeat for the driver on the other side. Voila. Instant traction tire. No, the adhesive doesn't stick to the rails and mess things up - instead, what happens is that after a few minutes of running, the adhesive on the tape picks up all sorts of dust and dirt from the rails, which simply makes traction even better. It's not the adhesive that provides the traction, it's the vinyl substrate of the tape, so you don't have to worry about the adhesive wearing off or whatever. I've done this on the #3 driver set on my Berks, with the result that they go from pulling about 6 cars and a caboose on level track to 30+. And the tape lasts a long time. Eventually it wears out and you have to replace it, but my experience has been that I get at least 20 hours of run time, and replacing the tape takes about five minutes once you get the technique right. I've also used the "tape traction tire" technique on other steamers, with equally impressive results - better results, in fact, than Bullfrog Snot, and easier to apply (for me, at least). You might want to at least try this technique before going to the trouble of cutting grooves in a driver set. You might find the results to your liking. John C.
I have used this double sided tape technique for a few years after learning from John and I can pull 20+ cars up a oval helix with an 18 " radius and 16 " radius semicircles separated by 6 ft straights with a 1.4% grade with the same Lifelike Berkshires. It works great and is very easy to apply. Jack S - "be careful how you pronounce this."
I have also had good luck with this. Possible caution on cutting a groove for a tire on these locos- I seem to remember (years ago on the Atlas forum) it was found that the tires were VERY thin. Unless the grooves were cut quite carefully (and shallow), the tires were sometimes cut in half... And as mentioned, it isn't/wasn't easy (possible?) to get spare parts out of Walthers for them.
This may sound strange, but I have a different challenge. I'd like to use the mallet mechanism under Jason's Bull Moose shell in helper/pusher service and it can't have too much pusher power to avoid derailments. Ideally, if it can push 8-10 cars ahead of itself up a 2% grade, I'd be satisfied. So I'm thinking I should look for one of the original, pre-traction tire engines? Just how poorly do they pull, and are they otherwise good and quiet runners? Thanks, OttoK.
Those first run ones run just as good as the second run ones (they just aren't DCC-Ready and don't pull as much). 8-10 cars up a 2% grade would really be pushing it. You might be able to get away with 8 small/light cars, but not much more than that. Cheers, -Mark
