At the 2nd Annual BAZ BBQ we were treated to a special surprise by Loren Snyder. He had brought down a pre-production sample of the MTL GP-35, and we gave it a workout. This model was painted gold, and as we discovered, the road names that will be released are still a closely guarded secret. The shell is very nicely done, with crisp edges, finely molded details, nice lacy handrails, and lighted dual headlights and number boards. The windows and number boards are glazed with this second Z Scale release from MTL. The walkways had very fine diamond tread around them, and the handrails even have a sagging chain molded in the middle of the ends at the front and back. The grills and vents are nicely molded too. The locomotive has truck mounted couplers which will allow the model to run on tight radius track work, but when I get mine, I plan on cutting off the front coupler and building a snowplow and pilot mounted coupler for appearance. I will leave the rear truck mounted coupler for functionality. The fuel tank looks good, and sits very low. The trucks were molded crisp and sharp, and we were told the trucks have a wheel wiper built in for better electrical pickup. So we can see that it looks really nice but how does it run?
We started with a small 10 car hopper train, removing my NP Mikado , and putting the GP to work. First we ran around the track a couple times to get a feel for the throttle, and much to our satisfaction, it is a slow, smooth, and quiet runner. Setting the locomotive down to approximately 1 volt setting, the locomotive crawled. We let it run at this speed, and the locomotive went around a 4 foot test loop in about 15 minutes. No stalling, just creeping along. We ran the locomotive with 20 car trains for a few hours, letting everyone get a turn at the throttle, then checked the locomotive for dirty wheels and to see if it was hot, and remarkably, it was running cool, and the wheels were still clean. Well we decided to kick it up a notch and see what this baby could really do. We put 40 cars on and throttled up this workhorse to see what would happen. We were pleasantly surprised to see that she could pull all these cars by herself. We added cars till we reached the limit this locomotive could pull without wheel slipping on this layout, which was 47 cars. It should be noted that this track work is all hand laid code 55, and had been sitting in the sun warping all day long, and the turns are 11" radius super elevated a scale 4"on the outside rails, with a balloon curve. I did not take photo's of this, but we did test the MU capabilities with the MTL F7, and the F7 runs a bit faster, but with the GP-35 behind the F7 as the lead unit, the pair ran quite well together. The locomotive ran admirably in our opinions, and will be a welcome addition to any Z Scale layout. We were hoping to get a sneak peek of another new Z Scale project in the works from MTL, but Loren say's they are still keeping it secret. It must be something really good. -Robert
They are saying $200ish now. Will have to wait and see, but they know it will sell, being a captive market and all.
Well, as hard as it is for me to say it, 200 ain't that bad these days. Especially considering there is not much else to compete with it. But if is as good as you say, it will be worth it!
That locomotive has to be one of the most exciting things in Z scale for a while. A good general purpose locomotive such as this will without doubt do a lot to promote Z scale. Those handrails are commendably fine in this scale. If it does sell well, who knows what may follow
Robert, Great report! Can't wait for them to come out! They may be $200 MSRP, but the dealers should have them a little cheaper, I hope. Doug
Robert, being as you own a few AZL locomotives, how did it compare with the AZL locomotives that you own as far as slow speed controll, smoothness and power? Just curious to see how close the manufacturing is between the two.
I like my AZL loco's but I like this one too. It will negotiate tighter radius turns than the AZL will, is a little more affordable, and mass marketing will mean an abundance of them on the market, which will lead to after market shells and details. We ran several AZL locos with it, the SD40-2, the PA1, the FP45, and the SD-45. They all perform about equal, but the AZL's run a little faster for the same voltage, so they may not run well together. We found that puting the fastest loco first was the way to MU this loco, and that meant all the AZL's and the F7 had to be placed in front of the GP35. The SD40-2 had problems with the coupler around turns, and uncoupled a few times.
That should make Z scale enthusiasists really happy! I guess that GP38's and GP40's aren't far behind Harold
It is too early to speculate, but MTL will definitely be releasing the GP35 in a wide range of roadnames. The Pennsylvania is likely to be the first. ATSF is going to happen, though more likely in blue and yellow. Rob Kluz
It is amazing how many different roadnames the GP35s appeared. There are quite a few I would love to have! I would love to see a new roadname every month from MTL! They could go a few years without duplication. Rob Kluz
Hi, all, In case you hadn't seen it, here's a shot of the MT Z scale GP35 from the NMRA National Train Show, July 9, in Cincinnati: (smile)
