3rd Rail E7???

Chris,

I meant to post back saying thanks, I took your advice.

I see on the 3rd Rail site the second run should arrive Oct 25th, can't wait to see it in Seaboard Mint Green

My CC was charged, that must mean the E7s are on their way!!!

Got my UPS tracking number today.

Neal Jeter

I haven't seen a tracking number yet, maybe tomorrow.

Neal, what roadname did you get, I got Seaboard Air Line?

I've got my tracking number.  My B&M E-7 should be on my doorstep before the end of the week.

Just got mine too

Has anyone got one of the JD's Trains Texas Special E7s 3rd Rail has made as part of this run?

Bob:

I got the Southern Railway E-7.  Tracking number shows it should be here Monday.

Neal Jeter

Neal,

Good to hear .

Mine said Tuesday, election day   I'll vote early so I can be home when the truck pulls up.  Yesterday I was upstairs running my newly upgrade RailKing 2-8-0 from Locosounds to PS2 when I peeked out the window to see the UPS truck outside.  By the time I got down there he'd already gone and left a note on the door saying he'd try again Thursday.  It was an insulin pump my wife's getting.  I didn't hear him knock but it may have been because the 2-8-0 was so loud (I was in the process of changing all the volumes).

Looking at the E7, it appears the 3-rail models have 4 smoke ports, is that 4 smoke units or 1 with piping to the 4 ports?

I'll have to run it in conventional until I can get a TMCC Base or possibly the new Base1L they've been talking about.

My PRR units in single and five stripe tuscan arrived today!  Overall I am very pleased with the final product.  One or two minor issues that I can correct such as the trust plate being crooked on one of the four.  However, looking at these up close I am ecstatic with them.  They are all in two rail for running at home.  I'll have to post some pictures later this evening.   

Bob,

I understand from correspondence with Scott Mann that it's one smoke unit with metal piping to the ports/stacks. That's what was in the first run of Sunset E7s. 

Yes, there is one smoke unit ported to all the exhausts on the three rail version.  Still haven't had a chance to photograph mine yet!

Good to hear.  Is there anything on the 2nd run that wasn't on the 1st run or any improvements that weren't on the 1st run?

Now if I can get Scott to do a Seaboard all Budd passenger train I'll be all set (might take a couple of years to save the $$$, but it would be worth it).

My Southern E7 scheduled for Tuesday gulp, now late "Wednesday"arrival.

Got some photos last night on what passes for a layout - i.e. static display for now!

Gee, I'm jealous. I haven't even gotten a shipping notice/tracking number for the C&O version I ordered. CC has been charged though.

Ken

I believe most went out on Friday to UPS.  Phoenix is a few less days than east coast destinations.  Can't wait to see pictures of the other paint schemes.

We held off shipping orders back east until after the storm subsided. Most direct orders have now shipped out. Some dealer shipments are still in the process.

Most reports so far are good. Let us know if you need something. Email me at: support@3rdrail.com

I am here at the factory working on the 4-4-2 / 10-6 Sleepers and Columbian Coaches. Pictures coming in 1 or 2 days.

FL9 Painting and Lettering, HO CUT P1 and NYC P2 Electric Inspection, HO Z8 Sample Testing, N&W TE-1 Design meeting, Modernized Heavyweight Coach Corrections.

All is going well and should be done soon.

C&NW H1  January / February Delivery

N&W TE-1 Jawn Henry and Aux Tender  February

PRR L-1 - March

NYC T-3 Electric April

CP Mikado May

FP7 A Unit and F7 B Unit Design - June

Putting SP Lark and Second Set of Columbian into Production next year. March - June

SP AC9 - July

Erie S3/S4 Berkshire - Fall 2013

The rest will come in time based on reservations.

Regards,

Scott Mann

Jonathan

That some great looking stuff.

thanks for the pictures

OK, why does the single strip seem to have a brighter tuscan than the 5 striper?

Painted with a different batch?  Those are the best looking EMD noses I have seen on a model.

The colors are the same.  Looking at the photos, I think it is simply the lighting and exposure variations.  I had the camera in aperture priority for simplicity and some exposures came out a little lighter than others.  Plus the lighting in that area is not very uniform.  

Wow, those Pennsy units sure look nice!    Scott did a great job once again.

Hope no one post any pics of the B&O units, as I tapped out with the T-3 engine and putting the Columbian cars on reserve I ran out of train funds!

Jim

ALRIGHT!!!

Here's SAL E7 3029:

The Mint Green body with Dark Green roof and rear end with Red striping is spot on (or at least matching the samples I sent in).

The center rollers are tapered, something I haven't seen on any other models and a seemingly good design (shouldn't pick up any corners of switches or other track).

Before I take it for a spin, where the heck is the smoke unit ON/OFF switch???

The manual (page 2) says it's "under the left side rear frame".  All I see back there are the PROG/RUN, CONV/OFF/TMCC switches, and the VOLUME pot.

Next query...the manual (page 2) also says "designed to work with Lionel ZW or equivalent transformers (NOT MTH Z750 or Z1000 Transformers)."

Didn't know this , I only have a Z750 (controller not hooked in), hooked up to my TIU.  I was figuring it would run at least conventionally by running thru VAR1.  What's the reason for not being able to use my configuration???

Until I get some answers I will not crank 'er up.

She's a pretty engine alright, heavy and waiting to rumble down the rails.

And a few more:

About the only thing that's missing is the angle-step on the fireman's side in front of the cab door:

Stunning!

Bob - Glad you are pleased!  Thanks for the help on this one!    The final product really turned out excellent.

Dave,

They're on there, just don't stick out quite as much as the real thing.  Maybe I can pull them out a bit.

I emailed Scott Mann about the questions I had so we'll see what goes.

Jonathan,

They got the paint PERFECT , thank you for all you did

I answered one of my questions.

The Smoke ON/OFF switch is the one labeled CONV/OFF/TMCC (just had to keep reading the manual ).

Still not sure why the manual says use ONLY a ZW.

That is a beautiful unit.  The detailing is excellent.

Bob,

Could the reason why they are designed to work with the ZW or equivalent transformers have something to do with the Sine Wave - the aforementioned putting out 'chopped sine wave' - only a hunch at this stage.

I'm still waiting on my Boston & Maine E7 to arrive via my cousin and I was planning on operating it using Legacy/TMCC powered by a 180 Power House.

Roy

Roy,

Could be, where do I find the sine wave differences are between my Z750 and a ZW, CW80, or another Lionel transformer?

Sunset Southern EMD E7 arrived last night, only problem it is marked on outer carton as 2-rail. My order was for 3-rail. Awaiting word from Sunset regarding return process. 

Bob, 

The information about Sine wave is on one of Lionels Instructional Videos, however, I have just watched it again and the MTH Z750 is mentioned as one of those transformers 'from the competition' that does put out a chopped sine wave - so that blows my theory.

Have you contacted Scott Mann to ask if he could give a more in depth reason ?

Roy

Roy,

I sent Scott an email last night, I'm sure I'll hear something soon.

Anybody know this...if I run the engine Conventionally will there be any sounds?  I'm thinking not, but don't have enough info to know any better at this point.  here's what 3rd Rail said about the engines:

• (3 Rail) Electric RR Cruise in 3 Rail.
• (3 Rail) TMCC/ E7 Railsounds 4.0
• (3 Rail) Compatible with Legacy, DCS, TMCC, Conventional Control
• (3 Rail) TURBO SMOKE

I currently have the ERR Cruise Commander in my WBB E7 and there are no sounds (I have a MRC AC Sounder to do that).  Does Railsounds 4.0 work only if TMCC is applied, or do you get sounds in conventional mode as well?

UPDATE!!!

OK, so I re-read the manual , in conventional you are suppose to get sounds.

As soon as I hear from Scott I hope I can crank this thing up and see what it can do.

Received my C&O E-7 today.

A nice detail is the marker lights are white, not green as Lionel and MTH does markers.

The Mars light in the upper headlight bezel is simply a flashing bluish white LED. It would look better if it was yellowish white like the headlight.

Engine ran great with one problem however. The mounting of the pilot is such that the electrocoupler rides on the bottom of the pilot opening. This raises the coupler up fairly high so it doesn't line up with rolling stock couplers plus it drags on the pilot as the engine turns.  To get the coupler to clear properly I had to add 1/16" worth of spacers between the frame and the pilot. The picture below shows the pilot with the spacers installed. I plan to install the pilot with the closed coupler door so this isn't an issue for me.

 Cosmetically the paint work is pretty good. I've painted this scheme on HO models and its pretty tough to do with the curves that have to be masked on the nose and that narrow yellow stripe on the side. The yellow is kind of painted thick ,but it was sprayed over the blue so it takes a lot of yellow to cover that dark blue.

A few nits to pick on the paint scheme:

The script Chesapeake and Ohio font is a little off. It should be leaned over but a little bit more vertical than used on the model.

Also the trucks, fuel/water tanks, lower skirts and steps should be painted blue.

The end is painted black but as far as I've been able to determine the back on C&O E-7's, E-8's and FP-7's should be blue with the yellow and gray stripes wrapping around to the door. Not to say this is wrong as I've never seen a picture of the back of this particular unit in this scheme. Since its at least the third paint scheme applied to the ex-PM E-7's it could have been painted black. When 3RD Rail does the C&O FP-7's this area needs to be painted blue with the stripes wrapping around as there are plenty of pictures showing them that way.

An odd thing is the choice of the number. According to info published by the C&O Historical Society, this engine was originally PM 102. It was changed to C&O 4522 in 1964 and then changed to 1425 in 1965 when it was loaned to the B&O and needed to fit in with the numbers of the B&O E-7's. Therefore with this number it ran on the B&O for a couple of years before it was scrapped.The 3RD Rail advertisement for this engine shows the number as 4523. I wonder why 3RD Rail changed the number?

Still a very nice engine.

Ken

Yes.  Nicest E-7 I have ever seen as a model.  Time to go to Kadees - that coupler kills it.  Or go scale dummy and don't use the E-7 for complicatd switching problems.

Well,

Couldn't wait any longer so I fired her up using DCS under conventional control.  I figured if I didn't screw up (by applying full power) no more than 12-14 volts would get to the electronics

NO SOUNDS   I had turned the volume pot clockwise like the manual said.  I put it up for a while, thinking I may have smoked something.  As it turned out, the volume pot on my unit must be wired backwards.  I turned it counter-clockwise and now it will blow me out of the room

Railsounds 4 is very nice and with that HUGE speaker will make a lot of sound.

While I was at it I also removed the electro-couplers and put the closed pilot in place.

I also found that I could pull the nose handrails out so they would stick out more like the prototype (see previous photo).

Without sounds the motor/belt combo does make a tiny whirring noise, but with a small bit of diesel sound cranked in the whirring is drowned out.  IMO the noise is not bothersome.  The engine has a nice, slow bottom speed, starts moving at 6 volts on the handheld unit.

I'm waiting for Jonathan Peiffer to send me a photo of the rear Kadee mounting bracket on his 2-rail E7 so I can try ordering one from 3rd Rail.

After reading the warning about the smoke unit, I'm almost to the point of pulling it out.  I know I'll never use it anyway and that'll open up some space inside the unit.

How's everyone liking theirs so far???

I haven't seen the underside of a 3 rail one yet, but here are some photos of the 2 rail coupler configuration.  Note on the rear how the coupler is directly mounted to the tether port between units with no shims.  The front coupler is mounted directly on a box attached to the frame.  The pictures are not my finest, but I hope the mounting is clearly displayed!