Anyone regularly run the Coors Silver Bullet train?

Bought mine when first released by MTH. Run it a few times a year, never any issues, runs great. Certainly a crowd pleaser, folks like the music and the doors opening with simulated steam escaping.

   Bill T.

When I first got my set, I had to make some clearance modifications to the layout in order to run it. From that point on, until I sold the set, it was on my layout 100% of the time. A very fun set but make sure you check those clearances. 

Ran mine so much I had to replace traction tires.  Love the smoke /frozen air effect when operating the cars.  Its especially great when football starts.

I wish there were more fantasy trains made.

When they first came out, I made a custom edited 30 second "Love Train" sound bite in the custom sound file to play when the train was running.  It got a lot of comments.

Mine resides permanently on a suspended track in the train room. Big hit with visitors of all ages. For the first few years I had cotton batting on chicken wire frame "cloud tunnels" covering the turns, but after a few years between forced hot air heat and train smoke the clouds started to get dingy. Rather than replace the batting, I exposed the entire loop.

It's a bit wider than many consists, so you will want to make sure you have clearance for it.  As others say, it's a real hit when I run it.

I am waiting for the Model Especial.  

Never was a fan of it until i saw it at a friends house and it grew on me. I dont care much for the model but it is so entertaining to run it, especially with the cars. I hope they make another run of it sometime. 

Yes I take it to shows and it is a big hit. While I liked the opening doors and smoke I have not used this for a long time as the circuit board went on the train. I just have it wired from the track power pickup rollers and wheels direct to the motor and run with a DC power pack. I have the center rail pickup rolls on the beer cars tied up so they will not drag. This is a popular train. I also ran it at a wedding next to the bar. Have to put it on a special track to clear.

I am really surprised that they have not run it again.  I think it would sell even better now than the first time.  There are so many people now into fantasy trains.  I know I'm in for one.  Plus they could take the same molding and make an Area 51/Alien theme or other futuristic train.

kj356 posted:

Yes I take it to shows and it is a big hit. While I liked the opening doors and smoke I have not used this for a long time as the circuit board went on the train. I just have it wired from the track power pickup rollers and wheels direct to the motor and run with a DC power pack. I have the center rail pickup rolls on the beer cars tied up so they will not drag. This is a popular train. I also ran it at a wedding next to the bar. Have to put it on a special track to clear.

You can still get the board, but it's somewhat expensive as it's the special FLASH board.  I don't know if they've come up with a PS32 board that will replace it yet, I think they still look to use refurbished PS/2 FLASH boards.

towdog posted:

I am really surprised that they have not run it again.  I think it would sell even better now than the first time.  There are so many people now into fantasy trains.  I know I'm in for one.  Plus they could take the same molding and make an Area 51/Alien theme or other futuristic train.

Many still around at dealers retail +

Still its the bomb

The most expensive part is the tail car.  It was a separate purchase item, and not nearly as many of those were made as the actual trains.  I hunted for my tail car for several years before I found one at Allentown.

My only current complaint is all the cars have blue lights when the doors open, for some reason the tail car has white lights.  Next time the train gets unpacked, it's going to get blue lights to match all the other cars.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

The most expensive part is the tail car.  It was a separate purchase item, and not nearly as many of those were made as the actual trains.  I hunted for my tail car for several years before I found one at Allentown.

My only current complaint is all the cars have blue lights when the doors open, for some reason the tail car has white lights.  Next time the train gets unpacked, it's going to get blue lights to match all the other cars.

I actually have that tail car as well.  May I ask what the going price is?  Thanks, BigRail

Hard to say, they're all over the map.  It's doubtful you'll find one for much less than $200 nowadays.

Appreciate the info.  Never even gave it a second thought when I bought it.  I just ordered it to kind of finish the set. Interesting what goes up in price nowadays.  

Hello BigRail,

Have you run your MTH Coors Silver Bullet set yet?  If so, what is your opinion about the set?  I am sure that if you have run the set,  you have noticed the extra clearance needed that other OGR Forum members have mentioned.  If you have not run the set, take it nice and slow around your layout the first couple of times to identify the scenery that will inevitably get in the way of the rather large footprint/width of the engine. 

Because of its unique appearance and operating functions, it is my favorite set to run for the public on the Paradise and Pacific RR layout and on the modules of the other train clubs that I belong to in the Valley of the Sun.  I also have a routine that when the reefer doors open, I tell the people watching that only those over twenty-one can reach in and grab a beer.

I do have a question for you that ties in with a question that I asked the OGR Forum at the beginning of this month (4-3-18).  Does your engine have two sets of steps at the rear?  I ask because the engine from the first set I own had two sets of steps at the rear--both became detached and lost--and the engine from the second set I own, which is new, never had the two sets of rear steps.  I did receive three replies from members:  the first posting a photo showing no steps, the second stating that his engine had two sets of steps, and the third posting a photo clearly showing the two sets of rear steps.  My theory is that the first production of engines had steps and the later production of engines did not have steps; just an assumption of mine based on when I purchased the sets.  I would like to note that the owner's manual does show steps; but because of how the rear coupler is positioned/turned, it appears to show only one set of steps when in fact there are two. 

I am an operator and I can also be a rivet counting collector.

Janet Mattern (TCA and LCCA member)

Just curious Janet, since this is a totally fantasy locomotive, why does it matter what kind of steps it has?  There's no prototype to get an accurate rivet count from, so the whole issue would seem somewhat moot!

I have not run it yet.  I am planning on running it soon as I want to do some themed runs on my layout. I have five main lines so I want to do a beer theme run on all five lines.  The problem is removing what is on the layout and putting it somewhere.  I don't know how some of the operators do it so often.  I see people swapping out trains and showing off their newest trains on their layouts but I have no idea how they get them off and out of the way so quick.  Maybe I need more shelves or something but changing out trains is a bit of an ordeal.  Anyway, I will get to it soon.  I just purchased a DCS system at York so I can enjoy all the features of my MTH trains.  Have to get that going to.  So much to do and so little time. BigRail

Hello gunrunnerjohn.  It was not so much rivet counting on what is a fantasy engine, but why some engines had steps and other engines did not...just curious.  My guess is that either MTH ran out of that little detail piece later in production or, as the steps are prone to breaking off during normal handling, they had too many requests for replacements so they decided not to add the steps.

Hello BigRail.  You will have a blast running the set, so get it out and have some fun.  When you do manage to pull the set from storage, please let me know whether you have steps or not...again, just curious.

Thank you both for responding.

Janet

Janet, here's the only two shots of mine that I have available, it's buried in my box mountain at my new house waiting for a layout to run on.  I'm not sure where the steps would be, so I don't know if they would show in these shots.

Janet,

I did not realize that some of these came without steps.  I bought mine about two years ago...it has the steps.  When I was customizing my set, I noticed that that piece seemed VERY fragile.  That’s why I usually keep the foam block between the steps.

For those of you that have this set, how wide is the engine? Would someone please measure and post it?

Thank you!

Chris

LVHR

it is just a tad over the width of fastrack

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

You can still get the board, but it's somewhat expensive as it's the special FLASH board.  I don't know if they've come up with a PS32 board that will replace it yet, I think they still look to use refurbished PS/2 FLASH boards.

Hey GRJ - any idea where we can find these special FLASH boards for the silver bullet set?  CAn't seem to find it on the MTH website.

Thanks.

Well, there is a chain file for the PS32 board set that is supposed to work with the Silver Bullet engine.  However, right now MTH doesn't have any PS32 boards, so until they come back in, that option is out.

I'd really like to see one running. Can someone post a video?

Thanks

Lionelski - I also think it would be neat to see this set and to HEAR Chuck Sartor's 'Love Train' set. (lol)

@Lionelski posted:

I'd really like to see one running. Can someone post a video?

Thanks

The sound recording of the O"Jay's " Love Train" That I made in a custom file was lost when I upgraded the TIU several years ago. It worked out really well. I edited together sound bites from the song and put it in a custom file on the DCS set.

Unless you remember the Coors commercial from 10+ years watching an NFL game, People don't make the connection with the tune and the train anymore.

When the set was first released, we use to joke about the onboard music, that it was recorded from MTH's house band!

And Mike on the Glockenspiel!

Thanks much for posting the video Gunrunnerjohn.  I never saw one in action before.

What a cool set. The musical sounds would drive me to drink , but, maybe that is the point!

Have fun.

Exactly the object of the music, to drive you to drink!   It's a head-turner with you run it, they did hit a home run with that one.  You have to have a few fun sets with all the big iron scale models.

Here are the steps. I own three sets: this one that came with the steps glued to the engine. The second set has no steps. The third set, I think I found the steps somewhere in the box, but I don't remember.

Like Janet, I wonder why I have the steps but not many engine seem to have them.

They're probably not there because they are so fragile that they quickly get broken.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Exactly the object of the music, to drive you to drink!   It's a head-turner with you run it, they did hit a home run with that one.  You have to have a few fun sets with all the big iron scale models.

GRJ - I would also like to thank you for your video - it was excellent!  That said, I must confess when I began reading the last sentence of your quote above initially I started to laugh because of the words "You have to have a few" and I thought you were perhaps going to say something pertaining to one's alcoholic intake before running the set. (lol) 

@PH1975 posted:

GRJ - I would also like to thank you for your video - it was excellent!  That said, I must confess when I began reading the last sentence of your quote above initially I started to laugh because of the words "You have to have a few" and I thought you were perhaps going to say something pertaining to one's alcoholic intake before running the set. (lol)

Dual purpose comment.

@Michigan & Ohio Valley Lines posted:

Janet,

I did not realize that some of these came without steps.  I bought mine about two years ago...it has the steps.  When I was customizing my set, I noticed that that piece seemed VERY fragile.  That’s why I usually keep the foam block between the steps.

if i find the silver bullet this is exactly what i want to turn it into an area 51 or hotwheels train