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I wrote a review for S-Gaugian and it was in the May/June issue 2014. The short of it is the engine is great. Much better in Legacy usage that conventional traisformer. Most of the features can only be used if you have TMCC or Legacy. Now, individual engines can vary in performance. That is just the name of the game. I have 2 and one is a little better that the other. I am still happy with performance.
I use Flyer track and the engine can pull 18 cars. Any more than that and the weight of the consist will cause the cars to derail at the curve.
Swafford, I have two UP ES44AC O gauge. Great slow speed, highball, sounds are
SUPER!! I have MU the pair and I think they would pull the house off its fondation
I have seen some video's on you tube, you might want to watch to see and here
them run! Hope that helps.
The ES44AC engines are as nicely detailed as the SD70ACe models Lionel originally produced, although they do lack the grab irons on the top of the front plow, which do appear on the SD70ACe engines. All ES44AC engines are based on the Norfolk Southern bodies with the headlights above the cab windows. (This annoyed me enough on the two BNSF models I have that I used GOOP non-permanent adhesive to attach a twin sealed headlight fixture from B.T.S. to the nose indentation and added MV lenses. The headlights are non-functional but do make the locomotive more realistic despite the appearance of functional headlights above.)
I replaced the couplers with Kadee couplers, so I can't comment on the action of the electro-couplers. Slow speed response is as good as that of the SD70ACe engines, and the revised wheel arrangement means that there are no electrical contact losses and stalling crossing American Models switches. The horn sound of the first Norfolk Southern ES44AC engines is slightly different from the later BNSF horns, but the engine sounds are identical and differ greatly from the EMD SD70ACe models, as they should. All of these locomotives operate as expected under Legacy control. Consists are easy to set up and operate in the Legacy mode.
DC operation, however, is a mixed bag. Like the Y-3, the engines are a bit quirky when operating under DC. Things are usually fine, but sometimes the engines simply sit idle even when the voltage is raised to 10V. This happens to the SD70ACe locomotives, too; but I find they respond more quickly and consistently to DC current than the ES44AC versions. All seem to respond more reliably to the reverse direction than to the forward direction for some reason. When running a consist with DC current, differences in response and speed are obvious because the pivoting pilots might be moving right or left as a trailing engine runs slightly faster than the leader. In general the locomotives even out speed differences; but in the Legacy mode I do not see the differences in speed pushing or pulling the pilots that I do when operating in DC.
Engine sounds respond very quickly to changes in speed from the Legacy Cab unit, but under DC power the engine sound lags seconds behind the control changes. This can result in the engine sound increasing in RPM even after the locomotive has actually stopped. It's a slight annoyance, but the ability to run either Legacy with its finer control or DC is a big plus in my opinion. Overall I do not think there is a substantial difference in operation between the SD70ACe and the ES44AC locomotives except for the better wheel arrangement for the latter. I'm happy with both, now that I put the correct nose on the BNSF engines.
Good Day Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for the reviews!
Regards,
Frank
My Lionel AF LV ES44c is the only TMCC or Legacy engine that I have not had to do anything to in order for it to work 100% as it ought to and/or to my satisfaction. Truly out-of-the box RTR and so far it has stayed that way. That's from running it with a Legacy Command system. I can not speak to it in terms under AC, DC, or with DCC although someday for grins I should try it with my DCC loop.
Just received my es44ac N & W dummy unit from Charlie Ro (cannot afford the power unit) and I think the detail is great. I plan to run it with a Chessie SD and GP. Got this at a great sale price of 80.00. Great deal, Charlie has closeout prices on many new AF.
A topic search yields, voila!
https://ogrforum.com/t...34#25363724997249834
Bob
Let me say that I am very pleased with my new ES44C's from the 2014 catalog. This month I purchased the FERROMEX, CN and the UP and am very impressed on the detail (beautiful colors) and functions. I recently put these three (3) in a consist (LASHUP) and pulled seventy six (76) coal cars (MTH premier) with no problems whatsoever. The horn sound is sweet in the consist (LASHUP) also. I was so impressed that I pre-ordered the two (2) Norfolk Southern ES44AC from the 2015 catalog.
I did not try the smoke units but I will this fall!!!!
PS The engineer's voice has to be our own Rich Melvin. Very nice sounds.
THANKS LIONEL
I have the PRR version, it is a fantastic running engine, smoke feature works well. Mine is currently pulling 10 American Models Budd passenger cars around curves and up and down grades as steep as 2.4% with no visible changes in speed. I am running it only with Legacy.
Would be nice to see a video review or have some objective data to go by...
What is the minimum and maximum speeds? How much power do they draw? How loud is the sound system? Are the sounds accurate? What is the total drawbar pull? How much do they weigh? Etc...
That's the kind of information that will help people understand whether or not they would be interested.
Jonathan: You are asking someone to do several hours work and also have the equipment to do it. I haven't heard anyone complaining about the ES44's operation. Isn't that really good information.
Frank, if you want info on the die-cast version I can give you tons of feedback on those, the plastic version I cannot
Frank, this is about the S Gauge Lionel American Flyer engines. There were no die-cast versions.
Roundhouse Bill posted:Jonathan: You are asking someone to do several hours work and also have the equipment to do it. I haven't heard anyone complaining about the ES44's operation. Isn't that really good information.
No Bill, it actually isn't. I don't mean that to be difficult, but there is a reason that magazines and video reviewers include this type of information.... It removes any ambiguity from subject opinions and replaces it with facts. I can guarantee that you and I have very different definitions of what "good" is. If the facts are provided then everyone can make their own evaluation. It's a long standing practice, not something I invented. There are guys on Youtube making a nice income doing just that. Unfortunately, non of them care about S.
Jonathan, I wrote the review of the Flyonel ES44 for the S Gaugian Magazine in the May/June 2014 issue. None of what you were asking below was included.
"What is the minimum and maximum speeds? How much power do they draw? How loud is the sound system? Are the sounds accurate? What is the total drawbar pull? How much do they weigh? Etc... "
The reason is some of this can't be calibrated without specific equipment like power draw and drawbar pull. Reviews in Classic Toy Trains can include this because people get paid to write and have the equipment. Writers for the S Gaugian are not paid and not likely to have this equipment.
I think we are both a little difficult on this topic. In any case good luck getting the information you are asking for.
richabr posted:There are guys on Youtube making a nice income doing just that. Unfortunately, non of them care about S.
Given the glacial release of new S products and they'd have to deal with AC, DC, DCC, Legacy/TMCC, DCS, HiRail and/or Scale, is it any wonder? Plus, the ES44 is now a 2 year old product with nothing similar visible on the horizon. The online guys like to review the latest and greatest.
Frankly, when I read the product reviews in Model Railroader, I look for: Does it capture the prototype reasonably? How does it respond to a throttle? Does it run smoothly?
I don't particularly care if it will travel 1/4" in a week or not. The nitty-gritty details of smph and setting CV's are of little interest to me. I only go into the CV's if I absolutely have to.
Rusty
Here you go Swafford; bought this this week. On arrival, I noticed one traction tire had absorbed some oil during storage and it proceeded to peel itself off the wheel rim within ten feet of running it, so I replaced it with a supplied new one after cleaning the wheel with isopropyl. It runs great now.
Only other issue was no smoke even though the fan motor ran. I reseated the smoke resistor power leads on the main board and fixed that issue. It runs great, sounds great, and is pulling 13 S-Helper cars around with no effort. I do not have grades on the layout. It does navigate American Models turnouts without issue. It runs fine on American Models flex track.
I have the ES44 both power and dummy. I am very pleased with both pieces. It will pull 20 plus car without a problem. the only problem I have had is I use gilbert track and when I put AM or MTH car behind the engine then when it runs thru a curve the car will derail because the engine pulls it off......easy to solve put a gilbert car behind the engine and everything is fine.........
Take a look at the NJ Hi Railers YouTube Channel and Facebook pages as we have several reviews on the BNSF, Santa Fe, KCS Legacy units.
Kevin
jim911 posted:when I opened mine parts were broken off front and rear of two engines. anyone experience this
My rear orange hose was broken off as well. Lying in the box. Plan to figure a way to reattach.
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