E-8 LOCOMOTIVES

KLINE MADE E8'S IN AA SETS ,MTH PREMIER ABA SETS,WEAVER DID AA SETS.

I believe Weaver made scale EMD8s in the early 1990s. I have a set of Pennsylavania AAs they made and they look pretty darn good. Of course all of the present day bells and whistles aren't there, in fact they have no sound package whatsoever.

Check the MTH Product Locator. You have several pages of E8s to chose from. They are good runners and strong pullers.

I have (6) sets of the Weaver E8's, including UP, Santa Fe (War Bonnett), Southern, Southern Pacific (Black Widow Scheme), Pennsylvania and New York Central. Both A units are powered, one starting in forward and the other in reverse. They are not tethered, will run individually if so desired, are good pullers, but a little noisy. Each unit is 18" long. I run strictly conventional and they run every time you turn up the throttle. They look a little odd running on 0-36 Fastrack, but they work fine and negotiate that radius without issues.
I also have several sets of the MTH Proto 1 and 2 ABA sets, which I prefer, but everytime you want to run them, you need to hook up the tethers, etc... If your just running conventional, I think you'll be happy with either.

I have an E8 ABA set of MTH Rock Island PSI engines that is very frequently for sale on the bay. MTH must of made a lot of them. It is a nice operating MU, but the fronts of the A units are not to scale. The headlights are wrong, for starters, as is the overall shape of their fronts. I have a Williams (before Bachmann) set of E-7's that is right on the money as far as accuracy is concerned. And their Rock Island white-silver livery paint is very accurate.

The Weaver E8's can be easily upgraded. Lots of room and an easy flywheel motor replacement from Timko Repair Depot

My set of E8's

I have the K-line UP E8 ABA with 6 motors that will pull anything. Each unit of the AA engines were also powered.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7623840

http://www.trainz.com/p-259143...el-aa-set-exbox.aspx

We have an ABA set of K-line E8s (Union Pacific). They are great pullers, but have significant operational problems:
Although the three engines are tethered together, and although there are 6 total pickup rollers, only two of them (on the front loco) are hooked to the motors. The others power the roof fans. This means that, even with a 54 inch engine, you can find dead spots on your layout due to roller spacing.
On each truck, the wheels of the inboard axle are blind. But the truck is constructed in such a way that more of the engine's weight falls on the blind wheels than on the flanged ones. So the flanged wheels want to climb over the track on turns (O42).
The "Mars" light just flashes on and off, which does not hinder operation, but was a little disappointing.
They are attractive engines, but they rarely see use.

I've seen the MTH sets in person, but do not have one. They seem quite nice. If you can live with an E7, Williams makes a pretty nice AA set. Not super detailed, but well done, high quality STRONG runners; they are conventional out of the box and very reasonably priced/easy to find. I have a PPR set and had it converted to PS-2. It's a beast and one of my favorites.

I think Sunset is doing E-7's at some point. They had one run and are doing another. They will likely be fabulous, detailed, and somewhat pricey, but I'm debating on putting my name on the list for one anyway No idea when these might arrive.

-Eric

Have two AA sets of the wEAVER E-8's [red & green]
Here is the tuscan red set.
If I was buying a set today, would go with the detail and sounds of the 3rd Rail E-8
If price was an issue would opt for the Williams. they are terrific runners

quote:

If price was an issue would opt for the Williams. they are terrific runners

Um... Unfortunately williams Never made the E8. They only made the E7 diesels...slightly different than the e8 both internally and externally.

I have the MTH ABA set and highly recommend them. Very nice detail and an excellent runner with tons of smoke if you want. The only pain is getting them plugged in together with wires under the couplers. But that could be age related.

Thanks for all your help guys. I'm actually looking for two E-8 AA units that run like those Williams E-7's of NYC fame. I've got a spare Williams E-7 B unit. I need two E-8's to make up my repaint Jade Green, Century Green, NYC consist. I know K Line made them, but I haven't. Thanks again,...............148th

quote:

Originally posted by Medicine Man:
The only pain is getting them plugged in together with wires under the couplers. But that could be age related.

Yours or the E8s?

With the MTH E-8 powered AA units the I have, it is impossible to put a Williams B unit, or anything else, for that manner, between them. The AA units are connected together so they will run in sync, and I am sure the Williams B-unit does not have any pass-through cable to interconnect with the powered MTH AA units.

Seems I remember from a previous thread that the MTH E-8 units are the Weaver molds...is that correct???

Alan

Alan queried:

quote:

Seems I remember from a previous thread that the MTH E-8 units are the Weaver molds...is that correct???

Alan

Yes, MTH purchased the Weaver E8 tooling as well as that of the Weaver SD40-2.

BBBob

quote:

Originally posted by Mike McNally:
With the MTH E-8 powered AA units the I have, it is impossible to put a Williams B unit, or anything else, for that manner, between them. The AA units are connected together so they will run in sync, and I am sure the Williams B-unit does not have any pass-through cable to interconnect with the powered MTH AA units.

Well thank you Mike for informing me of the MTH E-8 configuration, and how it operates. One thing you should know about me is ANYTHING is possible, including a new pass thru tether to operate that second A unit. Many thanks,...........148th

Wow, 1/48, if you can obtain the connectors and cable to do this, I admire you! Good luck! You seem to have the drive of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike McNally:
Wow, 1/48, if you can obtain the connectors and cable to do this, I admire you! Good luck! You seem to have the drive of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Hello Mike. Thank you for the accolades. I have never seen any of these connectors, or the cable in fact, but I believe you may know more about that set-up than I. Unless I'm wrong, and that cable is fiber optic with infra red signal, I don't see why any other cable could not be used. Please inform me if I'm wrong, and why. We all learn from others. 148th