X

"...only went to drop off..." Maybe my not having any LHS around is a good thing....

Your RKI(mperial) GS-4 looks and sounds great. I don't run MTH much - I'm mostly TMCC Command - and conventional pretty much not at all - but conventional control in PS3 looks pretty impressive - and so does the loco. I have been considering a RKI N&W J just because I like it - and I already have a 1:48 Lionel TMCC version! The RKI GS-4 and the J are identical under the skin (and a bit on the skin, as I recall - I had an early WP version and sold it), and I just like the locomotive.

Silly, but there you are.

The only main common piece, it appears between the J and the GS4 is the frame. Drive wheels are different, rods look the same, etc. 

I have a Williams J, don't need two of them. Really like the way the new GS4 runs except that no-coast stopping. No good. Will be my last MTH steam purchase. The 44 ton switcher, if/when that ever shows up will likely be it for a while for me. I would like a Postwar turbine (681). Maybe one day......

I personally prefer the "simple" trains. I wonder if removing the PS3 guts and putting in a Dallee E unit and Sound Board would allow the engine to coast? Anyone try that?

Looks wonderful! I got the premier MTH model shortly after the new year on sale. It is now by far my favorite locomotive. It was definitely one of my train "bucket list" items. One thing I will say about it, is that it is HUGE! It dwarfs everything else on my layout by far. 

SJC posted:

The only main common piece, it appears between the J and the GS4 is the frame. Drive wheels are different, rods look the same, etc. 

I have a Williams J, don't need two of them. Really like the way the new GS4 runs except that no-coast stopping. No good. Will be my last MTH steam purchase. The 44 ton switcher, if/when that ever shows up will likely be it for a while for me. I would like a Postwar turbine (681). Maybe one day......

 

Have you tried double tapping the brake? It usually brings the engine to a nice smooth stop However it doesn't change the engine's direction.  I like the feature.

Gregg posted:

SJC posted:

The only main common piece, it appears between the J and the GS4 is the frame. Drive wheels are different, rods look the same, etc. 

I have a Williams J, don't need two of them. Really like the way the new GS4 runs except that no-coast stopping. No good. Will be my last MTH steam purchase. The 44 ton switcher, if/when that ever shows up will likely be it for a while for me. I would like a Postwar turbine (681). Maybe one day......

 

Have you tried double tapping the brake? It usually brings the engine to a nice smooth stop However it doesn't change the engine's direction.  I like the feature.

I run conventional, not DCS. This is a 100% conventional issue and have posted here before about it. Other than being careful, it doesn't appear there is any fix. My concern is what that would do to the motor and gears over time. 

When I saw the title and author, I thought that Premier B&O steamer that you last wrote about jumped into your hands, but the SP GS4 is a real beauty. My grandson too was bitten by the bug. Fell in love with it watching train Videos, thanks to forum sponsor Choo Choo Bob, posting one of her coming across a Pratt like bridge blowing steam from every spot she could.

His is a 1st run PS3. Like you, I don't care for MTH's wireless draw bar. Nothing more annoying than having a fast running locomotive suddenly stop dead in its tracks when that ****ed draw bar works loose! 

But the lines of the locomotive, the colors, lights and sound,... Wow it'll steal the heart of anyone. Even us east coasters who grew up on B&O blue, and Pennsylvania Tuscan!Enjoy your new locomotive, I know we have enjoyed ours!

Jim M Sr posted:

When I saw the title and author, I thought that Premier B&O steamer that you last wrote about jumped into your hands, but the SP GS4 is a real beauty. My grandson too was bitten by the bug. Fell in love with it watching train Videos, thanks to forum sponsor Choo Choo Bob, posting one of her coming across a Pratt like bridge blowing steam from every spot she could.

His is a 1st run PS3. Like you, I don't care for MTH's wireless draw bar. Nothing more annoying than having a fast running locomotive suddenly stop dead in its tracks when that ****ed draw bar works loose! 

But the lines of the locomotive, the colors, lights and sound,... Wow it'll steal the heart of anyone. Even us east coasters who grew up on B&O blue, and Pennsylvania Tuscan!Enjoy your new locomotive, I know we have enjoyed ours!

That Premier B&O 4-4-0 is BEAUTIFUL but I just could not justify the $800+ price tag. A friend of mine ordered the B&O 4-4-0 set with engine and cars. I'll settle for looking at his!

SJC posted:

 

...

1) This will likely be my LAST MTH steam purchase, at least for a long time. I don't like the wireless drawbar (more on this later) and lately, MTH steamers will not coast to a stop in conventional. This is one of them. Almost makes me not want to keep it. I will have to be VERY careful to stop slowly with the throttle, not the direction button. It just skids to a stop and derails the cars behind it. Same issue with my Imperial Mikado (now sold). Can't be good for the gears and drive train inside of it! According to Andy Edelman at MTH, this is a software issue and with few conventional operators, they don't intend to fix it. That being the case, I don't plan to buy more MTH steam! 

 

I'm confused. You bought it well aware of the features you do not like and now you complain? 

Those Pennsylvania M1A are some what cursed. Bob1949 has one and it has had more issues than any engine I have seen. That is a nice engine.

"According to Andy Edelman at MTH, this is a software issue and with few conventional operators, they don't intend to fix it. That being the case, I don't plan to buy more MTH steam!" (originally posted by SJC)

First off congrats on that new engine as it looks like a beauty. I don't blame you for being disappointed with the engine not being able to coast to a stop and I am a little surprised at the response from Andy Edelman. You mention that he said there are not enough conventional operators, so they are not going to bother changing anything to fix the coasting issue with conventional operation. I am a conventional only operator and I strongly believe I am not in the minority. I also feel that this issue has not occurred on other and older versions of their steam engines, so why suddenly is there a change and why is it too difficult or worth the effort for MTH to fix the problem? I don't have the stats or answers, but it just seems a little hard for me to understand why MTH is taking this stance in my opinion.

SJC posted:

3) The flashing MARS light is cool! I don't think the PS2 version had that?

4) The whistle - WOW! 'nough said there!

SJC posted:

I personally prefer the "simple" trains. I wonder if removing the PS3 guts and putting in a Dallee E unit and Sound Board would allow the engine to coast? Anyone try that?

Well, you can say goodbye to the two features above if you gut the electronics...

I had an idea for an electronic mod to fix the sudden stops.  If you were to add some diodes and a directional relay, you might be able to eliminate any dynamic braking of the motors when the power is removed. 

I'm guessing, but I haven't confirmed, that when the power is removed, there is a path that essentially shorts the drive and results in the motor stopping suddenly instead of the flywheel coasting as it freewheels.  That would explain the sudden stops.

DennisB posted:

SJC posted:

 

...

1) This will likely be my LAST MTH steam purchase, at least for a long time. I don't like the wireless drawbar (more on this later) and lately, MTH steamers will not coast to a stop in conventional. This is one of them. Almost makes me not want to keep it. I will have to be VERY careful to stop slowly with the throttle, not the direction button. It just skids to a stop and derails the cars behind it. Same issue with my Imperial Mikado (now sold). Can't be good for the gears and drive train inside of it! According to Andy Edelman at MTH, this is a software issue and with few conventional operators, they don't intend to fix it. That being the case, I don't plan to buy more MTH steam! 

 

I'm confused. You bought it well aware of the features you do not like and now you complain? 

Hardly. Plus, a short "review" which is kind of what I had in mind with my original post, doesn't always have glowing praise for everything.

1) The drawbar I can live with. Do I like it? No. not really, especially compared with the old cable tether. I was comfortable with this engine's drawbar arrangement as it was very obvious MTH made a strong effort to eliminate the trailing truck coming in contact with the solder joints on the drawbar. Like I mentioned in my original post, they did a very good job on this.

2) As for coasting, it is kind of hard to test this on the store test track when you can't go much faster than a crawl. I knew this engine may have this issue going into the purchase.

SDIV Tim posted:

Those Pennsylvania M1A are some what cursed. Bob1949 has one and it has had more issues than any engine I have seen. That is a nice engine.

A friend of mine has an M1A and loves it. No problems. I did clue him in to get those solder joints covered up. Once he did that, he has had many happy miles with his M1A. I loved mine but......

N5CJonny posted:

"According to Andy Edelman at MTH, this is a software issue and with few conventional operators, they don't intend to fix it. That being the case, I don't plan to buy more MTH steam!" (originally posted by SJC)

First off congrats on that new engine as it looks like a beauty. I don't blame you for being disappointed with the engine not being able to coast to a stop and I am a little surprised at the response from Andy Edelman. You mention that he said there are not enough conventional operators, so they are not going to bother changing anything to fix the coasting issue with conventional operation. I am a conventional only operator and I strongly believe I am not in the minority. I also feel that this issue has not occurred on other and older versions of their steam engines, so why suddenly is there a change and why is it too difficult or worth the effort for MTH to fix the problem? I don't have the stats or answers, but it just seems a little hard for me to understand why MTH is taking this stance in my opinion.

I'm not sure what brought the sudden change. I'm not going to post the entire email thread here. I will note that my PS3 Railking Imperial 0-6-0 switcher, Delivered Spring 2013 coasts and operates beautifully in conventional. No issues and a very nice little switcher.

I would have to reread the emails but I suspect it may have to do with flywheel size and something in the software that would need to be changed.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

SJC posted:

3) The flashing MARS light is cool! I don't think the PS2 version had that?

4) The whistle - WOW! 'nough said there!

SJC posted:

I personally prefer the "simple" trains. I wonder if removing the PS3 guts and putting in a Dallee E unit and Sound Board would allow the engine to coast? Anyone try that?

Well, you can say goodbye to the two features above if you gut the electronics...

I had an idea for an electronic mod to fix the sudden stops.  If you were to add some diodes and a directional relay, you might be able to eliminate any dynamic braking of the motors when the power is removed. 

I'm guessing, but I haven't confirmed, that when the power is removed, there is a path that essentially shorts the drive and results in the motor stopping suddenly instead of the flywheel coasting as it freewheels.  That would explain the sudden stops.

John,

Have you had/seen any locos with the quick stop issue?

If your idea is a good fix, I may be interested in it. My biggest concern is, despite using extreme caution, the gears getting chewed up if it skids one too many times. This is especially true on the club layouts where several guys are operating on the same track and a derailment may cause power to be cut quickly.

I run no conventional, expect when testing people's stuff.  As such, I haven't experienced this issue.  When I see another PS/3 locomotive come by, I'll try it in conventional and see if it has the sudden stop syndrome.

Andy at MTH got back to me. He said R&D was going to look into it and he would follow up and get back to me if there was any news. R&D tells Andy that if there is a simple software fix, they will pursue it.

If it is, as I suspect, the way the hardware drivers are designed, it may or my not be a "simple" fix in software.

I would be more than happy to convert this to PS-2 3V for you to clear up the coasting issue.  Would also go to the tether.  You would loose some functional control of engine lighting though.  G

GGG posted:

I would be more than happy to convert this to PS-2 3V for you to clear up the coasting issue.  Would also go to the tether.  You would loose some functional control of engine lighting though.  G

May just take you up on that. Will email later today or tomorrow.