My new ETS mallet - quite a looker!

Hi JHZ,

I have an ETS 0-6-0 loco with 4 passenger Cars.I bought from Gustav Taus the original owner in 2006 at the factory in Prague,he was a Great Person.They have 6 different Assembly facilities around Prague .I run the train around the Christmas Tree.I dealt with Zuzana last year,had to Buy a Standard length flat car to put a King Tiger Tank on for my WWII Military trains and diaroma.I will get some pics in the next couple of days.

Mikey

@jhz563 posted:

So even before I got into modern MTH tinplate, I was aware of ETS trains and always just thought they looked really cool.  I had told myself several times that one of these days I was go out of my comfort zone and order one.  Well since I had a little extra cash on hand this spring I decided that now was the time.  I am huge fan of the big Garratt style articulated loco's which is part of what drew me to ETS's website in the first place, but I really didn't want to spend over $1000 for a locomotive from a company I had never dealt with before.  I also really like little locomotives and mechanical oddities in general so when shopping for an ETS tinplate locomotive, settling on this blue Mallet was a pretty simple choice.

(shortened for response JHZ) =miggy

s

Overall I think this is a really nice loco for the money and the ETS purchase experience was easy.  I am happy with it and look forward to showing it off when we can all get together again.  Also I am really spoiled with automatic couplers on my MTH and lionchief + locos.

I hope you enjoyed my little review.  So do you folks have any ETS equipment, and what do you think of yours?

JHC, Thanks, I really enjoyed your review, and even unboxing. (I normally fast forward through those). your comments were great, and photos are fantastic! That is really quite a bit of interesting rod-operation! (for-the-flux-capacitor I presume). You have a nice handle on your description and your story is fun to read. Well Done. What a great story. Cudos, and thanks. I appreciate the work it took to post.

Very nice JHZ! Didn't know Mallet's came in smaller wheel configs. I have a Rivarossi 2-8-8-2 Mallet in HO.

Bob

Thanks Bob.  The smaller mallets used for narrow gauge and logging are some really interesting machines.

LGB did a similar model with opposing cylinders.

JHZ,

That is a stunning locomotive!

I always wanted an ETS locomotive but since I run exclusively DCS/TMCC on my layout, I am hesitant on getting one in the off chance the electronics do not fit inside.

Don't want to hijack this thread but, has anyone successfully installed TMCC or DCS in an ETS engine? I think I could get away with converting a larger engine.

I debate between a Garratt and a Class P8.
ETS Trains - Garratt Type Steam Locomotive 2-6-0.0-6-2, Railways of South Africa
ETS Trains - 4-6-0 Prussian Steam Locomotive, Class P8

Bryce

I think your choice is the best, the little Mallet is a nice loco, maybe one of the nicest they made. I also have several models from ETS and I prefer using them without sound which cannot compare to MTH or LIONEL ones. Now enjoy that little beauty, Daniel

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

JHZ,

That is a stunning locomotive!

Thank you sir!

has anyone successfully installed TMCC or DCS in an ETS engine? I think I could get away with converting a larger engine.

Dcs would be a tough retrofit since there are no flywheels to start with.

Bryce

With the 4 couplers to pick from, is knuckle the Lionel lobster claw?  And do you know which decoder the use for DCC perchance? The Garrett is really tempting.  It's not the AD-60, but it's better then nothing.

@sinclair posted:

With the 4 couplers to pick from, is knuckle the Lionel lobster claw?  And do you know which decoder the use for DCC perchance? The Garrett is really tempting.  It's not the AD-60, but it's better then nothing.

Yes the knuckle coupler is the lionel lobster claw.   

I know nothing of dcc, but if you are interested I would just write them an email.   

Beautiful loco! :-)

Here is my ETS Claudia locomotive. She needed to gain a little weight but she is a favorite!

Jim K

Here is my ETS Loco And cars plus ETS flat with Tiger II Tank.

Well, since l want a Little River type 2-4-4-2, l have looked at these in shows, but read that the company had no interest in doing an American outline locomotive??, which kind of deflated my estimate of US influence on train market.   With sound added and the coupler, some attention to US market has been given. Wonder how that  market works out statiscally?While l like European trains to ride, l just want to model US history. 

Don't leave out the traction fans.  The ETS Baldwin-Westinghouse juice jack is a clean machine indeed!

Then there is my baby: The U.S. Army Transportation Corps "Liberation" 2-8-0.  So sweet!

Item: The United States also sent freight cars to Europe after WWII to use on the wartorn railways as well.

@jhz563 I completely forgot that ETS doesn't use flywheels. It looks like TMCC would be the way to go! I probably could get away with using a Mini-Commander II.

Having 031 and 042 radii I am a little hesitant to get a larger unit than the 0-4-0. Also, I did have to add lead weights to the underside of Claudia's cab roof to get better traction to pull a five car train. And I am a flat-lander. They do make very nice units if European style. My father's side of the family goes back to Bohemia so once I learned more about the company I just had to get some ETS. Love their tank cars with different company names on each side.

Train ON

Jim K

@Bogart posted:

Having 031 and 042 radii I am a little hesitant to get a larger unit than the 0-4-0. Also, I did have to add lead weights to the underside of Claudia's cab roof to get better traction to pull a five car train. And I am a flat-lander. They do make very nice units if European style. My father's side of the family goes back to Bohemia so once I learned more about the company I just had to get some ETS. Love their tank cars with different company names on each side.

Train ON

Jim K

Yeah the mallet feels really light weight for having no traction tires.   I will probably look to add some magnetic weights inside sooner or later.

@jhz563 posted:

So even before I got into modern MTH tinplate, I was aware of ETS trains and always just thought they looked really cool.  I had told myself several times that one of these days I was go out of my comfort zone and order one.  Well since I had a little extra cash on hand this spring I decided that now was the time.  I am huge fan of the big Garratt style articulated loco's which is part of what drew me to ETS's website in the first place, but I really didn't want to spend over $1000 for a locomotive from a company I had never dealt with before.  I also really like little locomotives and mechanical oddities in general so when shopping for an ETS tinplate locomotive, settling on this blue Mallet was a pretty simple choice.

It seems to be loosely based on early European prototypes.  Filderbahn is a real railway line in Germany that started before 1900, but I couldn't tell if they every had an engine like this.  In my opinion since this is a tinplate train, prototype fidelity isn't a crucial thing.

So first a little about dealing with ETS from here in the USA.  I found the website in general easy to use but had a problem when entering my phone number.  It seemed no matter how I tried it kept giving me an error message, so I reached out to the company via their contact email.  I was pleasantly surprised when I received a return e-mail from none other than Zuzana Slaba', the company CEO.  She explained to me that if I was having a problem with form she could take the order over email and ETS would issue an invoice.  We traded emails over a couple days due to the time difference and she sent me a pdf invoice and a PayPal payment request.  The request included the VAT tax and shipping.  Fedex shipping from Czechoslovakia to my door was only around $35, air freight and about 3 days door to door, I am impressed.

ETS makes modern tinplate on demand.  They actually have things in stock, which is refreshing.  ETS's standard offering is 1:45 O gauge, 2 rail dc.  But to make things more marketable you can select from 2 or 3 rail, ac or dc power, flange depth, and type of coupler.  While lionel style hook and latch couplers are not a option, modern lionel lobster claw style couplers are.  For my locomotive I selected 3 rail ac with larger flanges and knuckle couplers.  They also have different audio options depending on the locomotive.  Since it was an option and I don't intend to be ordering from Europe very often, I figured I would pay extra for the sound.

So now on with the show.  My first thought when I saw the shipping box was uh-oh, but then my told me the corner of the box was slightly damaged and she tugged at it a bunch to so when I first saw the box it looked like this

Fortunately that was mostly my wife looking for more damage. Inside were copious amounts of foam peanuts and the engine box which had more peanuts in it.

I can't tell you how great the paint looks overall.  The only defect I found was that one of the front foot plate was bent and some of the red chipped off when I straightened it out.

So a walk around the engine shows some interesting stuff.  The rear truck assembly is fixed and the front floats left to right, just the same way the prototypes would have been.  The couplers stick out a bit but not too bad. The cab is an open design and there is a boiler backhead with the ETS logo on it, but also the top of the motor for the rear truck.  The running gear is great.  The power pick ups are spoons, not rollers.

So how does it run - Great!  I did oil around before breaking it in.

There are some limiting factors. As you can see above there are no traction tires.  Secondly since this is a tinplate loco, its light for it's size and could really use some ballast.

Check out some action:

So as far as operation its really smooth.  The ETS drive train uses a type of clutch that disengages when the power drops out, so when you cycle the throttle the engine rolls to a stop instead of cutting to a dead quit like the worm gear drive trains we get from Mth or Lionel.  It also means you can push it when the power is off and it will actually roll.

Overall I am super happy with this purchase and I intend to runs the wheel of it.  There are however a few things I don't like.  First of all the sound is just all wrong.  The chuff that the engine makes is about 2 chuffs per rev.  A mallet like this should be making 4 if compound and 8 if simple expansion.  The noise is just wrong for all that valve gear in motion.  The other thing is that there is no remote control of the whistle, it just goes off randomly.  The sound of the whistle is spot on for what I would expect from a machine like this but not being able to sound it off when I want to is annoying.  There is an on/off switch that kills the sound that is under the front of the engine.

The other thing that isn't wrong just a little disappointing is that the reversing unit is two position only. This is a quite a change from what I am used to, even in conventional.

And just for fun here are some pictures next to a mth repro 261e.  The cab of the Mallet is just a tad taller.

A future project might be to have the sound system upgraded to something a little more similar to what I am used to.

Overall I think this is a really nice loco for the money and the ETS purchase experience was easy.  I am happy with it and look forward to showing it off when we can all get together again.  Also I am really spoiled with automatic couplers on my MTH and lionchief + locos.

I hope you enjoyed my little review.  So do you folks have any ETS equipment, and what do you think of yours?

Awesome! I’m thinking of buying a car from ETS. What style coupler do you have to select for it to work with my traditional o gauge (Lionel/MTH)? I see option for ETS, Marklin, knuckle, and UK/BUCO. I’m thinking of getting a bierwagen to go along with my MTH set.

@John Ptak posted:

Awesome! I’m thinking of buying a car from ETS. What style coupler do you have to select for it to work with my traditional o gauge (Lionel/MTH)? I see option for ETS, Marklin, knuckle, and UK/BUCO. I’m thinking of getting a bierwagen to go along with my MTH set.

Hi John,

Select the knuckle coupler option to traditional lionel style couplers.

@jhz563 posted:

Hi John,

Select the knuckle coupler option to traditional lionel style couplers.

Great, thanks so much!

@John Ptak posted:

Great, thanks so much!

No problem.  If you order something please share some pictures.

Hi does anyone have a direct e-mail address for ETS? Their contact page has a visual challenge that is tripping me up.

@ChooChoo1972 posted:

Hi does anyone have a direct e-mail address for ETS? Their contact page has a visual challenge that is tripping me up.

Sent you an email.

I also am an ETS fan. They offer styling detail far above what we call "tinplate", and run smooth as silk. I have no pictures, but check out their website.

About ten years ago at York I bought from the ETS booth in the Orange building a little green US styled, balloon stacked, Victoria 2-6-0 with tender and four passenger cars, all pieces marked for the Colorado and Southern railroad. Great runner, neat tinplate level detail, very well made, cute little train. Then a year or two after that I bought from them - again at York - a 2-4-4-0 Sequoia Lumber Company engine. It is made in a US style very similar to the original poster's engine, brown color, and sports a balloon stack, a "porch" over the pilot wheels and a cow catcher! Got an ETS Sequoia caboose to go with it, again a US style. The engine will pull three of those little short center frame log cars from MTH and the caboose - and look great doing it!

Both engines are configured with Lionel couplers and for three rail. The 2-4-4-0 does not run on less than 0-42 curves, and I believe this is also true of the 2-6-0. And note that they are made to 1:45 scale - a tad bigger than you would expect for O gauge, but hey - it's tinplate!

An update to my previous post.

The 2-6-0 Victoria will operate on O-31 track and will navigate Lionel O-22 switches mounted in the dreaded "s" configuration while pulling the three log cars and caboose - a much heavier train than the four ETS passenger cars mentioned in my original reply. It does have a very simple "sort of a chuff" sound, and a perky little shrill whistle that will activate with a Z whistle control.

The 2-4-4-0 Sequoia has no sound. It will not travel on 0-31 curves - it gets so tight that there is no slack - nor will it go through an O-22 switch without derailing. It may be a matter of not enough swing clearance, but I'm not going to start whittling. Both driver assemblies are powered.

Again, they are both very well made, and look and run great. No buyer's remorse here!

Does this excellent firm not have a stateside  distributor of their fine products?

@Tinplate Art posted:

Does this excellent firm not have a stateside  distributor of their fine products? Unfortunate if they do not! :-(

There is someone who takes up an entire corner in the Orange Hall at York and has lots of stuff.  I think he's affiliated with the factory, but not sure.  He always has a price list and order sheet.

I've always purchased items that were brought to the show, so that's all I know.  Also sounds like the OP's buying process was pretty smooth.

Just my 2 cents worth.....I live in Australia and I also deal directly with Zuzana by E-mail when I need ETS spare parts.

I purchase their printed circuit boards to use in my converted Buco locomotives. Their circuit board converts AC power from my transformer to DC, to run the Maxon can motors I use to replace the old worn-out AC armature and field coil motors.

Their circuit board also has a micro reverse module which is activated by a short 25V pulse from my Buco transformer, and it switches the loco's direction effortlessly, once the loco has come to a complete standstill. It has lighting connections on the board as well, which changes the front and rear lights, depending on the direction of the loco. The board is super easy to use and install inside the body of my Buco loco's.

Zuzana sends me an invoice by E-mail that includes the postage, I pay via Mastercard, and she posts the circuit boards to me here "down-under". They arrive safely in about 7-10 days time. Truly a great company to deal with.

Peter......Buco Australia

A very beautiful engine.  And a very good review.  With MTH gone, perhaps it is time to look elsewhere! 

Zuzana's ability and willingness to fulfill oversea's orders reminds me of the legendary Midge at MTH with her desire to represent her products to all customers! :-)

ETS is pretty nice stuff and I wish they had some British prototype locos, maybe someday. Interesting they haven't broached the 1 gauge market.

I own a couple British locomotives built by ETS for wjvintage.

@Milepost48 posted:

I own a couple British locomotives built by ETS for wjvintage.

Those are really nice, I hadn't seen those models before.

Pretty stuff, are any of those in current production? My dream is if they would make some of their stuff in 2 rail (45mm) gauge 1. Sort of like a tin plate version of LGB.

They have some English units

Austerity,  (currently sold out)

Class 20 diesel

Terrier (in stock)

Are these also available in gauge 1?

@Tinplate Art posted:

Are these also available in gauge 1?

No, Ets is an O gauge manufacturer

ETS is an O gauge manufacturer BUT they have worked for MARKLIN between 1994 to 2004 where the Maxi trains in 1 gauge where developed by Gustav Tausch the former founder of ETS. So for those who may have an interest in larger models than O gauge the best way to go is to look on the German bay where you can easily find some nice models at affordable prices.  If you compare the first Marklin Maxi trains to ETS ones you will find a familiar look....

Daniel