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Picked up my Ps-3 CSX wide nose Dash-8's today

L lip1976OGR Forum Member
I got a call from Richard at the train shop in Hampton Falls, NH yesterday at noon saying that my two dash-8's had arrived. Wow was that quick, I just saw the post on the 17th that MTH was going to ship them. Anyway, due to the fact that it is going to snow tomorrow and I have an hour and a half drive to NH, I skipped out of work at noon to go pick them up Wink

First impression of Ps-3 equipped locos:

1. The new Led lighting looks awesome. I'll have to convert all my other locos.
2. Sounds- not much different than before, although, they seem a little lower
in the volume department than my older narrow nose versions. I do think
that the Dash-8's did have one of the better sound files.
3. When running in conventional mode, when you go from forward to neutral to
reverse, the lights do not blink, they remain on due to the new super
capacitor.
4. The only negative that I have noticed, is when I turn on the track power, my
Ps-2 locos will start their start up sequence right away, while the Ps-3
locos have a 1-15 second delay. I think but I'm not sure, but this may
only happen in conventional mode. I have not bought a DCS system yet
because I'm in the process of switching to two rail.

Hopefully MTH will offer Ps-3 upgrade kits in the near future. It will definitely make it easier to convert to 2 rail, considering all one has to do is flip a switch and your in dcc mode.

Sorry guys no pictures, my camera has crapped out on me. I keep on saying I'll get a new one, but every time I think about it a new catalog comes out Smile Hopefully someone with DCS and a better test track will do a better review than me.

-Paul
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R RailRideOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
I picked up one last night. Didn't have a chance to try it on DCS yet, my friend's layout has his TIU on variable voltage and has to be turned up by the remote. The unit started up in conventional every time, but that may just be an oddity of his particular layout (he has a couple of PS-2 units that have never been "found" by his TIU). I'll give mine a try later tonight. Maybe even get a photo of those LED lights.

---PCJ
L lip1976OGR Forum Member
Railride- that's good to hear. Upon further reading it seems that the delay in startup only occurs in conventional mode. Out of curiosity, are the sounds on yours low? My older narrow nose Dash-8 is very loud compared to the newer one. I had the chance of buying the third road # this weekend at the springfield show, but an AC6000 caught my eye.

-Paul
R RailRideOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
The startup delay probably has to do with charging the onbard super-capacitor. My unit does indeed have a lower maximum volume. I want to say that it's probably due to some consumer-product regulation (I know from my experience with Archos media players, that the European Union limits the max volume of personal music devices), but a Web search only turned up speculation from this site.

I tend to turn the volume down from factory settings anyway since I live in an attached house. I haven't had an opportunity to see if putting the unit in a consist overrides the volume controls in the trailing units, turning them up to full-blast like the PS2 ones do.

BTW, the cab roof details are different from the NS unit next to it.

---PCJ
david1david1OGR Forum Member
Just received mine today and yes you have to change the switch from DCC to DCS. The locomotive is one of the nicest that i have seen from MTH. Very well detailed and the paint is flawless. After installing the snow plow and lubing i set it on the track. The DCS system found it right a way. The sounds are robust and as loud as any other of my MTH P2 locos. The PS3 in this engine and of course the sounds are deeper and all of the sound are very good. The uncoupler sound is different from other locos but it sounds great, no more of the swoosh that is in Proto2, more of metal clunking--hard to describe but very good in my opinion. I MUed it to a Proto2 ES44AC without any problems and it sounds and runs great. Overall i give this CSX dash 8 w/P3 a big thumbs up, Nice job MTH!!!


Dave
T toronto-01OGR Forum Member

Hi, guess I'm late for this.  Had a Lionel SD70 on hold for a bit, really liked the horn sharpness, then saw the Dash-8 with it side-by-side.  The difference in detail is startling, so bought the Dash.  But I'm a bit disappointed --- the smoke fan is really loud and sounds like it is rattling on its mount, in reverse there is a clicking coming from one of the trucks I think, and the ditch lights are pretty dumb, only flashing for 5 seconds after you push the horn.  Are there actually any lines out there that have ditch lights and don't have them lit all the time?

Mike NorbergMike NorbergOGR Forum Member

I received my NS Dash-940CW today.   My first PS3 engine. 

 

I second the remarks already made.  The Dash-9 has Rule 17 lighting.  It's cool to see the head light dim and the ditch lights off when the engine is stopped.   With the first movement of the thumb wheel, the head light brightens and the ditch lights come on.   There's a soft key for the ditch lights, so you can change their setting without having to go into a menu.  

 

It runs as it should, and I feel the sound is better, in that all the sounds are very clear with none of the background noise(white noise) that my PS2 units have.  At full volume, my PS2 Dash-8 makes more noise,  but the PS3 has plenty of volume.  

 

And yes, it came with the DCS/DCC switch set on DCC.  But the 3/2 rail switch set on 3 rail.  Now that makes sense.  

 

I've got her hitched to a Dash-8 and they're making beautiful music at 11mph in notch 5(best turbo sound)pulling 20 hoppers.  Gives me goose bumps!  

 

I am loving Protosound 3!   Good work, MTH!  

 

 

 

T toronto-01OGR Forum Member

Hi Boilermaker1, thanks for your response.

However, that doesn't work, as I've tried that many frustrating times, and I can't actually make a selection ---- the other menu items (like smoke) you select your setting and it exits out to the previous menu level.  With the ditch lights, nothing, I'm stuck in the Ditch Light menu and can't select anything.  Even when I exit and run the engine, and use the soft keys denoted by the LCD screen to turn the ditch lights 'on', they don't come on.  I may take it back in for a checkup, because if this is how a real railroad runs (i.e.: buy a safety feature and then not use it) they'd be crazy.

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