Question for Owners of Sunset Models (3rd Rail) Locomotives...

Rocky MountaineerOGR Forum Member

Hey folks,

I'm seriously thinking of ordering a set of 3rd Rail's upcoming EMD E8's in the Canadian Pacific livery as an AA configuration -- both units powered (and with fixed pilots). Question I have is, "Are current owners pleased with the railsounds package that has come with recent diesel locomotives?" In years past, third-party providers licensed a railsounds package from Lionel that was often a generation or two behind Lionel's Legacy Railsounds (which continues to be the reference benchmark in the 3-rail world for the last few years). And specifically for F-series/E-series locomotives, the horn sounds have been pretty underwhelming.

I recently heard the railsound pkg from a video of MTH's latest Norfolk Southern OCS locomotives, and the horn is EXCELLENT -- far better than the typical horn heard on earlier F-series/E-series locomotives from any importer including Lionel. Anyone have a video of a recent Sunset/3rd Rail locomotive in the past year or two with sounds featuring the horn?

The reservation deadline for the Sunset/3rdRail EMD E8's is January 31st, so any help would be appreciated. If the railsounds aren't up to snuff on recent deliveries, then I may just wait for MTH to produce a Canadian Pacific E8 model. They have E8's featured in their 2016 Vol 1 catalog, but no Canadian Pacific livery this time.

The 3rd Rail Canadian Pacific model looks to be an early version paint scheme that I haven't seen offered by other importers. So if their Railsounds package has been hitting the mark recently, I'd like to place my pre-order this week for a pair of A-units.

Thanks everyone!

David

1/26/163:40 PM

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suzukovichOGR Forum Member

Buy them, its worth it. I have to sets of FTs( CBQ, GN ) the horns sound great!! Alot better then my MTH engines.

1/26/163:50 PM

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Hot WaterOGR Forum Member

For what it's worth, The Sunset/3rd Rail 3-Rail locomotives ALL come with the latest/best sounds available from ERR.

1/26/163:55 PM

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BobOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Go to the Electric RR site and you can listen to the sounds that will be in the E-8's. Click on Purchase then RailSounds Commander and you can then click on sounds for the various ERR sound boards.

1/26/165:10 PM

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PAUL ROMANOOGR Forum Member

Hate to be the fly in the ointment here but you should check out the MTH E8 PS3 sound. I few members at my club have them and the dual EMD 567B primer mover sounds are right on. What is really neat is that the initial start up. Each motor starts independently just like the real thing. I was impressed.

In my opinion you get more for your money and not the same old generic Lionel diesel and horn sounds. I am a long time Sunset Models owner but I will go with MTH on this one.

1/26/165:13 PM

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Rocky MountaineerOGR Forum Member

Gentlemen, thank you all for your comments and thoughts. I will sleep on the decision over the next day or so... But after reviewing several videos online and comparing Sunset Models, Lionel and MTH, I've gotta tip my hat toward MTH in the Railsounds department as well as overall bang-for-our-hard-earned-dollars. Sunset Models wins hands-down with respect to details and paint-scheme (in this case for the Canadian Pacific livery, which is a CP paint-scheme I haven't seen modeled in O-Gauge before). Lionel -- while typically a stand-out in the Railsounds department -- really falls short to my ears with a very "generic" sounding diesel horn that really misses the mark here on their E8/E9 models. It's just a slight step up from the horn that's often characterized by folks online as a sick cow tone, and I was disappointed (but not surprised) to hear the ERR horn is a variant of that same off-the-mark tone. Doesn't do anything for me. I can handle that horn tone once on my Sunset Models GMToT E-7 locomotive, but I really don't want it to make an appearance beyond that.

So at this point, I may just let the Sunset Models reservation deadline pass me by... and hope that MTH will offer the Canadian Pacific livery in a future E-8 line-up. They last offered the CP E-8 in 2005, so they're do for a re-issue soon. The other nice thing MTH has going for it is they typically offer a complete ABBA configuration (with both A-units powered), and I'm hoping any newer MTH E-8 offerings may even eliminate the tether like they've done on the recently released Norfolk Southern OCS F-7's. Even though CP didn't run B-units, you just can't beat the look of a sleek ABBA configuration heading up a long passenger train.