Hey Everyone, I just went and picked up the new MTH ES44 CSX safety train yesterday and had some time this morning to run it on the layout, so I thought I would share some pictures of it on the forum for everyone who's interested.
Its a really great set, the paint job on all the pieces is absolutely great, and the details are all there as expected from MTH premier line.
Now, I am not familiar enough with the ES44s to say whether they are prototypical or not, but I will say the engine look excellent in my opinion. The prime mover sounds are excellent, it runs nice and smooth and the whole set will run on Fastrack O36 no problem. (I was very surprised, this is a big engine)
The only things that I'm not completely satisfied with about the set are the people in the coach car are the typical passenger type people MTH uses in all their premier line coaches, I would have liked to seen some fireman or railroad workers instead. They did a great job with the NASA rocket booster set because the coach that came with the set was filled with people in uniforms. Also, I am disappointed in the horn on the ES44, I live near a very active CSX railroad in Newark DE, and i hear a train horn multiple times a day. The horn on the MTH ES44 doesn't sound anything like I've heard come through here, but again I am no ES44 expert. The horn on the older MTH Dash9 engines sounds exactly like what comes though here on the CSX railroad so I was expecting that, but it's not a bad horn sound on the ES44 at all, it's just not what I expected.
Now I'm not a hardcore pototypical train enthusiast, I buy and run trains that catch my eye; So again I can't tell you what is correct and what needs to be changed on the ES44 or even the set. That being said, I am open to questions about the set. Anything you would like to know about it feel free to ask away and I'll do my best to answer them. I probably won't get to any questions until later today as the train is set up at my house and I'm not around it until after work.
Hope you enjoy the pictures! (I may do a quick video of it running if enough people are interested in it)
