Loco
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Trailine 45 recently released the diesel locomotive RhB Gmf 4/4 242 in two versions, analog/digital and analog/digital with sound and smoke. I have received the latter one and here is a short review.
Previously this locomotive was available from Dietz and it is also currently available from Trainmen.fun - however both these locomotives are around twice the price of the Trainline versions. A comparison can be seen on FGB Berlins webpage: FGB Berlin comparison
The Trainline versions were originally announced with two Bühler motors, but somewhere down the road Trainline decided two change that to four Mabuchi motors instead. The better option would be the Bühler motors, time will tell how the Mabuchis will hold up. The initial noise from the motors was low pitch growling with an intermittent higher pitch sound. After running the locomotive on the test stand for a few minutes forward and in reverse, the growling sound has been reduced and the intermittent sound is gone. The smoke generator is a pulsed version, I haven't had the chance to test it much, but the little testing I did produced very little smoke. When I took the locomotive out of the wooden box the rear hook was broken off and the front loop was also broken. The packaging could be improved. I also suspect that the plastic Trainline is using is more brittle than LGB. I have installed LGB hook and loop front and back to replace ones from Trainline.
The detailing could be improved. The frame, roof and grills are of the same color, the roof and grills should be a more silver gray. The grills only have horizontal bars, they are missing the inner vertical bars. The red lettering on the side could be applied better on the side panels where there is a height difference - the lettering in the grooves is not perfect.
The digital drive and sound decoder is from mXion Modellbahntechnik. I have reduced the sound volume to the lowest level, but still find it quite loud. The F3 sound was not set correctly - so I changed this to the correct sound according to the sound sheet. The lighting can be switched from red tail lights to only a white rear light, and the "V" shunting light on the chimney is also working when in shunting mode. The documentation both for the locomotive and the mXion digital decoder is available on Trainlines homepage, but only in German.
Previously this locomotive was available from Dietz and it is also currently available from Trainmen.fun - however both these locomotives are around twice the price of the Trainline versions. A comparison can be seen on FGB Berlins webpage: FGB Berlin comparison
The Trainline versions were originally announced with two Bühler motors, but somewhere down the road Trainline decided two change that to four Mabuchi motors instead. The better option would be the Bühler motors, time will tell how the Mabuchis will hold up. The initial noise from the motors was low pitch growling with an intermittent higher pitch sound. After running the locomotive on the test stand for a few minutes forward and in reverse, the growling sound has been reduced and the intermittent sound is gone. The smoke generator is a pulsed version, I haven't had the chance to test it much, but the little testing I did produced very little smoke. When I took the locomotive out of the wooden box the rear hook was broken off and the front loop was also broken. The packaging could be improved. I also suspect that the plastic Trainline is using is more brittle than LGB. I have installed LGB hook and loop front and back to replace ones from Trainline.
The detailing could be improved. The frame, roof and grills are of the same color, the roof and grills should be a more silver gray. The grills only have horizontal bars, they are missing the inner vertical bars. The red lettering on the side could be applied better on the side panels where there is a height difference - the lettering in the grooves is not perfect.
The digital drive and sound decoder is from mXion Modellbahntechnik. I have reduced the sound volume to the lowest level, but still find it quite loud. The F3 sound was not set correctly - so I changed this to the correct sound according to the sound sheet. The lighting can be switched from red tail lights to only a white rear light, and the "V" shunting light on the chimney is also working when in shunting mode. The documentation both for the locomotive and the mXion digital decoder is available on Trainlines homepage, but only in German.
