Hey Folks - the loco in the video isn't a SD40-2, it's an Alco C-628 (or something similar!), and Soo Line is a real company! Thanks to everyone for letting me know!
This is fantastic, an actual affordable train set! I miss when these used to be more common, these are the sets that bring people into the hobby and as a result I think they're very important. Most of these starter sets today are all battery powered, I can't tell you how happy I am to see an actual electric one. Maybe I'm overly excited but this seems really good and I think I might get one my self.
I know what mean smt mainline, I still have the bachmann challenger set with e-z track. I restarted my interest in model trains, with two starter sets, and second hand track from an antique shop.
@Joel Chandler Exactly, I don't think most families can cough up $250 for a train set. Even in the 2000s bachmann and lifelike were still making budget friendly sets. Now life like is gone and bachmann has raised their prices by around 3 times the amount.
I know you thought that the "elephant turd" was a crappy accessory, but honestly if I had that as a kid I would have been really excited to do it up with paint and flock. It's a nice introduction into making model scenery if you use your imagination
@@SamsTrains en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soo_Line_Railroad The Soo Line is indeed real and those hoppers, although in bright colours, are also prototypical and don't look too dissimilar to the Walthers detailed 4 bay hoppers. I'd say that the grey cylinders are supposed to be steel coils, a weathering and detailing job could give you a great train with everything you have there. Edit: I believe the loco is based on an Alco century engine, rather than an EMD SD40-2
@Ethan D If you go by foamer logic then yes UP does suck, however in the real world you use actual logic and if you are looking for a railroad career UP is the cream of the crop, next is BNSF, then KCS, then Amtrak, then NS and finally CSX for obvious reasons and this is just class A I am on about. There are plenty of class B railroads that are awesome to work for as well . Deciding what railroad is largely demographic based though and depends on if you are willing to relocate or not.
probably written by someone who has english as a second language. i challenge xenon to translate 'freight train' in to any eastern european language. or any other language for that matter.
The wagon load is actually underground pipe cut to size, and SOO line is an American railroad that ran in the midwest (Iowa, Illinois, etc that is now bankrupt) We still see SOO Line freight cars to this day that haven't been repainted yet. Many of they are from the 1970's old stock but still rolling.
This was my first train set, I got it long time ago for Christmas and I have so many fond memories of it. The play value, as you said, is great, but what I found far more important is the fact that this set offers gateway to railway modelling. Even though I was too young to really help with modelling, my father created nice and simple little model (I think it was mostly grass), turned that elephant turd into a hill with a tunnel and a little stream in that so called valley, bought additional tracks and switch tracks, fixed everything on a piece of plywood and I had an almost portable model railway. Thank you for reminding me of it, I think this set offers far more than it shows. Cheers from Slovenia!
When my brother was young, mum bought him the cheapest farmyard set you could ever imagine. There was a shepherd figure - grossly out of scale to the hut that came with him - with some horses and sheep, all of which were out of scale to each other etc. The number of hours he spent playing with it all is indescribable. So much so that when mum found, by chance, one of the farm figures decades later, mum had tears in her eyes at the happy memories. Including having to make things like you have to, in the same way. I can see this set being similar - amazing play value.
My uncle who worked his entire life for the Frisco Railroad used to say, "You can't spell stupid without UP when referring to the Union Pacific Railroad...
To get a child for Christmas it's perfect. if they really like the hobby you can get something more expensive at a later date and if not you haven't spent a lot of money.
Yeah, that's exactly what's missing in the model railroad world, cheap, simple, affordable entry sets for kids to play and have fun with. Children that are just getting started don't need the best detailing or the most advanced digital technology, they just want something to play and have fun with.
@@Ranger0463 The Alco’s were retired from the UP and SP rosters mostly in the 1980’s when new GE’s and EMD’s came on the lines for the most part for by 1996 when the UP-SP merger happened it was just EMD’s and GE’s and maybe a few small manufacturers or rebuilders Locomotives on the two respective lines. Alco’s and MLW’s still ran on Canadian Railway’s up through the 1990’s but all the U.S. Class 1 one Railroad’s had retired their Alco’s in 1980’s. While Alco’s and MLW’s definitely went to many Shortlines and a few Regional Rail operations up through the 21st Century of course ! And The Museums Too !
That western set looks interesting (although you didn't link to that one). This is what hornby should be doing to get children into the hobby at £50 you get more value than the nearest priced hornby set, where as Hornby release a bundle at £200 for the lockdown.
From photos I've seen, the Soo Line Quad Hoppers were usually white with red lettering. Soo Line mainline locomotives were painted red or white with red nose.
@@SamsTrains On the yellow with blue considerable amount of creative license. On the green and white, if you change the railroad to Burlington Northern, then you have a little more merit as they had green and white freight cars. Also while the Soo may be nothing more than a paper railroad in the Canadian Pacific Railway system in current times, you can still see some of the old paint rolling thru here in the states.
I notice both quad hoppers have the same number on them, even though they're different colours. :) An image search for Soo Line Quad Hopper shows plenty of brown ones, white or light grey ones. But no green or yellow. But for the money you save on the set, those bothered by this will have enough change to buy some paint. lol!
Ok, that is NOT an SD40. Looks to be a U-Boat of some kind, or some alco locomotive from the 60s. Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum, get a scaletrains rivet counter locomotive. Insane amount of detail on one of those.
I've noticed Alco had oddly spaced axles on their C+C bogies. Looking at my Bachman SD70AC and an ICH Premier AlCo Century 628, I can see the EMD has evenly spaced axles, where as the AlCo has a bigger space between 2nd and 3rd axle.
@@CardboardSliver This was done back then to keep the traction motors inside of the locomotive truck (bogie), where the axles are furthest apart the traction motors face each other.
Hi Sam. I love your videos. P.S. There is this thing called Google. Search for "Soo Line Railroad" and read the wikipedia page to bring yourself up to speed.
@@SamsTrains Unboxing electric Locomotive EP09 Unboxing SM42. This two models trains no Bachmann no Hornby this two trains models from company PIKO Please.
Thank you so much for posting this. As a teenager I had a train layout but then life happens. Yesterday I looked into starting again but there is this thingy called budget...I saw Mehano on a certain selling site but never heard of it. Your review helped me very much, I'm buying one.
Hey sam i have a union Pacific dash 8-40c(narrow nose) from bachmann spectrum series ( my photo on the right of the comment ) and the slow moving have impacted me because it looks like stopped but two minutes after it have moved some centimeter but only works on DCC current and is my neighbor loco mine is the same engine and the same serie but in DC and it have a lot of problems on turns of 420°
I really like that! With a repaint, the wagons could look really smart, and a bit of weathering would make that loco rather convincing. The little set is fantastic value for money :)
Mehano used to be Mehanotehnika, the main Yugoslavia's train model factory. It became in 1991. Mehano and worked until 2008 in Slovenia. They moved the production in 2010 in China. And this is a Chinese made set. I can't over that, as a I kid, I destroyed a Mehanotehnika set. Which was second hand, but... But... Haunts me today! They used to made some fine trains!
Sorry Sam but when I was still at school I bought an Airfix railbus kit and acting on a suggestion of a reviewer in a magazine by utilising a rocket motor I motorised it by fitting a stick around the axle of metals wheels that I fitted to the kit. I glued the motor onto the floor and applied some glue to the shaft of the motor. I had to buy a box of small elastic band to go around the motor and the axle with the twig . A couple of bits of single core wire was used for pick ups. Now it is very fast at 12 volts and will do 240 mph/15 seconds scale speed around a circuit of 1 scale mile. That layout was exhibited 2 years running at the MRC exhibition in London. The layout was.constructed by the Crawley Model Railway Society. I was a member and the layout was put up in the club room were I used to run my rail bus. That was about 63 years ago when I was mates with Rodney Stenning and Gordon Gravit. Can I challenge you at 12 volts.Bye from Ian Cooper?
That is an amazing price. Even in CAD it's a heck of a good deal. Now I have been to Maheno's webstore now and then and writing up my shopping list. Their webstore is a bit clunky as they do not seem to list DC/DCC powered stuff separate from the AC powered stuff.
Man this looks very nice👍 I really like the locomotive and the waggons. The value is so good, much better than the Hornby Juniors train. Maybe adding some weights to the loco will make the power even better. I''m definitely looking forward of buying one. The AWD is amazing and my favourite feature. Great review, Sam
As someone interested in models but also a student, I really appreciate you reviewing cheap/budget stuff in addition to the more 'standard' locos and sets, even if some of it is elephant dung!
This is a self-contained set aimed I would say at (approx) 6-9 yr olds, and as described by Sam it completely fills the bill. No need to quibble about lack of detail, steel track, elephant turd etc., it's not supposed to be an accurate scale model, but it offers enormous play value and learning skills to its intended market, and equally important, appears to be functional and pretty well built for its purpose. If I can get hold of it, my 6yr old grandson will be getting one for Christmas - just the job! I often take him to Chesterfield (Derbys) station to watch the trains, this set doesn't look like anything he's seen there, he's not old enough (like Sam) to have heard of Soo Line, but he won't care!
Hi Sam..a brilliant review..I'm really tempted to get one of these...the Elephant turd LOL..you could incorporate in your own layout and maybe paint it or add some scatter and bushes...or maybe not, having looked at again, lol
Great video Sam the train set is a good deal but it is not available in The USA I wish it was . Thank You for keeping us entertained during this times of not being able to go out.
Union Pacific has a licensing division that decides if a company is allowed to use their likeness on models and toys. I'm pretty sure that Mehano hasn't been in touch with them...as an aside, Mehano made HO gauge models (locomotives and cars) for Atlas in the 1970's and 1980's. I'll bet someone in Serbia found the tooling in the back room and started cranking out new ones again 🤣
@@theodorelease8477 true, considering that you can get a trainset quality model from Bachmann, with EZ-track and Bachmann's own Kadee coupler clones, for around $100
Sam, love your videos. Yeah this is not an SD-40 dash 2. . Its either an Alco Century C-630 or a General Electric U33-C. The U-33 series are what we chaps in the states nickname "U-Boats" dont know why, but its what we call them. Also generally the -2 or Dash Two means it was upgraded to better electronics / motors etc. Similar to a Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1 is an early version and a Mk4 is a later more improved version. GP in front of a diesel stands for "General Purpose" Whilst SD designates "Special Duty" i.e. 3 axles or what you call Co-Co ... keep up the terrific work. Love the vids...
the Locomotive is actually a ALco C628 they were built in the 1960s altho ALco went out in 1968 but they kept producton by MLW (montreal locomotive works) they also came out in wide cabs in the 1980s with the MLW M420W which was made in 1973. then more variants with the M636 and the M640 which the difference would be that the bell would be in the front of the cab most railways in the US and canada owned these locomotives... untill MLW went out of business
The Loco is an Alco C630... Been manufactured for YEARS under different brands. It's definitely a "Train Set" Loco. ..... The SD40-2 is easily recognised by its HUGE Porches on either end of the Body. 😉 I AM a U.S. Railroading NERD!! 😜 Elephant Poo💩!!! I laughed so hard!!!! 😄😂😜😀😂 SOO Line is a now defunct Railway from the Central U.S., they're 50 foot Hoppers of at least reasonable scale. Would have actually run behind that U.P. Loco in the early 70's.... The Containers didn't come into service until late 1984. Interesting Set indeed. It's at least worth the price - if it works! (I'm writing during a commercial) The track radius is 18"... EDIT: I've finished the Video, and agree with your assessment. Definitely more Toy than Hobby Grade.... But I would absolutely buy it for my Grandbabies, as it's not terrible! I am now curious about Steam Set. 😉 Carmine ✈🚂🚙
Awesome review. The locomotive looks to be a former AHM tooling. The set reminds of the Tyco and Life Like electric HO scale train sets seen here in the states.
Man, I wish we had these in america! Most cheap train sets are battery powered, as SMT mentioned, and have plastic track that can't be expanded, as they usually come in circles. And the next level up is a 100 dollar set by bachman, and all you get is just the EZ track, and a train, and of course the transformer. I think this would do wonders for anyone wanting to try out the model railroad hobby, as all you need is a basic train and a sense of imagination.
Those interested in authenticity should be aware that Union Pacific loco no. 3222 was an EMD SD40-2, and was new in the early 1970s. Ergo UP 3222 is not correct for an Alco C-628. I don't think the UP railroad ever bought any Alco C-628 units, but I have not verified this.
Thanks for a great review! I had Mehano trains as a kid since 1980.s. At that time still in former Yugoslavia ,Mehano was called Mehanotehnika (existing since 1950 s) .They made a very nice affordable train sets and also export them a lot in the USA or UK too...Today in Slovenia ,EU, Mehano produce starter sets like this one but also more expensive and more high detailed digital locos too.😊
Hey Sam!! Just wanted to know if you’ve decided if you’ll review 9F 92203 “Black Prince”. Get back to me with the answer and if you’ve not decided yet tell me. I know you might have to wait a while if you get one now but if you want you can wait for everything to get back to normal. Thanks -Harry
First off - Amazon. You didn't read what you were buying. You seldom buy from Amazon, you buy on Amazon. Most of what you find on Amazon is from other sellers. Say a customer goes into a store, opens a package and; damages , loses, or steals part of the contents and puts the box back on the shelf. The store finds this and they can't sell it so they sell it on Amazon, If you look at the price it is a bargain price and it will say `New but opened package'. and it will give the name of the seller.
No no, this was sold and dispatched by Amazon! The remaining stock is from a Polish seller - but that's not where mine came from! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Mehano was sort of a "every ones got one" here in the states. Although pretty much no one realize it. Because of the company eastern European heritage, remember, this was still the tail end of the cold war, It decided to market its products to established train manufactures that sold their products in the US. Everyone for AHM to Bachman to Model especially, repackaged and sold some or all of their models. They were great pullers despite the little 3 pole motor's, as they had all wheel drive by this point. I had a gp18 when I was a kid that was sold via Bachmann, I did not know it was a Mehano at that time. I always like it because it was about to pull huge trains. When I started installing DCC decoders, About 12 years ago, I used some of these models, from the likes of AHM as my early attempts. I was highly impressed by how well they put together for what they were.
It was what seduce me to buy too one set from Mehano , the Spanish AVE with a metal chassis loco, two cars and one fake loco, same controler and metal railway lines in Amazon for about that same price. I think it worth it too! Of course i made some improvements like real pantrografs, digitalization, ilumination and a set of spare 3 cars. It's like a bargain and some modeling work together!
Hi sam not sure you remember me but I did the quizzes and before one of them I asked about a very old and broken mainline train and you said that I could contact you about it but considering I have the attention span equivalent of the reliability of a Dapol egg van I do not know how is there a reliable way I can contact you about said loco - edit- also hope your safe during this time (wash your hands!)
Hey! Yeah I remember you - you can try Emailing me, but I do get tonnes of messages every day, and I just can't get back to them all! At the moment I'm still answering all video comments, so feel free to post any questions here! :D Thanks for watching - Sam :)
great vid sam i actually really like that set wouldnt buy it casue i got a layout ( a baseboard with a house 2 sheds and about 5 trees lol ) much better value than hornby junior ! an all wheel drive deisel for about £20 ! its amazing really
Unfortunately Mehano is not in business, they might have some old stock left but mostly parts and some rolling stock. Mehano - mehanotehnika as it was called during the days of the Yugoslavia, was an extremely good brand. Thats why it was imported to the USA for few decades by ATT, AHM, Master model makers, IHC, TYCO, Life like.. The locomotive is Alco C-628(not SD40-2), and it was all wheel drive since the motor revision in the mid `70s. Much respected brand even today. Yes, its a starter set, but the detailing is awesome - bear in mind that this same detailing is from the late `60s. SOO line is the famous US railroad (you didnt know?!?!). This right there is the reason why Hornby is not sought after in the US and many parts of EU. What you have is a set produced in the early 2000s (the latest) so Amazon probably had it as New old stock - thats why the packaging is as it is.This set was Mehano`s last try to get back on track in the more modern world of this hobby (they started in the analog era), thats why some of the stuff looks a bit cheesy and the molds are worn out - used for a long time, and thats why the detailing is not that perfect. The models were ahead of their time up untill the mid/late `90s. Off course Mehano offered their Pro line (started in the mid 90s) which is on the same level as all of today's brands.
Thanks very much for the info - are they no longer producing new models then?! Appreciate you letting me know about this - cheers! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
My first train set (Christmas 1978) was an HO Model Power Canadian National freight set (made by Mehanotechnika in Yugoslavia for Model Power, with the exception of the caboose, which was made by Roco) featuring an Alco RS-11. I still have the loco and it still runs.
Its just nearly the same technics as in my Mehano TGV Thalys. I got my TGV Thalys in a starterset too but a bit older then yours. It still runs fine with also a DIY light job done by me! The Mehano remote is indeed a really good one! I use them as daily drivers on my layout and they do the job really well! I'm really happy with them! :D Accept for that a month ago one of the two broke because for some reason when I plugged it in the power, it went rightaway to 100%+ for some reason. I scared the shit outta me because my old girl (Fleischmann br 01) went flying around the track and I just couldn't stop it! I needed to plug the power out and then the train stopped... I opened the remote it up, but nothing special was seen... I threw it away and bought a new second hand one on the internet for 5 euro's and that one is now doing its job nicely on my layout!
I've never heard of them "Mehano" but it was brilliant to watch. I'm 67 and just getting into model trains. Only been a few months into model trains but it's so addictive and so much money, I'm having a blast. Fulfilling my childhood dreams
I've got two mehano TGVs. It was probably better to buy a pair for €200 than a single one for €250. I can't complain, it serves it's purpose and they sell add-on carriages via proper model railway stores to make a full set at a very modest price.
@@SamsTrains They've got an all-metal chassis for the powered unit, but no lights The motor's a tiny bit noisier but still works fine and the noise is well within the range of what's acceptable. I got the Inoui and Ouigo ones, the printing (admittedly quite complex) on the Ouigo one is a tad rough but then they are supposed to be large pink circles. They do come in a matt finish though, all it needs is a bit of weathering around the running gear and it will be fine.
Hi Sam, awesome video. Do you think it would be easy to fit normal nem couplings onto it so it works with hornby rolling stock? And can it do hornby points?-Thanks, cal :)
Hope you enjoy creating your new pieces of scenery. Can now wait to see more videos like this about the different railway items available. Love hearing the history of the class.
Nice video.. reminds me of my first HO scale train set (my first train set!) Looks similar to what i remember.. a loco, cars, caboose (not in this one), track, controller, some scenic accessories(signs, people etc).. memory is hazey but yes..very cool :-)
Soo Line was a American railroad that sadly doesnt exist anymore. It ran in Wisconsin Minessota and Illinois(Chicago) So its not a fake or made up railroad
Amazing value! Yes, as others say, that loco and wagons would look much less like plastic toys with some good weathering - perhaps add a caboose to the consist? The 'elephant poo' could look really good after painting and grasses, bushes and trees etc. are added
£50 or so for something that an 8 year old will be ALL OVER is pretty good. And despite you referring to the oversized scenery chunk as the "elephant turd", 8 year olds are going to have HUGE amounts of fun turning that into a piece of grassy hill with a stream. Remember that Blue Peter got a LOT of mileage from persuading kids to build all sorts of things from cardboard bog roll tubes and suchlike, and this brings back some memories of watching those episodes :) 6 to 9 year old kids will have a blast with this, especially if their parents are happy to let them get messy with glue and paint on the "elephant turd" :D
An amazing videos Sam thank you for showing every one the different locomotive packs on offer from different place. Hope you enjoy your new locomotive and rolling stock. Take care
I actually bought the locomotive itself from Amazon for $28 (yes, I’m American) back in 2020. It was, for a good amount of time, my largest operable diesel locomotive. It was that way until earlier this year when I purchased a Bachmann SD40-2 With dcc and sounds from the real NS 3430 for an astounding $178. It replaced the mehano c630 as my largest diesel. I later sold it off after I converted to DCC.
The packaging, or rather lack thereof, is an Amazon thing. They've been pushing very hard to cut their shipping costs, so that means skimping on packing material and trying to SIOC (ship in own container, in other words just slap the shipping label on the product box) as many items as possible. Consequently the amount of items getting damaged in shipping has increased significantly.
Soo Line is a real company but I personally have not seen cars with those colors before. I think they just took some cars intended as Burlington Northern and Chessie System or something and wrote "Soo Line" on them. Usually Soo Line cars would be either white or dark red. Obviously there are always cars switching owners but I still think this is more a case of the manufacturer of this set just fudging stuff.
This looks ideal for a five year old. If they don't take to it, the price isn't too much to swallow, but if they do, it looks to be compatible with code 100 track, so can easily be extended. It's the sort of thing that Tri-ang used to make in the 1950s and 1960s.
Menaho also produces a starter set with G1206 locomotive, and the locomotive has a freaking speaker! And a DCC socket! And a metal chassis! And lots of not-molded details like metal railings and horns. And some wagons in that starter set even have metal wheels. It costs around $100, but still cheap. I have one and am absolutely amazed by the quality of the loco. But the rails are still steel.
Looks Ok for £50, but looking at the links you provided, the cargo train in currently unavailable. The steam train set is showing as £90.22 (80% increase in 20 months) but looking in detail it says temporarily unavailable.
SOO line is my 2nd favorite. I can't believe you never heard of it. I know you are not in America but still. And I am surprised there train car is green it should be white or red.
It's worth noting that the controller is AC and the supplied power supply is also AC (obviously!). I have a few of these and I really like the way they work particularly on my N gauge layout.
I definitely would of bought this set. I have just looked on eBay, only one New modern style train set which looks like the BR Advance Passenger train, may be the same one will pop up sooner or later
I don't have a trainset from.them, but I do have n N-scale Mehano ALCo, a Santa Fe styled RSD-15 in Conrail colors. It's got the wrong number, livery, and nose to be a Conrail RSD-15, but I love it nonetheless.
Sorry, definitely not an SD40-2. This is either a later Alco 6-axle Century-series, or a GE U28C (or similar). Not only are the trucks (bogies) wrong for an SD40-2, the SD40 (and 40-2) have a large “porch” on the front and rear which makes those locos quite distinctive, even among other EMD offerings, never mind GE units.
Hey believe it or not the sd40-2 has the same engine as the class 071 in the Republic of Ireland. You might not reply since this is an older video but I thought you might like that fact
The problem is Sam it has weak details and (an issue for many starting modelers) it is entirely non-prototype. It would be satisfactory to 4-10 years old. But myself, if I wanted to turn on an older boy I would not buy this set for them. The Locomotive seems top represent and Alco C638 (Poor Detail and paint) and the "Soo Line" Coal hoppers are prototype in the SOO LINE colour scheme but way too bright! The UP 40-Gondola is not bad for a 170's era (or earlier) layout
@@SamsTrains If you think that's neat you should really check out the sets offered by Kato. I have one of their sets that has the Metra transit with the old styled engine (which I think are still in service for Chicago are but limited) and for what it offers just might be a steal. I'll see on doing a video about it.
The loco is an Alco C628 and I don't think that Union Pacific ever had any. The SOO LINE is an actual railroad, but the colours on the models are way off. Great value for the money, though. Hornby please copy?
I'd really love to see you review the Steam version of this set. Looking at it online, it looks pretty interesting and I'm thinking about getting it. However, I live in the US, and I don't know how I'm going to deal with the power situation, since we have a different input/output and different voltage.
sending things in without packaging = bad news in the states because of package thievery. Freaking best buy sent my new smart TV without any exterior packaging and UPS just left it outside of my gate by the road.. I was lucky it was there when I got home since my neighborhood has a couple of thieves that roam it. Also a little note: that locomotive is an Alco Century "C" 6xx series (628) and not an EMD SD40-2 or a General Electric as some might think, you can tell by the trucksets (Bogies for you guys over the pond) and the cab windows in front. SOO Line was an American railroad that got merged by Canadian Pacific - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soo_Line_Railroad "it looks like it came out of an elephant" - What do you think they molded that from?
