I love BN SD60s. The tiger stripe goes superbly with the Cascade green. I have all 3 road numbers in HO Proto 2000 (8301 is a custom number) and they are by far my favorite locos to operate along side their Oakway brethren. Thanks for sharing this awesome EMD in your scale!
Hey Eric, best review yet! Your videos are done perfectly and such a joy to watch. Thanks for all the time you have put into sharing your work. It has really inspired me and you have been a huge reason that I have gotten back into the hobby. I cant think of anyone more deserving of the MTH Blue Comet Award. If I was in charge of Lionel, MTH, Atlas, or any manufacturer, my first move would be to hire you to exclusively review the products. I hope you don't stop any time soon!
@littleevan99 I'm not sure I agree with you. Just because the tooling is 10 years old, doesn't mean it's bad. It's simply an older tooling, that's all. You also have to keep in mind that all train makers have to reuse their toolings as much as they can to get as much value out of them as possible. Toolings are VERY expensive, so they have to reuse them in order to turn a profit. It's a great model and I'm very happy with it.
I really liked the comments comparing this engine (detail) to the other brand/lines so we can learn exactly where it stands compared to those. Great video.
Such a fun review. The thing I like about your channel is the consistency. I thought this was a new video but it’s 9 years old and in my recommended. Great video quality even for today
the front hook is called the lead line. the second hook is called the load line. the phrase for raising or lowering the boom is, boom up, boom down. and last but not least the out riggers are supposed to have hydraulic legs with steel pad feet. the lumber is used to build a bigger base.
I have been thinking abut getting one of these cranes. I think you just pushed me over the edge with this SPECTACULAR review. I already have the new SOO SD60 and it is awesome. Thanks so much for showing this piece off.
The SD60 is a 3,800 horsepower, six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by EMD between 1984 and 1995, for heavy-duty drag freight or medium-speed freight service. The SD60 is essentially identical to the SD50 externally, but has a different prime mover, the new 16-cylinder EMD 710G3A, and a computer-controlled electrical system. Chicago & North Western's railroad manual estimated that the SD60 is 3% more fuel efficient than SD50, while a pair of SD60s was up to 16% more efficient than three SD40s pulling a standard coal train. Norfolk Southern has been modernizing their old SD60s since 2010 into SD60Es, a model specific to NS.
I was into O Scale from 1976 to 1988. I began running trains again but went to G Scale in 2000. There is alot of differences between the O and G scale worlds. G scale has multiple scale ratios. I run 1:29 scale G Gauge and there is no such thing as dummy units. Even B units in G 1:29 scale are powered. However there is not the same amount of choices for G as there is for O scale.
BN #8301 -- 2010 EMD SD-60, tiger striped, MaxxForce DT. Because I have the 2010 Volume 1/Signature Edition Catalog, I'd like to have this engine along with the Bucyrus-Erie/JCB crane and the boom car. I just love the Burlington Northern Cascade Green uniform and can't get away with it as much as I do with the Santa Fe Warbonnet/Super Fleet livery. Also, I grew up listening to the noises of the MaxxForce DT. When I was growing up it was still called the DT466. It was renamed MaxxForce DT in 2008.
Eric, I have the PRR crane, and since I could not locate a PRR boom car, I found the Santa Fe boom car, had a friend of mine put PRR decals on it. it looks nice with the black and silver, instead of yellow. Everything works the same as your video, EXCEPT..... my boom car produces steam sounds, not diesel sounds. its more of an old steam tractor sound, you can hear it putt putt putt. just curious if you would know if there is a way to change it? or is it roulette from factory?
Hi Eric. The fuel tank on this SD-60 looks horrible. It is clearly not to scale and that is very important to how the whole engine looks. Also very important is the correct location of the front truck. Nothing looks worse then an SD type locomotive that appears to be dragging it's front truck. Please note that I can not see this in this video, But I know on an MTH I had the location of the front truck was horrible. And yes I hate the crew talk. LOL. james
I just got a Lionel Soo line SD60M. It has Railsounds ,TMCC, operating ditch lights (with a TMCC remote) and Crewtalk. I'm looking into a TMCC remote, and are they easy to use?
Another great review, Eric.I've had the BN crane and boom for months but haven't had the opportunity to use them yet.You have me thinking about the SD-60 now.That second Pan Am car was jumping all over the place at the end there.That was awesome.I grew up around SP lines.They were notorious for poor track upkeep and cars moved around like that all the time (seriously all the time).Did you make that happen on purpose?If so, can you share how, please?I would like make mine do that occasionally.TY
thanks for the response,umm,one other question..when the boom is down in the bed of the other car,...does it go around curves that way or do you have to adjust to some degree???i am running O 72 ..great work you do..i have learned an awful lot and probably as much money as well..looking forward to your next product updates..
Hey, Eric. Thank you so much for posting all of these fantastic videos to RU-vid. It's unbelievably helpful to be able to watch all of your How-to videos and reviews. I discovered your channel not long ago and have learned much more about the hobby since then. I was wondering if you could tell me how you create terrain in between the railroad tracks on your layout. I know one man who pours plaster wherever there is ground to give it a rough and uneven texture. Do you do anything like that?
Will I get any trains with tracks within a Rs 7000 range..That too in Indian Rupees..! Because I live in India...and I am really in love with these type of train models and Erik's videos..!!
Excellent review as always Eric....almost as good as mine...ha-ha! I often wondered if anyone had to deal with fixing the strings if tension was released...now I know. Just looking at it, I wouldn't wish string fixing on anyone! Did you happen to see how far down the hooks go? I measured 30 inches on the little hook..ALOT of string!
Aw man, I absolutely dislike post diesel conversion (model) railroading, but that has got to be the coolest thing I have ever seen. You may have just converted me. If not, I am certain a nice coat of paint can make it look much more welcome among the postwar or wartime steam locomotive designs like the Northern 261. You should create a channel just for simulated operations and set up some scenarios for it! Have a freight bypass a derailment as the crane rights the problem, hook back up and get clearance to proceed, then follow the MOW train back to the shop for some maintenance.
Wow, awesome review Eric!!!!!!!!!!!! I have the BN Crane and Boom cars and love them, they are so much fun and think they are on par with Vision Line products! I have been thinking about getting the matching BN SD60, but with so many new products from Lionel that I want and so little $, it is difficult to choose! Anyways, thanks again for the awesome review my friend and have a great one! P.S. Happy Holidays!!!
@littleevan99 Well, times are tough and small companies like Lionel and others just don't have the resources to make sure everything works perfectly on every product. They're also extremely busy with repairs leading up to Christmas and they just don't have a large enough staff to handle it as well as it probably should be. It all comes down to the economy and companies fighting to stay alive. It's a rough time for the entire hobby.
I hope Lionel releases more sd60s but the tooling is so old I'm guessing they would end up making a new tooling. If we did get another sd60 with new tooling we would probably see kinematic pilots though
Awesome, well done video! Good quality, great editing (I'm a professional editor). Boy, I love your track too. Do you have a video on how you made that? I've been out of model railroading for years, but am excited to get back in it!
Eric, first time I watched this video - interesting I own the older TMCC version of the CP Car and it had more of a Steam shovel Sound on the sound board. Is yours considered Legacy crane car? just curious. Other than that I love this car I just purchased another one - Chessie Crane and sound car.
The BN markings are exactly the same as in the Lionel catalog and the real SD60. For some reason the SOO SD60 markings on the finished model are different in Lionel catalog and the real SD60. It must have been a series of mistakes.
I try to get over it, but I can't when you have seen HO(2 rail) layouts that are just as good, if not better than these O scale layouts. KUDOS to the O scale guys though
hey that would be a nice set if they had a caboos it would be the money i have a dd35a and i have 4 crans and cars but i would love this as a set with a caboos
It's a shame that the locomotive is not a true 12 wheel drive. I owned a Lionel Chesssie SD-40 back in the late 80's and I believe that was a true 12 wheel drive but can't rememer. It sorta takes away from prototypical operation. EMD 12 wheel drive locomotives were needed for heavy operations. In the G Scale world this would have been a true 12 wheel drive locomotive.
1. What's with the pumpkin-orange-and-black stripes on the hood? My guess: Work train warning stripes? 2. Can the crane lift, say, a heavy steam engine back onto the rails?
@Weiberts Yeah, it has sequence control. At the end of the video, when I start the train moving, you can hear the "ding-ding-toot" sound that plays when sequence control is activated.
I understand reusing tooling, but Lionel is just slapping in legacy and still charging a premium price. That isn't right. The fuel tank was way wrong 10 years ago and it still is today. But hey... It is a 3 rail toy train, not a scale model so I suppose it doesn't matter. I think I paid about $225 or so for my CSX Back in the day. Doubling the price just to have Legacy? It is a decent model, but IMHO it shouldn't be so expensive. The crane cars are really cool though. They bring a lot of "play
Lionel used about ten year old tooling I know sense I almost bought the BN SD-60 2 years back( the old one with TMCC) so yes about 2000-2001 tooling. Lionel's really ripping us off thru details and reliability.