Product Review ScaleTrains HO SD38-2 Locomotive SP - Heavy Duty Switch Engine! 

Just add a NRE or LTEX and it fits right in as a CN modeler I get your pain

My Conway River and Portland Railway (CR&P, or Crap railway as the locals have deemed it), got a really good deal on some used GM class from the Australian National, and a C and X class from the V/Line. So, you'll see Australian locos running through the backwoods of Maine on the old Maine Central lines. Modeller's license rules!

That sounds cool. I like this hobby because you can create "what if" scenarios like that. Thanks for watching!

I agree, fun should be the most important thing in any hobby. You're probably right, too, most people wouldn't know or care about the accuracy of having these models in a certain place. I will do a follow up with the beacon when I get around to figuring it out. Thanks for watching!

That's good to know. Thanks for the info and for watching!

I'm glad you liked the review. Thanks for watching!

I tried all the function keys on mine, nothing worked. I'm glad yours is good. Thanks for watching!

It looks to me like there are actually missing parts where the contacts should make contact.

One of the reasons I do this is that I think a lot of the objectivity has gone out of reviews in the hobby press. That said, I have gotten a handful of models sent to me for free, but I don't give them any special treatment. I buy the vast majority of the stuff I review myself. Thanks for watching!

They did a nice job on these. I don't think there are a lot more details that you could add to a model like this. Someone suggested crew figures, which would be cool. I'm glad you liked the review. Thanks for watching!

Absolutely... as fussy as I can be about details on equipment, the models are something that I intend to enjoy running. Having fun is the goal. Thanks for watching!

They do look like beautiful models but hard to fit into a Pacific Northwest BN layout. I've got one of the SD40-2Bs on pre-order. A little late for my 1970s era but I remember seeing the 7502 a number of times back in the day. A little modeler's license is OK. After all First rule of model railroading: Have fun. Second rule of model railroading: My layout = my rules. Glad to see you are having fun.

@Trains-With-Shane Further investigation with a multimeter would be the next logical step. I was a little pressed for time getting this review done so that's why I cut it off when I did. It's possible to see the pins with the dynamic brake hatch removed, but I couldn't get enough light in there to see if they were touching the parts of the board that are apparently the contacts. I may just redo the beacon with wires on my unit. If I wasn't confident that I could get it to work myself I'd probably send it back, but the model is otherwise very nice so I'll keep it (and I already swapped the couplers). Thanks for watching!

@BNGreen970 Some years ago I kitbashed a BN GP38-2B. Needless to say, but that probably wasn't ever a Donner Pass engine either. I still plan on running it. I agree, fun is the most important rule. Thanks for watching!

Yes, they're really nice. Thanks for watching!

Almost always. I reviewed a boxcar recently that had bolster washers, almost as if the manufacturer knows that the coupler height is going to need adjustment. Super easy fix to swap out the washers. I kind of wish all models were engineered that way. They could put shims between the draft gear box and the mounting pad on diesels. If the height is wrong, just remove or change the shim. Thanks for watching!

I'm sure a lot of us do. I have some other SP equipment that wasn't really used on Donner either, but it'll still end up on the layout. Thanks for watching!

The ScaleTrains AC4400CWs are very nice. If you haven't already seen it, I did a review on the SP version recently. Thanks for watching!

@@DanielCortopassi I have seen it. It’s a excellent review on an excellent model.

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for watching!

That's cool that at least one is still being used. I'm not sure about the number. I'd have to find some updated roster info and cross check. Thanks for watching!

I'm glad you liked the review. I hope you get your model back fixed and can enjoy using it. Thanks for watching!

They are very nice. That's unfortunate they're so expensive in the UK. I hope you're able to eventually find more at a reasonable price. Thanks for watching!

I'll have to follow up on that in a future video. Thanks for watching!

That would have been a lot of work to kitbash. I'm assuming your friend probably started with an SD40-2, but looking at the SD38-2s there are quite a few differences. I'm glad ScaleTrains did whatever they did for quality control. Other than the coupler height (which is almost all models) and the beacon issue, these are really good. I appreciate not having to do all the kitbashing to have a couple of these. Thanks for watching!

I'm glad you liked the review. And yes, fun is important. At the end of the day we're playing with little trains. Thanks for watching!

I would imagine that ScaleTrains would want to sell more of these, so I could see them doing additional versions. I have a soft spot for CNW, so I think they'd look really cool in yellow and green. Thanks for watching!

It looks like the orange lens is not quite all the way seated into the base. I haven't tried to fix it yet. It's not something I spotted with my eyes. It's amazing what shows up in close-up video! Thanks for watching!

I have a lot of equipment that is probably not likely to have operated on Donner Pass in the 90s, even other 90's era SP engines that were normally used in other places. I have a lot of Santa Fe, too, and a lot of other equipment. As long as it's fun we're doing it right. Thanks for watching!

@@DanielCortopassi Exactly

Absolutely. If it's not fun, then why why have a hobby? Thanks for watching!

I agree! Thanks for watching!

They are really nice models. Thanks for watching!

These were definitely unusual on the SP. I'm glad you liked the review. Thanks for watching!

Having too many trains seems to be a symptom of this hobby for a lot of people, myself included. I don't even really know how many trains I have in HO anymore. It would probably scare me if I ever did an inventory. It's hard to resist those shiny new trains, as you said. I have cut back on my buying quite a bit, but then companies like ScaleTrains keep putting out more cool SP stuff. Thanks for watching!

@@DanielCortopassi I hear you on numbers if inventoried! When I moved to my current home in late 2017, I probably had over 40 boxes trains at the time (the kind copy paper comes in - some of them the larger boxes that hold two rows of legal paper reams); since then I have added quite a few more. They've all been put on racks and shelves but I'm running out of shelf space. One thing I do do, is go through my collection periodically and looks for models that I can part with and sell, partly to fund better or more appropriate models and partly to keep the collection from getting even larger. The recent Tangent yellow stripe 40' SP modernized box cars were sure a big hit for SP fans, but being that I model late 70's thru early 80's (I was a teen during the 70's and trains still looks wrong to me without cabooses) the numbers had dwindled down, so I only bought 1 1965 rebuild and 2 1968 rebuilds Yellow stripe boxcars. If Tangent offers them again to include late era survivors (1980), I may add a couple more. Soon I'll be going through my inventory to weed out out more rolling stock. I've already sold off most of my late 80's - early 90's rolling stock. I used to buy more of some models but like you, am trying to cut back, but as you mentioned, sometimes there are must haves, like those SP yellow stripe modernized 40 boxcars. And they went everywhere too so people nation wide can justify a couple.

I didn't see the windows when I was doing the review, but I'll check that later. Thanks for pointing it out. I didn't notice a difference in the paint colors when I had the models in front of me. It's possible it's the way it looks on camera. I sometimes adjust the lighting and such between shots, and often do some adjustments while editing. Thanks for watching!

That would be cool. Some of the ScaleTrains GE models have that. Thanks for watching!

Okay, I'll give that a try. Thanks for the suggestion and for watching!

@@DanielCortopassi your welcome! Let me know if it works.

That's interesting. I wonder if other people have had the same issue. There's not a super obvious contact point on the circuit board, just a couple of exposed solder pads. The LokSound 5 has plenty of outputs, so I was thinking of maybe just hard wiring the beacon to one of those that's not being used. Thanks for watching!

I will probably hard wire mine as well, when I get a little time. My couplers had same issue as yours, too low, again I will do what you did to fix the coupler height problem. Thanks Dan

Thanks for watching!

I haven't run these except on the workbench, but they seem pretty well matched to each other, at least at low speeds (don't have enough room to let them go faster right now). Eventually I'll speed match them to my other units, but if you just wanted to pair them with each other, it seems like they should work okay. Thanks for watching!

It would probably require kitbashing. I did a quick search and there are some 3D printed shells available on Shapeways, but they're not SP prototypes. It would be cool if someone would make a model of one. Thanks for watching!

Same here. These SD's do look very nice, especially with the green parts near the axles and all the other trimmings. They were delayed by many months because the first batch were no up to ScaleTrains standards.

If I wasn't planning to build a layout with a large yard I might have passed on them, too, though I will admit that when it comes to the overall layout, I'm not super strict about what can run on it. I'm looking forward to using them as switchers. Thanks for watching!

I've already reviewed a ScaleTrains SP SD45, and several SD45Rs. I broke down and reserved an SD45X even though they're a little old for my era, so I will be reviewing that eventually. Thanks for watching!

It might be a little tricky to get crew figures into the cab, but that would be cool. The SD9 is one that I kitbashed from a Proto 2000 unit years ago. I'm glad you liked it. The SD38-2s are very nice. Thanks for watching!

@@DanielCortopassi Thanks for answering Dan. I saw a few videos of ScaleTrains in their China factory. It's crazy all they can do with a bit of tooling and cheap labour ! Seriously, today's models are so highly detailed. That's why you often open a box for a review and you end up with a part that felt down from a car or an engine. But still, I think there's always room for improvement. How come your engine had a default beacon ??? Is it because it hasn't been tested before packing up ? To my eyes, it's more than probable. Sometimes, paint is too thick. Most of the time, especially on cars, some plastic part are molded in car color but not painted like it. I don't know the cost for Scaletrains to have an engine like yours beeing produce in China ? For the DCC and sound version, I'm sure that it's less than a $100 USD. Nice profit here ! So why not painting those mold plastic parts or why not making sure that rotary beacon is working before selling it ? Quality is not on the mainline anymore. More on the siding ! Keep on your good work.

Unfortunately, I'll have to say "no" to buying a centipede for review. Those are cool but too far out of my geographic region of interest and era. Thanks for watching!

@@DanielCortopassi , thank you for taking the time to read my comment, and though you couldn’t do a review I appreciate going through the hassle of responding to me, thank you, and have a good day, great review as always.