REVIEW: MiniTrix 12455 DB V300 with Sound

I have heard very few people say good things about sound in N scale.  Well, I'm about to buck the trend.  This V300 has been rock solid, both as a locomotive and as a locomotive with sound.  That is, even if it didn't have sound, I'd be very happy with it, and the sound performance has been flawless.

Is it loud enough: Yes.  It's really loud.  I have the volume set at 150/255 and find it really loud.  I don't want to turn it up more.

Is the sound distorted?   Does is sound bad when turned up?  No!   It sounds good, all the time.

How many sounds:  Start up, Shut down, various rev ranges, wheel squeal, and air brake release, horn and whistle.

The DCC interface from the factory has been trouble free.

So, I've been very happy with this engine.  I guess my only complaint is that when there's dirt on the rails that creates a power interruption you can hear this revving down when it stops, and then if it recovers it revs back up again as it pulls away.   If you're not looking it it, by listening only, you may think something peculiar is going on, but it makes sense.  If the alternative is it coming to a dead and silent stop I don't think I can complain much, and as is it's great for spotting trouble on your rails.  

Overall, I'd give this a 9/10.  This locomotive is singularly the reason I continue to believe in N scale sound, and keep rolling the dice looking for similarly good performers.  I've preordered a new Fleischmann 460 with sound which I've read good things about, I just hope it lives up to this.

Here's a video I found on You Tube this will give you a good taste of what this thing sounds like:

From the Manufacturer:

German Federal Railroad (DB) class V 300 general-purpose heavy diesel hydraulic locomotive. Built in 1957 by Krauss-Maffei as the type ML 2200 C'C', remotored in 1959 as the type ML 3000 C'C'. The locomotive looks as it did from 1964 to 1968. Era III.

The locomotive frame is die-cast metal. The locomotive has a digital decoder for DCC, Selectrix, and conventional operation. It also has a sound effects circuit with many operating sounds, diesel motor, horn sounds, blower motors, and others. The locomotive has a 5-pole motor with 2 flywheels. 4 axles powered. Traction tires. The headlights and marker lights are LED's and can be controlled digitally. The engineer's cabs have interior details in relief. The locomotive has a close coupler mechanism. Length over the buffers 127 mm / 5".

Digital version for DCC and Selectrix, with sound functions.

My German crocodile has arrived! The Fleischmann FL-739401 E94

The E94 with the new decoder installed.  I used an ESU LocPilot Micro 3.0 with a 6 pin plug on a wire harness.  Fitting a decoder with the plug mounted on the decoder body is impossible with this engine.   Even with the plug harness, it's a tight fit because of the length of the wires, but it works.  I could have trimmed them down and soldered them back onto the plug but carefully squishing it in there proved much easier.

It's a smooth runner though mechanically rather noisy.  Perhaps all those gears needed to drive 8 wheels on a three part articulated body? When running at speed there are vibration noises, as well as substantial gear noise.

Happily, all that noise seems to fit the engine, it being a 1930's electrical  behemoth!  Note the light weathering on the trucks and grills.  If you look at my images posted earlier you will see these were previously all black.  I like to dry brush some grey highlights and then spot some grimly black on the lower surfaces, nothing too extreme, but I like to bring out the details.

The trouble with weathering is once I start I tend to get carried away.  I have a brush in hand and just look for something else to paint! When you have a hammer every problem looks like a nail...  This poor little boxcar took the brunt of my creative enthusiasm. 

REVIEW: Minitrix Bavarian S 3/6 #12259

I say:

This is a very pretty locomotive but I cannot recommend it.    It's operational characteristics are very poor.  I want this to be excellent, I wish this was my favorite, but it just does not work well.   The audio fails.  It produces random sounds more often than not.   When it work, it does not last.   Run this train for  a while and sooner or later the audio will go horribly wrong.  Reset CV 910 to 1 to fix the issue, but only for a while, and only for the forward running sounds.  Unreliable.  Reversing sounds seem truncated as well.  Sometimes the reversing movement is jittery too.  It's very pretty, and it cost a pretty penny, it's a real shame that it's one really cool feature does not work well.   I suggest you avoid the sound equipped model, and I say this as someone who loves DCC sound.   It's not worth the grief in this case.

I probably should send it back, but the last time I had a defect issue with a Trix train it took a year to get the engine returned, so I'm not inclined to go through that hassle again.

I found this thread on a German language board discussing issues with this model:

http://www.1zu160.net/scripte/forum/forum_show.php?id=370034

2/4/12 UPDATE: I've sent this back to Trix for repairs.  It's worth it, otherwise this is just a very pricy paperweight.  Will let you all know how it goes.

1/10/15 UPDATE:  Wow!  It been three years and today I finally have closure.  I just heard from the shop that the factory has lost it!  Well, not a huge sunrise, given the timeline, but here's the good news:  the factory issued a credit to the shop and the shop then to me.   So, while I lost what was doubtlessly my most attractive locomotive, bar none, I did get the please of it for some months, and now I get to spend that money again.   Yes, it's certainly inconvenient that it went wrong and I do miss it and probably would have replaced it with the same were it still available, but I feel both the store and factory have done the right thing given the circumstance.  The store is www.eurorailhobbies.com and I entirely recommend them to anyone in North America interested in continental trains.   

So, it's been less then 24 hours, has the money already burnt a hole in my pocket?   You bet!  I've just ordered the Minitrix SBB RAM TEE 4 car rail set, with factory DCC and sound!   Hopefully this unit will have a happier life then my last Trix factory sound loco.   Somewhat worrying is the fact that both are of the same generation of had ware, but I hope my poor lost 3/6 was just an anomaly.

The manufacturer says:

Prototype: Royal Bavarian State Railroad (K.Bay.Sts.B.) class S 3/6 express locomotive. Early production run with a streamlined engineer's cab and gas lighting. Used for fast passenger trains, express trains, and cross-border long distance trains. Era I.

Model: The locomotive and tender are constructed of die-cast metal. The locomotive has a powerful motor with a bell-shaped armature and a flywheel. The motor and the gear drive are built into the locomotive. 3 axles powered. Traction tires. The locomotive has a digital decoder for DCC, Selectrix, and conventional operation, built into the tender. The sound effects circuit with a speaker is also built into the tender. The headlights change over with the direction of travel and There is a close coupling between the locomotive and the tender. Length over the buffers 134 mm / 5-1/4".