Piko 25 Ton Battery Powered Diesel

[Madman]

Would anyone be familiar with this loco ? I would like some thoughts on it's performance.

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[Greg Elmassian]

There were a lot of posts on this when it came out, you might peruse them too.

 

[dunnyrail]

Great little puller, but mine was a track powered one converted to battery power.

 

[AusrailQLD]

I bought one with the track cleaning pads, sadly I don't think the cleaning pads works as well as they claim.
Wish I had bought one of those LGB track Cleaner locos.

But it's a nice little loco, although I do recommend getting some high quality batteries.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

There's no comparison between this little loco with a bit of "drywall sanding paper" vs the heavy duty cleaning of a real LGB cleaning loco. Of course there is no comparison in price either!!

 

[Madman]

Would anyone know if a sound unit can be added to this loco ? I think I read somewhere that an add-on sound module is available.

Here's one with factory sound;

PIKO 38509 SF 25-Ton Diesel Battery R/C w/Sound

Features This loco is battery-powered. (Batteries not included. High-capacity rechargeable batteries recommended.) Detailed GE 25-Ton diesel electric locomotive with lights Simple R/C Pocket Remote with pre-programmed buttons to control speed and d

www.trainworld.com

 

[viaEstrecha]

Would anyone be familiar with this loco ? I would like some thoughts on it's performance.

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[Edited] I bought a non r/c one last week (with the cleaning pads). With only 6xAAA basic Amazon rechargeables, it potters around my roughly circular and slightly undulating main lines very happily for 2 hours and does just enough to polish the rail tops ready for track powered locos. It would not be enough on its own to do track which has been out of use for many weeks, but as something you run, say weekly, after the big initial clean at the beginning of the season, I think it is great. You still need to do a quick hand buff of point frogs but it saves a lot of effort and aches.

Unlike the version with the pocket remote, the non r/c version with or without pads it is not the sort of loco you'd want to use for anything other than cleaning or simple posing circuits (it will certainly pull a few wagons OK but obviously battery life reduces) as the slide switch is under the chassis and hard to reach, and so I've found it best to catch it on the move and lift it off the rails in order to get to the switch, though one has to be very careful that a big hand does not damage the handrails and small detail. The r/c one would be ok for operating small trains, though a chum who has one with the fob told me it is not as good as a proper remote for sensitive operation such as shunting and speed control is stepped up/down by multiple presses of the appropriate buttons. If you have an end to end layout, I'd say the r/c is a must.

 

[dunnyrail]

I bought one last week. With only 6xAAA basic Amazon rechargeables, it potters around my roughly circular main lines for 2 hours and does just enough to polish the rail tops ready for track powered locos. It would not be enough on its own to do track which has been out of use for many weeks, but as something you run, say weekly, after the big initial clean at the beginning of the season, I think it is great. You still need to do a quick hand buff of point frogs but it saves a lot of effort and aches. Unlike the version with the pocket remote, it is not the sort of loco you'd want to use for anything other than cleaning or posing circuits (it pulls a few wagons) as the slide switch is under the chassis and hard to reach, and so I've found it best to catch it on the move and lift it off the rails in order to get to the switch, though one has to be very careful that a big hand does not damage the handrails and small detail.

Yes mine has had a bit of a war in the handrails with some broken, inevitable as they are quite fine. I have repaired in places with very fine holes drilled in the broken ones and fine wire glued in but that is pretty well keyhole surgery.

Would anyone know if a sound unit can be added to this loco ? I think I read somewhere that an add-on sound module is available.

Here's one with factory sound;

PIKO 38509 SF 25-Ton Diesel Battery R/C w/Sound

Features This loco is battery-powered. (Batteries not included. High-capacity rechargeable batteries recommended.) Detailed GE 25-Ton diesel electric locomotive with lights Simple R/C Pocket Remote with pre-programmed buttons to control speed and d

www.trainworld.com

I added a My Loco Sound module to mine but had to put a box on the rear of the cab to find space for it. Not sure where Pimo will have stuffed a sound unit in as they are a challenge to work on as my bash shows.

Modifying a Piko 25 Tonner to Battery Power.

Now I imagine that some on here will be wondering why he is doing that when there exists a Battery Powered one already? Well the answer is that I have no need for a Track Cleaning Loco, I want one that is controllable (the Track Cleaner to the best of my knowledge can only be made to go...

www.gscalecentral.net

 

[Madman]

I'm not sure that everyone understands which Piko loco I am referencing. It's not the track cleaning version, which came out early on in the series of 25 ton locos, but the newer R/C version. It has four traction tires. The front of the hood ( radiator ) is removable. Once the radiator is removed, a battery holder pulls out. Six AA batteries are inserted in the holder.

 

[dunnyrail]

I'm not sure that everyone understands which Piko loco I am referencing. It's not the track cleaning version, which came out early on in the series of 25 ton locos, but the newer R/C version. It has four traction tires. The front of the hood ( radiator ) is removable. Once the radiator is removed, a battery holder pulls out. Six AA batteries are inserted in the holder.

I think I was, but what I am not sure about is if it could take sound with just the batteries as fitted. Do they do a battery sound one? If so you may be better getting one of them.

 

[PhilP]

Would anyone know if a sound unit can be added to this loco ? I think I read somewhere that an add-on sound module is available.

Hi Dan,
I think you will find the cleaning version, and the (basic) radio control version are the same loco. - But no skates (for the cleaning pads) on the r/c version.
The Piko key-fob r/c has two trigger outputs, so you can trigger two sounds.

A MyLocoSound card could possibly be shoe-horned in, but the Piko receiver board is pretty big, so does not leave a lot of space.

If you just want either a horn, or a 'motor' noise, there are smaller units.

PhilP.

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

Here's one with factory sound;

The link to the TrainWorld website indicates that the "with sound" version isn't available until the end of September (Piko-America's website says "October", but that might only be a day different!). The blurb says "the highly realistic digital sound is completely new, a joint development of PIKO and TCS, a name already well-respected for digital sound decoder technology. The TCS website (Diesel V4 Sound List | Train Control Systems) lists sound units for three GE diesel locos, but not yet one for the 25 tonner. Maybe THEY are the right people to ask whether they plan to make it available separately, and whether it'll be an easy fit to the earlier non-sound Piko 25 tonners.

Cheers

David

 

[Ralphmp]

Is this the little scamp?

 

[Madman]

Is this the little scamp? View attachment 300972

That be the one ! I am curious as to where the sound card could possibly be fitted, even in the one with factory sound. The six AA batteries take up all of the room under the forward hood.

 

[PhilP]

That be the one ! I am curious as to where the sound card could possibly be fitted, even in the one with factory sound. The six AA batteries take up all of the room under the forward hood.

Probably, under the floor in the cab, adjacent to the receiver?

PhilP

 

[dunnyrail]

Probably, under the floor in the cab, adjacent to the receiver?

PhilP

Having stuffed additional batteries on mine in that location I think it will be about the only place that does not show. There is a place for a speaker in the cab roof (well there was on my originally track powered one). But I still wonder about sound with the 6 AA batteries.