Train Line Mallet on my new line - 3 Short Vids

dunnyrail

dunnyrail

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Not sure that I have seen many Vids of these beauties. So here are three of mine taken on the iPhone Today. Quality not the best, but I guess that on a very Sunny day things are not so good with the old iPhone.

v1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuDulEFGDlA

v2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8BteAiOK48

v3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tPiXfd73lA

JonD
 
First video I've seen of one of these Mallet's, the sound is fantastic. Thanks for posting
 
First time I´ve seen one of these either. Thanks for the video! :o
 
Very nice, JonD, love the new line! Thanks for sharing your vids. Have a "like" from me. :)

It's good to see your TL Mallet in action - as you say, there hasn't been very much posted about them since they actually became available.
I finally gave in to temptation and ordered myself one of these last week, it arrived (well, actually I picked it up from the local Parcelfarce depot) this Saturday, so I got to give it an extended run at our local GSS Area Organiser's open day on Sunday. Having been unsure for a long while and unconvinced by some of the photos I'd seen, I must say that in reality it's very nice indeed and I'm glad I went for it - it certainly seemed to run well on Sunday and got quite a lot of attention.

I'd be very interested in sharing experiences of it - in particular, have you made much use of the smoke unit in yours, I didn't notice any smoke in the vids? The unit in mine seems to be disappointing, considering it's supposed to be a pulsed smoker (I assume a Massoth one?) - I can hear the fan working, but it emits very little actual smoke, just a few wisps here and there. Given that TL45 don't supply any smoke oil with it at all, my tests were with some LGB fluid of questionable age, as that's all I had available to hand, and I'm wondering if the Massoth stuff might work better - what have you tried in yours?

The only other negative that I noticed was that when running-in my loco on the test rollers for the specified 20 minutes each way, the front power unit appeared a bit more sluggish and slow-running than the rear one - this isn't evident at all when the loco is on the track and running normally, but on the rollers when both motors are not under load and free to run at their own pace, it's quite noticeable - at times, the front unit doesn't even start to turn on speed step 1 (on DCC), while the rear unit does. I'm wondering if I ought to open up the gearboxes and see if one is over- or under-greased...?

Anyway, I'm planning to write up a detailed review of the loco at some point soon, and it would be interesting to hear the opinions of anyone else who has bought one so far?

Jon.
 
Stainzmeister said:
......
Its good to get some insight into this loco. I trust that when you tried the smoke unit that the recommended "dose" was trickled in. The Massoth version I fitted to the Stainz gushed smoke out.
......
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Yes, I put in the specified 5ml, via a very useful measuring pipette that TL45 DO supply with the loco. If I don't get better results after a bit more testing, then I will be contacting TL45 themselves to ask about it - maybe I have a duff unit and it's not heating properly?

If I had to sum up my initial thoughts about the loco very briefly, I'm very happy with it; it looks great (much better "in the flesh" than in some photos), runs well and sounds lovely; TL45 are fitting Massoth XLS PLuG decoders ex-works now, which I don't think was their original plan for it but is just fine with me. There is no question that the Mallet is quite expensive for what it is, but then again the new release M/LGB Meyer IVk with DCC and sound is even more expensive (not that I'd buy one at that price!) so in some ways it's all relative. I did save over £150 off the UK price by ordering direct from a German stockist, so that was nice. ;)

Jon.
 
Wow, loads of comments.

Will try a face forward Vid ASAP.

Never used the Smokeunit, in truth I personally think that they are a waste of space. So possibly may have trashed mine already. Though a good dose of LGB Smoke Oil was put in on the Shop Test Run. Though I guess the muttering when it is stationary might be a fan. I thought it may have been the DCC circuit chundering.

Never noticed while running any difference in the Motor Units, though this may be present.

Mine came at a good price, last at old before the up-pricing took effect. Not sure that I got it as cheep as from Germany, but as mentioned elswhere no money changed hands as I had sold a heap of redundant LGB.

Those of you waiting in the wings, I personally do not think that you will be disappointed. Though it has to be said there are some that will not be happy. G is what you make of it.for me and my line, it was a must have. Now I can get rid of my other Sachen Meyer which was standing in for this baby.

JonD
 
Where did you get yours from, JonD - Glendale?

The smoke unit can, according to the manual, be run "dry" - so you shouldn't have damaged it - though it's probably a good idea if you leave it turned off, at least then you don't get the fan noise; button F7 on your Navvie turns the smoke unit on and off.
The different running speed on the two motor units on mine seems to be improving the more it gets run-in - I had it up on the rollers again today (after it spent a good hour or so on the track on Sunday) and the difference, though still there, is definitely less than before. Now you can only really tell by the fact that the motions of the two power units get gradually out of sync with each other.
Tested the smoke unit more today too, and that also now seems a little better - it's hardly belching clouds, but the amount of smoke is getting a bit more than before.

Like you, I'm very happy with the loco overall! I agree that there will be some nitpickers and rivet-counters who may not like it, but that's their problem.... ;)

Jon.
 
Jon,
Yes it came from Glendale. They emailed me knowing that I wanted one and knowing that I had enough funds in the kitty from my second hand sales. No brainer actually so I said yes immediately and picked it up last Saturday 7th June when it was raining and could do nothing in the Garden.
JonD
 
As you say, JonD, a no-brainer then! That's the way to do it, saves on any resistance from the "Domestic Management" too..... ;)
Coincidentally you got yours the very same day that I got my hands on mine - I would have had to wait for it to be delivered on Monday, but I really wanted to be able to run it at Gordon's (our GSS area organiser) open day on Sunday so I drove down to Chelmsford depot on Saturday morning and collected it from there. Sadly no video of it got taken at the event, one member had his video camera there but had forgotten to charge the battery, so it gave up after just a few minutes of filming other stuff!

The Mallet happily trundled round for the best part of an hour with four LGB Harz coaches behind it, making lots of very nice noises - I love the "echo" effect on the whistle! :)

Jon.
 
Good videos JonD, many thanks for posting.

I've got a green 5902 on order (with Kent Garden Rail - my UK supplier) and looking forward to seeing how it compares with my black Kiss 5901 when it arrives.

Spoke with the TrainLine people at the Dortmund InterModellbau in April and they told me that production was just starting on the green 5902 - not sure whether should take that information with a pinch of salt.....time will tell ;)

Keith
 
KentKeith said:
.......
I've got a green 5902 on order (with Kent Garden Rail - my UK supplier) and looking forward to seeing how it compares with my black Kiss 5901 when it arrives.........
Keith
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I didn't know Kiss did a 5901, Keith - I've only ever seen pics of their 5906. Do you have a photo of it you can post?

Jon.
 
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Just for the Stainzmeister, there is now a vid of her running forwards. I have also started some more minor Mods. The first being to cut down the Coal Bin on the Water Tank. You may notice in the vid that it is missing, still in Westerntor shopsat the time of writing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8I9Axt3Aps

I have also done a full trip round the line, but I want to edit this in iMovie and am grappling with trying to add Text so that you can see where you are on the Vid. But the new more intuitive iMovie is about as user antagonistic as Windows. They must be taking lessons from Bill Gates. Even the Mac book that I have is unfathomable. Grrrrr.

JonD
 
Zerogee said:
I didn't know Kiss did a 5901, Keith - I've only ever seen pics of their 5906. Do you have a photo of it you can post?

Jon.
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Jon,

Have tried to attach a pic of 99 5901 but the system won't allow me to attach a pic in either the "quick" reply or "full" reply. As soon as I press the "browse" box the reply message disappears and reverts to the original message.

I've posted loads of pictures in the past but I give up now - it's just a frustrating waste of time.

If you could pm your e:mail Jon I'll send you the pic via e:mail.

Keith
 
There do seem to be some strange things happening today..
I am now using the 'Home' key to get back to the top of a thread.. Occasionally, it 'locks' the movement of the screen.. cursor can still be moved.
I think this is perhaps when the advert changes at the top of the screen??
It has been so bad I have had to use task manager to kill the browser session.
 
Thanks Keith, will do that in a moment!

If anyone else is thinking of getting a TL45 Mallet soon, watch the prices as they seem to vary considerably - Glendale is showing a current price of £1117 for the DCC/sound version (JonD, I'm guessing this is the price hike you mentioned, and you got yours at the old price?), GRS is still showing it at £999, and mine came from Germany (from "Hunti's Modellbahn" - ordered direct rather than via their eBay store, for a further saving) at around £850. All these will be plus carriage, which is usually around £10 from a UK supplier or 20 Euro (about £17) from Germany.
TL45 themselves are showing the model as temporarily out of stock right now, maybe they are having the next production batch chipped up?

Jon.
 
Zerogee said:
GRS is still showing it at £999,

Jon.
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I tried GRS about 3 months ago as soon as the mag advert dropped through the door. Reply from GRS. No, not at that price!
 
dutchelm said:
I tried GRS about 3 months ago as soon as the mag advert dropped through the door. Reply from GRS. No, not at that price!
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That's odd, their brand-new website is still showing it at £999.....

http://www.grsuk.com/Trainline-C054500

Jon.
 
Zerogee said:
That's odd, their brand-new website is still showing it at £999.....

http://www.grsuk.com/Trainline-C054500

Jon.
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Thanks Jon, I will try again.
 
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