Review of WBB "NEW" GP-30

[M1FredQ]

O. K. I will be doing this in bits and pieces as time permits As Little League is in full swing and the boys have 2 games a week to make up for a bad March and April.

PART 2 "Moment of Truth" or "GP-30 Gets the Juice"

Joey asked if he could have the honors of being the first to put the throttle to this new engine. He has been acing spelling tests and I said lets do it!!

When voltage begins to flow in the rails the engine seems to come alive. Right away the  diesel motor can be heard. If sound can be scaled I am thinking the volume of the motor is enough to be noticeable but not loud or overwhelming it appears appropriate for the size of the engine. Keep in mind this is only my "subjective" observation.
In addition ALL the lights illuminate!!! I was happy to see the lights distinctly illuminated instead of being dully lit. The I.D. board on top and front can be clearly seen and even the 2 lower yellow lights lite up. The headlights are there and light up
and the cab lights up too!! The lights maintain their same intensity no matter what the position of the throttle. This feature was very satisfying to see as I had been disappointed by the dull lit lights on the F-3's and GG-1's. I think Joey and i were high 5'ing each other when we saw how nice the lights worked -Thanks WBB!!!!!

Got to go

To be Continued

[M1FredQ]

an addendum

Regarding the switch on the ventral(bottom) of the engine. WBB describes it as a "Lockout Switch" just behind the fuel tank.

You can "lock"the locomotive to operate in the forward direction only.

Thanks roGruth !!!

[3rail]

Fred,

Actually you can lock it in reverse.  You have to read the directions! You first have to get the engine running in reverse and move the switch to the lock postion within 5 seconds.  It will not lock it in reverse forever, but it will last for most operating sessions. 

Regards,

3rail

[M1FredQ]

My mistake thanks 3-Rail.

I read the instructions once and was going on memory and didn't bother to run downstairs to double check!!!

Thanks for the clarification

[wmwalker]

M1FredQ
The light being LED's that what makes them bright all the time and look so good. Also did you notice that the lights reverse when you change directions. I tell you this GP30 is a home run for me. I really love mine. I am waiting on some new road names and hopefully Southern or Northfork Southern or both because I will by them both. In fact I am going to the train room now and run it.

[M1FredQ]

I am glad to know the lights are LED's. They are really bright!!!

We have a lot of train traffic in our area over 30 a day. At night is when you notice the extreme brightness of the train lights. The LED's are the way to go and have a similar brightness to them.

I hope to replace the lights in my WBB F-3's and GG-1's if that's possible!!!

After reading what you wrote I checked out and noticed the lights DO reverse when you change directions. Thanks for the input.

I am really liking this locomotive!!!!

I did order the ACL version but shipper told me it won't go out till Monday so I won't be able to report anything till end of last week
BUT
your video "says"a lot in a short time!!!!

[M1FredQ]

wmwalker I noticed in your video your video that your locomotive revs up or down depending upon how much throttle you give it. Mine is a constant rev could it be the transformer I am using??

I am using one of the lionel 80 watters.

[wmwalker]

M1FredQ
When I made the short video i kept the engine in the neutral mode so I ran up and down the voltage so everyone could hear the engine rev up and down when you give it more voltage. Your transformer should be just fine. It is sometime hard to hear that change while it is running down the track. Thats why I did the video in neutral mode with the engine.

[M1FredQ]

Part 3 Running the Locomotive

Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping those that really know the hobby would jump in.

This is the shortest part and we are done.

Right off the bat as you apply power to the engine it lights up and the engine sound kicks in. BUT what I noticed right away was how the engine starting moving at a very slow speed at very low power. VERY realistic and a very nice feature. The acceleration from stop to running speed is very smooth and even provided you throttle slow and easy. Everyone should be satisfied and pleased with that feature.

I already commented on the engine sound and lights.

The horn and bell are all appropriate for the type of locomotive and I thought the volume acceptable. I posted above that it seemed appropriate to what I thought was the scale of the engine. How can there be "scale" sound? I am just subjectively trying to compare it to something.

I liked how if you move the throttle ever so slowly it accelerates linearly so you get a realistic type of acceleration OR conversely deceleration when you throttle down!!

We ran the engine around the lay-out for 15 minutes before Joey wanted to hook up 5 or 6 railroad cars. The engine pulled them effortlessly and after running for about a good one half hour there was no noticeable heat build up on the body. When we set the throttle to 60 scale mph it held that speed without a hic-cup around our 9x9 set up.

Impression: This is a well designed , well engineered. well built  working model of a GP-30. It looks like the GP-30. The color of the Union Pacific example I have appears right and looks like it should given its size compared to the "real thing". The details like "hold handles", panel lines, realistic windshield and wiper blades etc, not to mention the quality of the decaling are all impressive. The engine runs well and the engine sounds are all welcome and nice features. The rail lings are well constructed that they can withstand a child's gripping hands which i think they must have thought about as Joey did pick up the engine at one point with one hand with his fingers around the rail lings !!!!!!!

Bread and Circuses: If you have not considered a more modern diesel beyond F-3 or F-7(like me) really seriously consider the WBB GP-30 series. As I mentioned above what started me down the road was Jack Lynch's presentation on U-Tube it planted a seed that got me thinking more and more about it and I had a hunch this was going to be quite a locomotive and the price was attractive. Circuses: Yep this is a fun locomotive to own and operate, it looks good, runs good and like I mentioned above it has a commanding presence on the layout-it just looks cool. It teamed up nicely with a MTH Scale U.P. Caboose I had bought while down in Florida last year(color seems to match spot on!! I was torn between the UP and ACL went with UP first and because I was so impressed with my purchase I ordered the ACL !!!!!!!

I hope this helps anyone thinking about or not even thinking about this engine. I personally like the application of technology brighter lights using LED's, motor quality, details like the seeing through the upper fan blades, horn and bell sounds. It's all tastefully done well with out being over done. This GP-30 is one engine you will be proud to own and run and have fun with.

Thanks for hanging in there with me a lot goes on around our home as you might imagine and I have to get on the computer when the kids are not around or asleep!!!! Best wishes everyone and I am looking forward to that Seaboard RS-3!!

[M1FredQ]

wmwalker just read your piece. Thanks for the help. When Joe gets home from school today I will "fire" up the GP and do what you just wrote.

I failed to mention as much as I wanted that ACL your video pushed me off the fence. I am stuck on ACL's classic purple color scheme BUT that black and yellow does look impressive and your video pushed me to pull the trigger and get it.

Thanks again wm the ACL ships today I'll post when it arrives!!!!!!!

[M1FredQ]

ACL GP-30 arrived in today's mail !!!

[wmwalker]

great news and now you can have both units running. I know you will love it. I ran my last night and just outstanding in my book.

[M1FredQ]

Thanks wm

Joey has a spelling test Friday 25 words 5 bonus. I told him he has to ace that test and he opens the box!!!! i don't know who is more impatient him or ME!!!!

I hope to post something about it Friday night or Saturday!!!!

[M1FredQ]

As promised I wanted to post something today. Baseball ran into the evening but here goes.

Comments and Impressions:

Today we opened the ACL version of the O-Gauge GP-30. I wanted to comment on the packaging. The box is a thicker cardboard than was seen with other Williams boxes. It is well constructed and the design and color are classic looking. In other words it's built to last. As I mentioned initially be cautious opening the flaps as not to tear  the edges. If you work a Popsicle stick or in my case a "chop stick" under the flap at the edge to open the box it will lift up without tearing. You will need to open both ends of the box and carefully push the the whole Styrofoam encased unit out of the box. It is a tight fit.

The thick transparent cover is held on by tape and is easily removed. The instruction book and warranty card are in a depressed portion on the backside of the Styrofoam packaging. Use the push holes on the back side of the Styrofoam to carefully release the Locomotive.

The locomotive has a nice hefty weight to it. Feels really solid. The Styrofoam strips between the railings are snug but easily work free without damaging anything.

At this point I took the time to admire the paint job and look for flaws. The paint job on something like this which no doubt is mass produced in large numbers is impressive and quite acceptable. Black is not an easy color to deal with. I remember a master model airplane builder who liked "Night" camouflage mentioning that if black is not applied properly your model will look like a "black hole". No such issue here as I think the colors are applied appropriately and reflect the scale of the locomotive. The decaling is properly applied and the famous Atlantic Coast Line circular crest is boldly applied beneath the cab windows. The yellow railings and trim are a bold contrast and compliment the entire locomotive. Once again it stands out and is quite impressive either on or off the track.

What I also like is there is no assembly of the railings. I also opened a G-Scale GP-38 today that I had since January and you have to assemble the railings. I decided to leave them off as they looked delicate enough to eventually be damaged by Joey's handling. Point being it's great that this locomotive is ready to go right out of the box.
I have to sign off but hope to continue tomorrow.

[M1FredQ]

If you want to see this ACL GP-30 go through its paces wmwalker has a video of it on this thread reply #39 posted Apr 27 of this year.

This is also a beauty and am really happy I added this one too!!!!!!

Question:
Is there a caboose that matches up with this?

Future Releases:

It will be interesting to see what WBB does with this series. I am sure all of us would like to see other "markings" I have a couple I would like to see but I will leave that up to folks here to post suggestions and see what WBB does.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read the review and post your comments or questions. Somehow I felt compelled to post something on this locomotive as I was impressed by the quality and value. As I said above somewhere I had a "hunch" this was going to be a good buy and am glad I took the plunge.

I think WBB has a great future ahead look forward to seeing more of their releases especially that RS-3 in Seaboard markings!!!!