ViTrains 37, first impression.

Having a bit of money to spend from my birthday, I decided to take a punt at one of those ViTrains 37s'. It arrived this morning, and initial impressions are very good. It's heavy, and feels well made.

Considering the cost (£45), the detail is very good I think, not that I've seen many models to compare against, but it looks good enough to my eyes. It even has coloured lights that light up according to the direction of travel.

Power wise, it has twin flywheels, and drives the outer wheels on both bogies. A first run was good too, it feels powerful, and even managed my Radius 1 curves without any trouble.

The box comes with a kit of super detailing parts, some of which are super fiddly to fit, and not all of the holes and pegs are well moulded. A little scraping with a craft knife soon fixed that though.

The version I ordered was the Caerphilly Castle 37/411, and was a Limited Edition. On opening the box I find I have the very last loco on the run, No. 1000 of 1000.

Overall, astonishing value for money.

Reply to
Andy Hewitt
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Were the air horns still in place ?

I have seen one or two of these ViTrains loco's at a few of the shows and they do look and feel good value for money. The =A345 is more realistic than the SRP of about =A360.

These are DCC Ready any idea what would be the most suitable decoder ?

So people on the forums say these are just revamped Lima but I personally don't agree. Others say the Bachmann version is better ? I look not at the specific detail of the loco but will it run OK for a few weeks on my sons layout without need of attention ... only time will tell with these new loco's.

At =A345 for a limited edition with twin drive bogies plus lights and a comprehensive kit of super detailing parts, which includes replacement / alternative couplings, you can't go wrong.

Reply to
Dragon Heart

Yes, they were sealed in the plastic bag, along with all the other bits of extra detailing. In fact I got two sets, grey and black.

No idea I'm afraid, I'm currently working on an analogue system.

No, they are made by ex-employees of Lima and Hornby (apparently). The techincal specs of the drive train look identical to the Hornby versions.

That's what I thought. It has very nice slow running too, and does of course have a nice turn of speed (as much as I can get on my modest layout anyway). I just tested it with as many carriages as I have (not many right now, two long ones, three short, and a few goods wagons), and it didn't have any problems at all.

I think for a layout on a budget, this has to be a top recommended buy.

Cheers.

Reply to
Andy Hewitt

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