Whitcomb 65-tonner
Scale: HO (1:87.1)
Price: Direct current, $279.99; with PIKO SmartSound 5.1 sound decoder, $389.99
Era: 1940s+ (depending on paint scheme)
Manufacturer: PIKO America LLC, 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Ste. 5, San Diego, CA 92120; piko-america.com
Whitcomb 65-tonner features:
- Diecast chassis and hood
- Metal handrails
- Factory-applied details
- Maryland Midland locomotives feature American-style end beams, fully enclosed around the couplers. Factory-equipped with knuckle couplers.
- United States Army Transportation Corps locomotives feature European-style hook couplers that can be modified with PIKO’s #56043 knuckle coupler
Release date: November 2022
Road names: Maryland Midland (Navy blue with orange and white stripe, black lettering). One road number. Also available painted but unlettered and unnumbered.
News & Products is a regular feature of Trains.com for model railroad operators and builders to get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more. Model railroad product news may include HO, N, O, S, and Z scales. Product release dates and prices will vary according to each manufacturer.
If you are a manufacturer and have new product releases, please email Senior Editor Cody Grivno at cgrivno@kalmbach.com and Associate Editor Bryson Sleppy at bsleppy@kalmbach.com for more information.
Have you done a product review yet? I have the MM engine and am VERY disappointed with the sound system. Engine sounds start on F1 but fail to ‘start’ the first time; F2 should be a second engine, but no change in sound; engine sounds stop at speed step 0 if you pause 1 sec; sounds also stop when changing direction if you are not fast on the button, and will not ‘idle’ at all once you stop for any reason. Functions don’t match current convention and you need to have the cheat sheet handy to know what button does what. Other than that engine performs very smoothly and creeps at speed step 1. What say you?