8.07.2011

Locomotive Roster: NS Serie 6400; Minitrix 12517


Sometimes you get lucky.
That's the way I feel about this little locomotive.  I spotted this model in a Minitrix catalog from 2004 or so, and tried to find one.  No luck.  I've come to the conclusion that Minitrix does not produce its Dutch models in anything near the volume of its German ones (no surprise there!).   So I kept looking.  After two years I finally picked one up from a seller on eBay from Singapore.
A European locomotive that most Americans would have some comfort with in terms of appearance, the NS Class 6400 looks similar to its 'cousin' the Mak G1204, albeit the prototype 6400 class is a bit longer (1.4m) than your standard G1200 and is a diesel-electric rather than a diesel-hydraulic.
NEM 651 Blues:  Unfortunately, the so-called convenience of the NEM 651 socket is under-minded by whatever silly design Minitrix decided to use.  After fiddling around trying to figure out if my Sprog II was broken, the decoder was bad, etc... I ultimately discovered that the culprit once again was the decoder socket.  So I removed the NEM651 socket and soldered the decoder directly to the pads.  Problem solved.
The good news is that its a smooth running, quiet little locomotive. 
And, I have to say, I'm really glad I picked up one of these diesels in the classic Nederlandse Spoorswegen grey and yellow (everything is red these days apparantly).
Despite the decoder socket problem, a great find and a nice little engine from our German friends at Minitrix!  Just go fix that decoder socket, guys, and I'll continue to be a fan!

The video at the top is a new one with just one locomotive (and a much slower pace than my last one!), the train the 6400 is pulling are the coal cars that I weathered in my last post as well.

7 comments:

  1. Great video! And that is one smooth-running locomotive. How does it handle grades with a load like that?

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  2. Awesome music Jerry ... really good video! The black & white clip was the best ... very cool. Looks like a fun little engine.

    Side question unrelated ... do you have a past post about adhesives? I can't find one ... specifically plastic adhesives like solvents and such. Thanks!

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  3. @Sudsana - So far, it does okay on my 3% grades, but I haven't had it pull more than 6 or 7 cars, so it hasn't really been tested yet!

    @Scott - Nothing on my blog, but there was a good discussions on N Scale limited about a year ago.

    I tend to try various things out, Testor's Plastic Cement and CA are my most common.

    Here's the link to a decent survey of what other folks like:
    http://forum.nscalelimited.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=618&hilit=glue

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  4. Looking good! I liked the split view of the scenes as well. The nice long shots of the train rolling through were great as well.
    Love it!

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  5. Hi! Great work! I actually got this but in the French livery (Rail 4 Chem) I was thinking of redoing the color scheme though. Something that has been bugging me since you uploaded this is.... where is that song from?!! Anyways, great work! Your blog provides me with inspiration on my little 4' x 7' layout!

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  6. Hi Anonymous! :-)

    Thanks for your comment...the music was used in the trailer for "Xmen first class", here's a link that will take you to the trailer itself
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptKlM86BSiQ

    The track is called "Half the Man" by Methodic Doubt Music

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  7. Minitrix put out the NS 6400 with a different roadnumber - 6433. Same livery. I´ve got both. Great sight double heading.

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