Scaletrains Rivet Counter SXT40479 GE ET44AC, Norfolk Southern/Thoroughbred #3629 DCC & Sound N Scale

Scaletrains Rivet Counter SXT40479 GE ET44AC, Norfolk Southern/Thoroughbred #3629 DCC & Sound N Scale. Picture may show a different road number.

Introduced in 2012, GE's ET44 Series represents the latest in diesel locomotive technology. The “Tier 4 GEVO” was designed to meet stringent EPA emissions regulations. While similar in appearance to previous ES44 designs, the ET44 features a longer frame and a larger radiator section. The ET44 has proven to be a popular locomotive with over 1,000 units built for US and Canadian Class I Railroad companies.

Like its full-scale counterpart, our N Scale model is also evolutionary by combining smooth operating performance with unparalleled railroad, road number, and era specific™ details. We’ve also included industry-leading LED lighting features such as directional headlights, front and rear ditch lights (per the prototype), illuminated number boards, and UDE lights for Canadian National.

Road Number Specific ScaleTrains

• Era: 2017-present: built 2017
• HypoTypical™ Norfolk Southern Thoroughbred Scheme
• Fully-assembled
• Multiple road numbers
• Operating LED front and rear deck mounted alternating LED ditch lights*
• Printed and LED lighted number boards
• LSL (Locomotive Speed Limiter) indicator lights on cab sides (non-operating)
• Sill-mounted brake stick holder 
• Body mounted semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers; Micro-Trains® compatible
• Coupler box accepts Micro-Trains 1015/1016 couplers without modification
• Walkway with front and rear anticlimber
• GE “nub” pattern walkway tread
• Sand box clean out door with knuckle buster latch and hinge
• Wide profile end handrails
• Front high (cab) mounted headlight
• Extra nose front grab iron on engineer’s side of cab 
• Nose door without window
• Detailed cab interior with floor, rear wall, seats, and control stand
• Tinted cab side windows
• Cab roof JEM Communications PTC antenna farm with single medium and two small Sinclair antennas on front cabinet and two medium and one small Sinclair antenna on rear cabinet
• Left side dynamic brake cab: tri blower dynamic brake with flush exhaust
• Right side dynamic brake cab: door with grille, door with grille, small grille, and door with grille
• Current production engine cab (long hood) with angled exhaust compartment roofline
• Lost wax brass cast Nathan AirChime K5HLR2 horn mounted on engine cab roof 
• Accurately profiled frame with separately applied plumbing and cabling
• GE Hi-Ad trucks with separately applied brake cylinders and air plumbing 
• 5,300 gallon fuel tank with external waste retention tank
• Dual fuel fills per side with rear fill “blanked”
• Factory-applied wire grab irons, snowplow, trainline hoses with silver gladhands, 3-hose MU clusters with silver gladhands, MU cable, uncoupling levers, windshield wipers, mirrors, sunshades, air tanks, fuel tank mounted electronic bell, brake wheel, exhaust stack, and more
• Motor with 5-pole skew wound armature
• Dual flywheels
• All-wheel drive
• All-wheel electrical pick-up
• Directional LED headlights
• Printing and lettering legible under magnification
• Operates on Code 55 and 80 rail
• Durable packaging safely stores model
• Minimum Radius: 9 ¾”
• Recommended Radius: 11”

DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature:

• ESU-LokSound 5 Nano DCC & sound decoder with “Full Throttle”
• Cube-type speaker
• Accurate GEVO-12 prime mover and auxiliary sounds, horn, bell, and more
• Operates on both DC and DCC layouts

PROTOTYPE HISTORY

Introduced in 2012, General Electric’s ET44 GEVO Series represents the latest in diesel-electric locomotive technology. The GE Tier 4 GEVO is designed to meet stringent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions regulations. The EPA “Tier” emissions standards are a series, or Tiers, of allowable emissions levels based upon a locomotive’s date of manufacture. The highest and most stringent tier level, Tier 4, sets the maximum allowable NOx and hydrocarbon emissions levels for locomotives built for use in the United States from 2015 onward.

While similar in appearance to previous GE ES44 GEVO designs, the Tier 4 models featured a longer frame compared to their predecessors. This allows for a larger radiator “cab” (GE refers to the various sections of the long hood as “cabs”), and a “hump” over the engine cab for advanced exhaust treatment equipment. Initially, a boxy housing filled the entire roofline on the blue-painted field test/demonstrator units.

Due to changes in treatment equipment and clearance issues, the “hump” would decrease in size and shape into a boxy compartment around the exhaust on initial production units. This culminated in an angled compartment surrounding the exhaust manifold on locomotives produced since 2016. Despite boxier engine cab rooflines and a radically styled radiator cab, the basic Tier 4 design shares a family appearance with GE safety cab-equipped units going back to the DASH-9s of the 1990s. It even includes the same 12-cylinder GEVo-12 series prime mover and 4,400hp as its predecessor model.

In February of 2019, Wabtec purchased General Electric’s Transportation Division. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wabtec Corporation is a provider of equipment, operating systems, and services for freight and passenger rail systems worldwide. The company produces locomotives for customers both domestically and abroad, including the ET44 GEVO locomotives which are built in Wabtec’s plants in Fort Worth, Texas, and Erie, Pennsylvania.

The Tier 4 units have proven popular with nearly all major U.S. and Canadian railroads. While GE has settled on a basic carbody design to keep production costs down, there are notable variations and detail differences due to customer specifications including antennas, dynamic brakes, trucks, and more. With over 1,000 units built, the ET44 is a common site on North American Class I Railroads.