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, ScaleTrains Rivet Counter N Scale model is also evolutionary by combining smooth operating performance with unparalleled railroad, road number, and era specific details. ScaleTrains Rivet Counter 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.

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 all over the world. 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 to be 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.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Road Number Specific ScaleTrains

• Era: 2022 to Present
• Series 3375-3399, built 2016-2017
• Road numbers 3382 and 3399
  • Added Distributed Power (DP) logos for 2022 to the present era
• Fully-assembled
• Multiple road numbers
• LED-illuminated front deck-mounted alternating LED ditch lights*
• Printed and LED-illuminated number boards
• LSL (Locomotive Speed Limiter) indicator lights on cab sides (non-operating)
• Body mounted semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers; Micro-Trains compatible
• Coupler box accepts Micro-Trains 1015/1016 couplers without modification
• Walkway with front anticlimber
• GE “nub” pattern walkway tread
• Sand box clean out door with knuckle buster latch and hinge
• Wide profile end handrails
• Front nose headlight
• Extra nose front grab iron on engineer’s side of cab
• Nose door with window
• Detailed cab interior with floor, rear wall, seats, and control stand
• Tinted cab side windows
• Cab roof large square antenna dome, two long STI-CO PTC Dual Track Antenna System without Radome covers
• 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-illuminated headlights
• Printing and lettering legible under magnification
• Paint colors match Tru-Color Paint color:
• 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

DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature:

• Operates on DC layouts
• DCC ready with E24 connector

* In DC operation, both front ditch lights illuminate; rear ditch lights (if equipped) do not illuminate

Order Due Date: February 5, 2024

Anticipated Delivery Date: November 2024