Rivet Counter HO Scale GE ES44AC, Ferromex/Zebra

Grouped product items
Item Number	Road Number	Control & Sound Options	Our Price	Availability
SXT33077	4636	DCC & Sound Equipped	$299.99	Sold Out
SXT33078	4636	DC/DCC Ready	$209.99	Sold Out
SXT33079	4643	DCC & Sound Equipped	$299.99	Sold Out
SXT33080	4643	DC/DCC Ready	$209.99	Sold Out

Road Number Specific ScaleTrains

Era: Present
Series: 4600 to 4659, built 1-2/06
Road number: 4636
- New “Zebra” Paint Scheme with small red section on rear of inverter cabinet
- Variations in data label placement
- Wi-Tronix Violet Exterior Cab Cameras mounted to both cab sides
- Anti-vandalism grilles over windows
Era: Present
Series: 4600 to 4659, built 1-2/06
Road number: 4643
- New “Zebra” Paint Scheme with large red section on rear of inverter cabinet
- Variations in data label placement
- Wi-Tronix Violet Exterior Cab Cameras mounted to both cab sides
- Anti vandalism grilles over windows
Fully assembled
Multiple road numbers
Operating LED front deck-mounted ditch lights
Operating LED front, rear, and rectangle side walkway lights*
Printed and LED lighted number boards*
Single trainline hose with silver gladhand
Front and rear raised pilot-mounted Multiple Unit (MU) receptacles
Front dummy Multiple Unit (MU) receptacles mounted to pilot face
See-through round-hole stepwell steps
Walkway with front anticlimber and anticlimber support brackets
GE “nub” tread plate on walkways
Early handrails with wrap over stanchion heads left long rail for walkway box clearance and right long rail with wrap over head on 2nd lower stanchion
Front nose headlight
Left nose door with window
Narrow profile end handrails
Front high-mounted (cab) numberboard housings
Left side under cab front access bolted X panel; rear door with square corrugated grille
Early cab with optional 4 side windows; without barrel bolt latches on subbase doors
Detailed cab interior with separate floor, rear wall, seats, control stand, and grade crossing camera
Single cab side blue flag holder
Tinted cab side windows
Tall mirror mounted in front of sliding cab side windows on both sides; additional small mirror on right side
Cab roof large square antenna dome, medium rectangle antenna dome with conduit, small tear drop dome and triangle cap antenna
Sand box clean out door with knuckle buster latch
Small bolted and hinged inverter cabinet door
Etched metal see-through dynamic brake intake grilles with blower motors visible inside
Left side dynamic brake cab: tri blower dynamic brake with flush exhaust
Right side dynamic brake cab: door with grille, small X panel, door with grille, and door with grille
See-through dynamic brake exhaust
Short right side air intake grille
Left side auxiliary cab: 3 short doors with latches on the #2 door and narrow auxiliary cab filter box door with X panel in front
Capacitor box on walkway
Right side auxiliary cab: 4 doors with latches on #1 and #4 doors
Lost wax brass cast Nathan AirChime K5HLR2 horn mounted on engine cab roof
ES44 style engine cab doors: latched first door in each set of three
Left side exhaust cab doors: latched last door in set of three
Flush heat exchanger housing with two piece wide slot grille
22 individually applied etched metal see-through radiator intake and exhaust grilles on sides and top of radiator compartment
Flush radiator grille
Left side radiator cab grille arrangement: Flush doors. Grilles – high square, raised large rectangle, tall, short, tall, short front angled grill, two-piece rear angled grille, no grille under brake wheel
Right side radiator cab grille arrangement: Flush doors. Grilles – high square, raised large rectangle, raised tall, raised tall, tall, short, tall, short front angled grill, two-piece rear angled grille
No water fill box
Low mounted vertical rear headlight
Rear narrow-spaced dual dummy Multiple Unit (MU) receptacles
Accurately profiled frame with separately applied plumbing and cabling
AEI tag mounted on bracket below the right sidesill
Toilet drain with interior handle
Dual Graham-White (Salem) 824 air filters
Early GE Steerable trucks with separately applied brake cylinders, air plumbing, and rotating bearing caps
Square handbrake chain bracket
5,300-gallon fuel tank with internal waste retention tank, digital fuel gauge, vertical fuel gauge, and round fuel gauge
Dual fuel fills per side with rear fill “blanked”
Angled top left side fuel tank top box
Short crankcase drainpipe
Semi-scale coupler buffers equipped with die-cast metal semi-scale standard Type E knuckle couplers
Factory-applied wire grab irons, snowplow with grab irons, spare knuckles, 3-hose Multiple Unit (MU) clusters with silver gladhands, uncoupling levers, windshield wipers, mirrors, sunshades, air tanks, fuel tank mounted electronic bell, brake wheel, and more
Motor with 5-pole skew-wound armature
Balanced dual flywheels
All-wheel drive
All-wheel electrical pick-up
Directional LED headlights
Printing and lettering legible under magnification
Operates on Code 70, 83, and 100 rail
Packaging safely stores model
Minimum Radius: 18”
Recommended Radius: 22”

DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature:

ESU LokSound 5 DCC & Sound decoder with “Full Throttle” feature
Dual cube-type speakers
Accurate GEVO-12 prime mover sound plus auxiliary, horn, bell, and more
ESU-designed PowerPack with two (2) super capacitors***
Operates on both DC and DCC layouts

DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature:

Operable using a DC power pack
DCC ready with 21-pin connector

* Lighting features operate when using an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC

** During DC operation, class lights illuminate in white. Access to other colors and the ability to change colors requires an ESU DCC decoder while operating in DCC

*** Compatible with appropriately programmed ESU decoders while operating using DCC

PRODUCT VIDEOS

PROTOTYPE HISTORY

In 2002, GE released the first GEVo, a new series of locomotives that would replace the AC4400CW and Dash 9-44CW. The first two models were the ES44DC and ES44AC. The ES44C4 followed a few years later.

The new models were designed to meet the stricter diesel locomotive emissions standards imposed by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. The EPA “Tier” emissions standards are a series, or Tiers, of allowable emissions levels based upon a locomotive’s date of manufacture. In 2005, Tier 2 took effect followed by Tier 3 in 2010 and Tier 4 took in 2015.

GE developed a new diesel engine, the 12-cylinder GEVO 12, to meet the new emission standards. Both the bore and stroke were increased to produce the same 4,400 horsepower as the older 7FDL16 16-cylinder engine.

The new prime mover drives an alternator producing AC current that is rectified to DC current. On the ES44DC, this powers the traction motors. On the ES44AC and ES44C4, the DC current is “chopped” back into AC to power the traction motors. The two models share a common 73’ 2” frame and external appearance.

The external appearance is similar to the AC4400CW. In fact, the cab on early ES44s is almost identical. In 2009, GE changed the cab and nose, moving the nose door from the left side to the right side and replacing the curve seams with more square seams.

Unlike their predecessors, both the AC and DC versions of the ES44 have the large box behind the cab. The biggest visual difference is the larger “wing” structure over the radiator cab. The thicker radiators and related equipment in the radiator cab work to cool the exhaust, which reduces emissions.

Customer options and design changes have resulted in seven different dynamic brake configurations. The grilles on the sides of the radiator cab have also gone through seven configurations. The most recent units have changed the latches on the engine cab doors to match the ET44 units.

Although EPA Tier 4 standards went into effect in 2015, the ES44-series continue to be built. This is due to the Tier 4 Credits, a complicated system that allows GE to continue to build and various railroads to buy the ES44 based on the number of Tier 4 units built.

After 2 testbed units and 35 pre-production units, over 7,600 additional ES44s have been built. All of the major railroads including BNSF, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific have fleets with 100s of units. Florida East Coast, Ferromex, Iowa Interstate, and Kansas City Southern also operate ES44s. In addition, 131 were built as lease units for Citirail.

The ES44 has become the best-selling diesel locomotive of all time.

RAILROAD HISTORY

Ferromex is the largest railroad in the Country of Mexico with nearly 6,000 miles of trackage. The company was formed in 1998 when Mexico’s rail system was privatized. Grupo México, a transportation conglomerate, owns 74% while Union Pacific Corporation owns 26% of the company. Because of this, Ferromex locomotives can frequently be found on Union Pacific trains in Texas and occasionally make their way out of the Lonestar State on thru-trains in the United States.

We’re offering two paint scheme variations for Ferromex: the original scheme and the “Zebra” scheme. The original scheme of red, green, white, and black was first applied to Ferromex locomotives when the company was founded in 1998. The vast majority of ES44s currently on the roster wear the original scheme, but in the spring of 2020, a new paint scheme was introduced on ES44 GEVO #4660. Dubbed the “Zebra” scheme, the flashy modern livery of red, gray, and white has quickly become a railfan favorite in both Mexico and the United States.

One of the unique features found on some of the Ferromex road numbers are the anti-vandalism grates over the cab windows. To prevent damage to the locomotives and to protect train crews, Ferromex installed these grates on most of its locomotive fleet. Whenever a Ferromex engine ventures north of the border, the grates are removed per FRA-mandate. That’s why we’ve also included road numbers without the grates in this run as well.

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