Problems With Some New Scale Trains GP40s With ESU Factory Sound

On the LokSoundUsers group of the groups.io forum user verberkmoesk reported a problem has come up with some of these locomotives. He said:

This topic has been covered before, however this is a slightly different issue I think.  I recently purchased a scale trains GP40 with factory sound. Now I have learned from experience and this forum that the power pack can cause problems with programing.  I first encountered this with my rapido GP38's. I use the lok-programmer.  My practice has been to start by making sure the capacitors have had time to fully discharge.  I then put the locomotive on the programming track.  I make all the changes I want and then hit the program button.  If I need to make more changes I make sure the capacitors are discharged before doing anything further.(usually necessary after I test the changes made).

 

In this case, when I first tried the locomotive on the layout, I didn't have my laptop handy and made a few changes by programming on the main.  Mostly just selecting a horn and adjusting some of the volume settings.  Usually, single CV programming hasn't caused issues.

 

Later, I put the locomotive on the programmer to set it up how I like it and immediately noticed an issue as it took an excessively long time to read the CV's.  it finally did, however, when I made my setting changes and tried to program I got an error message.  I forget the exact message but something along the lines of unable to program.  

The weird thing is the locomotive runs fine on the layout and still lets me make individual CV changes like selecting a different horn.  But I can't seem to use the programmer.  

Has anyone else had this issue specifically?  Any suggestions?

Another user, William Warren, replied with the following information:

Hi, I received 4 ST GP40’s that had the same issue that you are having. 

I called ST and talked to Josh in customer service. The solution is a simple fix.

Remove the couplers and lift the shell off the chassis and look for the dip switch’s next to the decoder. Remove the kapton tape and pull the switch’s down. 

Put the shell back on and the couplers on and you should be good to go.

Josh told me that a number of GP40’s shipped from the factory with the dip switch’s in the wrong position. One extra note. If one of your units is a BN unit be careful. It has 2 wires for the gyro light and the red flashing beacon attached to the M\B (a short leash).

Hope this helps.

William 

So if anyone reading this has had similar problems (it is isolated to ESU decoders only), try this fix first.

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New Products From NixTrains and Scale Sound Systems

User amsnick1967 of the SoundtraxxUsers group on the groups.io forum sent out the below information in a post.

There are some new products for people who want to upgrade their ScaleTrains electronics. It does a number of tasks. It allows for a logical conversion to a SoundTraxx or other 8 output decoder, allows for the addition of a shell mounted light, it allows for replacement of problematic push pins through the small connector board, it eliminates the restrictions of JST connectors when modifying the lighting. Kits can come with one speaker for the pocket in the frame or two speakers, the second speaker sits on the frame by the Decoder Buddy. The stay alive is a Power Bridge III with two capacitors that are exactly like the ones on the ST motherboard. The three versions cover the different model's speaker requirements. Speakers are Scale Sound Systems. One or two speaker kits are available. They are currently available on NixTrainz and Scale Sound Systems websites.

 

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LokProgrammer v 5.2.17 Released By ESU 2026-02-05

A little late with this one but this appears to be solely a bug fix update.

Version 5.2.17:

==============

- Bugfix:

  * ESU digital interior light 2.0

    - new firmware version 5.1.8 -> buffer time was too low when PowerPack capacitor was installed. 

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Woodland Scenics New Just Plug Sound System

This author hates to bring this to the forefront of model railroading this soon but the implications are excellent! Woodland Scenics has just mentioned that they are bringing a sound system to the model railroad layout world for background sounds based on the Just Plug system they have for layout lighting. This is just about all they have said.

There is a short (36 sec) YouTube video that they call a teaser (and it is) located here.

If this system turns out to be as good as their JustPlug lighting system, this author IS IN! His entire layout utilizes the JustPlug lighting system and it only took two days to wire the complete thing!

He knows he's getting ahead of himself but the only thing he is curious about is whether or not the system will have a control unit of some sort to turn sound on or off. With their lighing system you control everything by on/off switches.

Time will tell and he will update this article as things progress.

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LokProgrammer v 5.2.16 Released By ESU 2025-12-22

 LokProgrammer v5.2.16 has been released:

Version 5.2.16:
____________
Bugfix

•  LokPilot 5 Basic -> Write CV
•  LokSound 5 XL  -> Output mode (effect) - External controlled smoke unit - ESU Smoke Unit (Gauge 0, G)

Soundeditor

•  Sound schedule -> containers can only be deleted if all associated container tabs are closed

Tools

•  New menu item - Show project differences -> window for project differences

LokSound 5 family / LokPilot 5 family / Essential Sound Unit

•   new firmware version 5.13
  

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Atlas' eBay Store

The Atlas Model Railroad Company has an eBay sight located here. It is full of parts, listed by part number and name, along with various new old rolling stock. If you need a part, enter the part number in the search box and if it is available it will immediately appear. 

The rolling stock consists of new old stock items that were previously for sale. The author purchased a 33,000 gal. tank car from this eBay site (see figure 1).

Figure 1 The 33,000 gallon tank car

He also looked up this car on the Atlas Archive site by first searching for 33,000 and then the car road number 34237. There is a blog article concerning this site located here. The search showed that this car was produced in April of 2012 and the original price was $34.95. Since he paid $25.00 for the car it was a decent deal. One thing though, the author has purchased several pieces of their rolling stock and none of them came in the original box. They arrived in the original interior packaging only as shown in figure 1.

So if you are at a train show and see a model railroader running an older Atlas car you would like to have, look it up on their eBay web site. You never know, they may have one.

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Walthers Pauses Publication of Their Iconic Reference Book

E-Update 1/21/2026

To our Valued Customers: For many years, the Walthers Reference Book has been an important part of the hobby, and we know it has been especially valued by customers who enjoy having a trusted printed resource at hand. We are genuinely grateful to everyone who has supported and relied on it over the years. We have been proud to provide it as a valuable resource to so many people for so long. After careful consideration, we have made the decision to pause production of the reference book. There will not be a reference book published in 2026. It’s important to note that the information traditionally found in the reference book remains available online at Walthers.com, where it is updated frequently and can be accessed at any time. For many customers, this shift will have little impact. We recognize that for those who prefer a printed reference, this news may be disappointing—and we understand that reaction. In the Spring of 2026, Walthers will celebrate 94 years in business. Over nearly a century of serving the model railroading industry, we have evolved our offerings to meet the needs of the time. The reference book evolved and changed over time, too. Rest assured, this publication pause does not change Walthers commitment to the hobby or to you, our valued customers.  We remain committed to producing and supplying a wide variety of high quality, reliable products as well as accurate, accessible information, service, and programs to enable enjoyment of the hobby by all -- experienced modelers, newcomers, and everyone in between.   We are not closing the door on the possibility of a printed reference in the future, but for now, we appreciate your understanding as we continue our evolution focused on serving model railroaders and stewarding the enjoyment of this amazing hobby. Thank you for your continued support. We welcome your thoughts, should you like to provide them to us at custserv@walthers.com  or call our customer service department at 1-800-4 TRAINS. Your Walthers Team If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.

Speedmatching First Generation Tsunami Decoders The Easier Way

Those model railroaders that own locomotives containing first generation Tsunami decoders know that they are not the easiest to speed match due to not supporting CVs 5 and 6. This means you have to resort to the full speed table to match to a lot of locomotives. Many times this is not easy BUT there is an easier way to implement the speed table and simulate the 3-point speed curve.

This refers to the post on ESU decoders this author made in October of 2025 located here. This post also applies to any other decoders that do not support the CVs  but do have the speed table capability.

Some people, after reading that article, may have realized this by now but this is just a reminder that it can be used as advertised on just about any decoder as necessary.

Try it out. This can be a good time saver.

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Plug for Keep Alives on Soundtraxx Decoders

Figure 1 Digikey keep alive plug

Digikey has female plugs that will work with the keep alive male plugs on Soundtraxx decoders. These are shown in figure 1. Go to Digikey.com and search for part# 455-3001-ND. If you buy more than one they are less than a dollar apiece.

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Starting A Model Railroad Club In The 21st Century

Model Railroader just published an article on how to start a model railroad club. It is spot on! Some of it is stated in a funny manner but is the absolute truth. In our club, The Hostlers Model Railroad Club of Ogden Utah, this author has seen a lot of what is discussed first hand. Give it a read and if you are already in a club he thinks you'll agree with what is discussed. 

If you're thinking about starting one, definitely give it a read. It will help you out immeasurably!

Read the article here.

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