SUMMARY:
The SP45 is a Polish diesel locomotive built to cover the transition from an aging steam locomotive fleet and lack of an extensive electrical infrastructure which hindered electric locomotive deployment. These six axle locomotives were built for passenger traffic and were eventually rebuilt as SU45 or retired.

SP45 information: http://www.locomotives.c...ls/SP45%20and%20SU45.htm


This review is for the Piko 96300 SP45 PKP diesel locomotive. This locomotive is in the Piko Expert Locomotive line and took 3rd place for the 2017 Das Goldene Gleis award.

UP CLOSE:
Pike produced the SP45 in multiple paint schemes - the 96300 item is two toned green with yellow bibs on each end. The roof is light gray with two large fans visible beneath grating. The remainder of the roof detail is crisp including two exhaust stacks, grab irons, a blade antenna, and horns on both ends. I love the look of the sides with the multiple panels and grates - this loco will be fun to weather! Lettering is simple but crisp. Overall the paint job os great - color separations are clean, and numerous small markings are present.

Buffers are non-functional, and the standard display case air hoses are included. The cab interiors are included - I need to install a driver since there is directional cab lighting (see below). The details on the ends include the head lights (see below) and windshield wipers. The trucks are fairly well detailed, and the only other underbody details are the large fuel tanks.





DIGITAL:
The locomotive includes a PluX22 decoder socket with analog plug. The body shell detaches with minimal fuss. I removed the plug and installed an ESU LokPilot 4.0 decoder. I had to fiddle with the decoder settings a bit since I could not locate the function mapping for this locomotive. It does have the standard 3xwhite front / 2xred rear lighting setup on the light key. AUX3 and AUX4 decoder outputs control the cab lighting, and I assigned these to a separate function key (Aux3 fwd, Aux4 reverse) so I could turn cab lights on independent of the headlights. The locomotive runs very well after a touch up of lubrication and a 20 minute break in.




CLOSING:
This is a great offering from Piko – I really like the solid lines of the six axle diesel. Eventually I’ll install sound, but for now I’m trying to determine which passenger cars will look best behind this loco. Perhaps a string of double deckers in Epoch V livery. I’m very pleased with this locomotive and would buy another. I think it would make a great weathering project as mentioned above - there a plenty of prototype pics to choose from in addition to plenty of model choices from Piko.

3 RAIL VERSIONS:
The SP45 is digital ready and so far only appears available in the 2-rail version reviewed here. I have converted an SP45 to 3-rail (for my dad)by adding a pickup shoe and re-routing the pickup wires. His has sound and looks and runs great!

I did document this in a conversion topic a while ago. Reminds me that I need to finish off the conversion documentation in that topic. I actually halted and reversed some of my conversions our to my adoption of 2 rail only. My son has all my 3 rail Marklin, and my dad also runs 3 rail, so I still have plenty of 3 rail work to do for them!

See here and scroll down to post #13 for the SP45 conversion - https://www.marklin-user...il-to-3-rail-conversions

Hope this helps! I did the conversion for my dad, and the loco is doing well. My one goof was to install a DCC only LokPilot decoder (he runs old school Marklin Digital with a 6021). Took a couple of minutes and turn on the LokProgrammer to realize what I'd done. Swapped it out with a multi protocol LokSound decoder, and it works perfectly!

Cheers!