Just received a BLI HO PRR H10 2-8-0 and think it is great product for 310.00 plus S&H. MTH is going to introduce their version soon. Think this subject was chosen to model because the PRR E6 Atlantic and the PRR G5 ten wheeler used the same boiler. So as Pennline did in the 50’s, and MTH did in 2000 in third rail eventually there will be a E6 and and G5 from one or both of the importers in HO.
Not so sure about that because the cabs are entirely different and apparently not compatible with the BLI boiler. BLI works with the PRRT&HS for accuracy. MTH does not. There is great speculation that the pictures thus far are of the O Gauge engine and lacking in proper detail compared to BLI. If either Appear do not assume they will be accurate
Not a PRR steam loco expert but thought the H9/10 and the E6 shared the same wooden cab. The G5 was built later in the 20’s and had the same all steel cab as the K4 and others. Think there were some differences between the E6 and H9/10 around the cyclinders. In any case will be surprised if a E6 is not made by one or more of the importers of the H10.
I have heard BLI will produce a lines east H10 which will have a different tender then the Crawford which was nearly 100% lines west. PRR had massive numbers of 2-8-0 engines. On the order of 3-5000 as I recall. The demand is great for more. Total rumor mill is a 2-8-2 might be next but that is total speculation.
And so once again those two companies are tring to beat each other brains out rather than go after untapped portions of the market?
Makes so little sense…
But what do I know, I only worked in the hobby back when Athearn and Roundhouse purposely avoided making the same models.
Sheldon
I think that may be a one sided fight since one Is available and one is not.
The Pennsy 2-8-2 is more than a rumor. See page 24 of their 2015 catalog.
Let’s get pennsy steam under 250.00 USD.
Great. Maybe next we can get some more F7’s.
Why?
And exactly how do you propose we do that?
Sheldon
No, No, No. We need more Big Boys. It’s long past time for Walthers to do one. Everybody should join that bandwagon, up to and including Eureka Models in Australia.
Either that, or BLI should do a NSWGR AD-60 Garratt and see if MTH follows suit.
Andre
[quote user=“andrechapelon”]
Milepost 266.2
NS1001
Just received a BLI HO PRR H10 2-8-0 and think it is great product for 310.00 plus S&H. MTH is going to introduce their version soon. Think this subject was chosen to model because the PRR E6 Atlantic and the PRR G5 ten wheeler used the same boiler. So as Pennline did in the 50’s, and MTH did in 2000 in third rail eventually there will be a E6 and and G5 from one or both of the importers in HO.
Great. Maybe next we can get some more F7’s.
The “superstructure” of an H10s could probably be used to produce an E6s 4-4-2, although a new sandbox would be needed and the cab might need to be relocated. A G5s 4-6-0 would require more modifications and an entirely new tender.
I have seen a picture of MTH’s proposed H10s in the past and tried to access it this morning but wasn’t successful. Probably my own fault. As I recall, the MTH artwork showed an engine that is part H9s and part H10s. The only really good thing about the MTH picture is the tender, which is different from those that BLI is offering.
If MTH is determined to offer a PRR 2-8-0, it seems more sensible to offer a definitely identifiable H9s, or better yet an H6sb. After all, BLI could offer an H9s with minimal additional tooling of the cylinder saddle/steam chest, so why not leave that market to them? An H6sb would provide a totally different PRR engine; and
I think the H9,L1 and the B6sb would be welcome by the host of PRR modelers.
Think of this with just the H9 and L1 you could model one of PRRs many secondary lines and add some N5 and N6B cabins and your good.
I´m so tired of this competition. The PRR 2-8-0 goes in line with the SP GS-4, UP 9000, N&W J, UP Big Boy…silly. Why can´t they simply stop producing the same models? Would could have so much more variety!
By the way: is it true that all newer MTH engines can also run in DCC now, and that BLI is planning to produce mostly die cast metal steamers instead of plastic?
In fairness, BLI was producing many of those models prior to MTH. MTH is a relative newcomer to the HO market and seems to have had a severe chip on their shoulders when they joined the scale. They also walked around the field with heavy feet for a while, but not since BLI won in court in a suit launched against BLI by MTH about three or four years ago.
MTH’s DCS operating system was poorly, or essentially not, compatible with DCC systems when they first came aboard. Under the circumstances, one couldn’t fault the older HO market for assuming MTH were not going to be successful over the long haul, and that they should continue to produce what the market indicated it wanted in numbers. Recently, say in the past four years, MTH caved and began to alter their decoders to be more friendly for DCC users, something the HO world had carped about for nearly a decade. Until then, DCC or DC users could only use MTH locomotives with more complicated or time-consuming methods. DC users found, as noted in reports published by our host magazine, that the MTH locos took a lot of up-front voltage before they would move, more than BLI or other importers’ locomotives operating in DCC/DC.
BLI only had a couple of metal/diecast locomotive shells up until recently. I know their Platinum Series Pennsy K4 was metal, as were their PCM Y6b and their Big Boy. There may have been one other.
They still make mostly plastic, and have added their largely brass Hybrid series since about 2008/9. Those models are costly, but excellent value compared to a $2000 all-brass Key or Division Point model.
In many cases, I will take a well designed plastic boiler loco with good weight over a die cast boiler.
Just take a look at the NKP 2-8-4 from MTH and compair it to the Proto or Bachmann models. Both of those have much better, more scale size detail.
The MTH piece looks like a toy with its over sized running board and other cast on metal details.
Not to mention that MTH did not make proto correct verions for the other roadnames - Bachmann and Proto did.
Sheldon
I buy both BLI and MTH ( newer versions ) and love both. Both can run on DC and DCC and both do it very well.
I also like the diecast metal on my steam engines, gives them the heft to track very well. The sounds and smoke are extras that I really like. It’s a great time to be into HO.
Every year one of the premier PRR sites does a survey of modelers and BLI certainly appears to listen to the demands and reccomendations of the PRRT&HS modeling commitee. Hence we got centipedes, h10, k4 and sharks and yesthe i1 2-10-0 that was in great demand. Now we are getting th 6-8-6 swoosh turbine engine. It is a great time to be a PRR modeler. Now if we could just get a Baldwin RT624!
Right! Or a Fairbanks Morse H20-44!
Tom
The H9s and the H10s never, AFAIK, had wooden cabs. Nor the H8 or the E-6. The differences between the H9 and the H10 were primarily the size of the cylinders. The H10 cylinders were an inch larger in diameter. (The H8 were an inch smaller than the H9.)