I haven’t purchased from BLI so any feedback or experiences would help.
Both engines I have from them are excellent. Out of the box they ran like champs. Great sounds too. I don’t have DCC yet (belated wedding gift) so I haven’t tapped into their full potential yet, but I will soon. I can’t wait to get the new E7 when they are released.
I don’t have any of their locomotives yet, although I have two of their heavy 2-8-2’s ordered. I have seen and heard a number of their models run and I’m very impressed. I’m eagerly awaiting the heavy Mikes.
Tom Watkins
I have the BLI 4-6-4 NYC Hudson. I run it under DCC power and it is an excellent loco.But I also
tried it with DC and it preformed equally well. These are fine models, right down to the bell that
actually swings freely as it runs. The sound system is great and at about 1/2 volume will drowned
out my soundtraxx equipped locos. It has plenty of weight and power. It ran a little noisey at first
but after a little oil and grease it runs as smooth as a baby’s… well you know! Broadway Limited
actually recommends oiling and greasing the loco after an hour of break-in time. It is well
worth the investment. Dave
I have a BLI 2-6-6-4 Class A and am quite happy with it. I added a Seuthe smoke unit, and had some trouble with frying front light bulbs until I carefully insulated the center power feed to the smoke unit. Also I had a freak problem where the right front drive rod broke off of the crosshead at the rivet hole, but BLI supplied new parts and they were easy to replace (they wanted me to ship it back, but the parts were easy to replace myself). It is one heavy, strong locomotive; I recently saw one pulling 53 cars at a show and it looked like it wasn’t even working to do it. I do recommend a minimum of 22 inch radius curves; I’ve tried 18" and while it probably could eventually be made to work there were some problems and I didn’t pursue it further.
I saw (and heard) the E7 and GG1 at this weekend’s Trainfest in Milwaukee and both look very impressive, ran smoothly – hard to comment on the sound in a huge room filled with squealing kids however. The paint jobs looked very good.
I did hear something that is a useful reminder however. They use their own technology when running on DC so that when the engine is running, hitting the reverse does NOT send the engine into instand reverse but rather operates the sound. A clever and very common sense idea BUT if you were thinking of double heading your Broadway Limited engine with another make – well you are in for a bit of a surprise if you forget and hit the reverse button! Once you know that of course it makes perfect sense but I can imagine plenty of people have been surprised …
Dave Nelson
The GG1’s have had some problems arriving with stripped gears. The general concensus among some PRR fans is it isn’t a big enough improvement over what is available for G’s. Let’s face it an engine that only goes HUM, Beep and ding isn’t really a good choice for a state of the art sound system, it doesn’t bring a new dimension to detailing for the most part as the engine is smooth and the BLI model has some flaws. Paint jobs are excellent and it does weigh a lot. the frustration with PRR fans is a company named Broadway LImited sure is taking their time getting the PRR offerings they announced first to the market place. My understanding is there may not be a another run of G’s as they aren’t selling well enough to justify it. the pictures of the T1 and M1a&b indicate they will be sought after. The T1 is better looking than anything I have seen in brass ever.
The feedback so far is great. Thanks! I am hoping that for Christmas Santa will bring me BLI’s new Santa Fe 4-8-4 Northern. I run DC with a CTC panel. I am looking forward to the sound system that comes with BLI’s trains. The reverse thing won’t be a problem as I don’t plan to double head.
Again thanks for the great feedback.
Yeah, I also own the BLI J1e. Runs pretty good, but takes high voltage to even begin moving. I had to ajust the pick up tabs on the drivers to get it to work on curves. You may need to clean the wheels right out of the box. Okay horsepower, good detailing, runs better than most non-articulateds I seen. Overall, an impressive machine. Now I’m saving my pennies to purchase the ATSF #3751 when it is supposed to come out next winter. [:)]
I am happy with my N&W A’s.
I have a BLI Class A, and it is EXCELLENT! I’ve added the smoke unit, the builder’s plates on the boiler, some little people in the cab so somebody’s DRIVING, and some additional details (feedwater piping, instead of “molded in”, and some handmade hoses between engine and tender). Oh, and I blackened the gray ring around the drivers (used a black permanent Magic Marker, works great). Just plain excellent product! And yes, IT DEFINATELY WILL PULL HELL OFF IT’S HINGES!
Don’t get rubbing or denatured alcohol on them as alcohol will take permanent magic marker off. When I make a printed circuit board I use a permanent marker to draw the tracings, after etching, denatured alcohol or rubbing alcohol which is 70% denatured is used to wipe off the permanent marker leaving the copper tracings.