Are there any GOOD pics out there of the BlueLine Cab Forward and the Blue Line Challenger? Im tired of looking at the stock photos. I am going to get these 2 on Friday and just wanted to see more pics. Thanks.
Their detailing looks really nice! I just wish they’d do a Blueline AC-12 too. I’m having trouble with the “face only a mother could love” flat faced version. I haven’t seen any other pics either. Please give us a full report when you get and run them? Also what mobile decoder will you use? I’ve heard rumors on the Broadway Limited forum that digitrax shares the same factory default CV as the Blueline sound decoder which MAY limit problems using 2 decoders in the same loco if that helps you any.
I will show plenty pics but I dont have a HO layout yet and I am well below the DCC crowd. I just have a test track so Ill do a video review for the stock sound.
I was not aware that a BLI Blue Line Challenger exists. They have the Big Boy in stock and the Cab Forwards are coming in, but they have never offed a Challenger that I know of.
I have several of the Blie Line Big Boys and they are worth every penny you pay for them. I also have the first run AC4 Cab Forward and it is very nice also.
CZ
Your correct on the Digitrax decoders,I just recieved a BLI Blueline A.T.S.F 4-8-4 and on the advice of a right smart person for that very reason…installed the Digitrax DZ125PS its designed for Zscale so is ultra small yet has a full 1 amp capacity. plugs in with the NMRA 8 pin connector…piece’a cake!!
The people posting on the BWL Forum are asking the same questions and their latest thread does have some pictures of the AC-4/5 other than the stock photos. I have an AC-5 on order and as soon as I get it I will post some pictures on my layout pulling a PFE reefer block despite the fact that my home layout’s era is early 1900’s SP. Normally I run with the SP cab forward guys on our local modular club. I do like the flat face AC’s more than the streamlined modern version. ( I have been toying for some time now to try bashing a 1911ish MM-2 but even if I could find an appropriate mechanism with 63 inch drivers, they never ran them on the Klamath Falls branch during the time period I am modeling. Peter Smith, Memphis
I presume that the Blueline model is a reissue of the older BLI AC 4/5? I have too many pics of my AC4/5’s I have included one in my post and ther are more at my railimages site linked below my signature…
Guy
I have one of the original runs of the BLI AC-5, and it’s a smooth-running, very powerful loco. I was able to program it down, since I run straight DC, and able to get the starting power at about 5 volts DC, much lower than any other BLI loco I have. It’s actually the only BLI I run anymore because of its low programmable starting voltage. I like it a lot–I’m a big fan of the ‘flat-face’ Cab-forward, because I remember a lot of them coming through Truckee on SP’s Donner Pass route when I was a kid growing up, there. Personally, I’d be even happier if BLI had produced the AC-6, the true ‘transitional’ flat-faced 4-8-8-2 with the boiler-hung ‘talking’ pumps, but the AC-5 makes a nice addition to my other brass AC’s. Still can’t run it in tandem with my ‘pure’ DC AC’s, but it’s a very sweet loco. And it REALLY hauls!
Tom [:)]
Tom,
I agree these locos are great. I have two and run them on DCC. I can pull a 25 car reefer train up a 2% grade with one cab forward. Much better pulling power than the rest of my roster. I’ve run the heck out of them and they keep cruising.
The cab forward is one of my favorites. I make the drive to CSRM every once in a while to see the last remainig one…I would like to see the real early ones done in plastic…the frankensteins
Guy