I see that the blueline Mikes are on sale 2 for 1. I do not own any blueline sreamers and was wondering if folks with experience with blueline could give me some feedback as to quality relative to the price. thanks
Hi,
I’ve got 5 of the Paragon models, which are supposed to be the same as the Blueline except the Paragon has decoders installed.
Owners of BLI seem to be pretty opinionated about them. I believe they are well worth the money, although one of mine did not have the sound installed and I had to send it in for correction. I got it back in 5 weeks and it is great. I love the sounds by the way.
If you are looking to install DCC into the Bluelines, you MAY run into some problems. Again, folks on this forum are pretty divided on this issue. But if you are going to run them in DC mode, I would not hestitate to get them.
For what its worth,
Mobilman44
I’ll try to offer what I think is a comprehensive and balanced answer:
Initially, it was largely a dog’s breakfast. People were having a hard time getting the engines to programme if they had added an inexpensive motive decoder. Consisting was problematic. The various forums, and the first seven or eight stickies on BLI’s own forum, were about BlueLine, and still are in the latter’s case.
As far as the guts, minus speakers and sound/motive add-ons, and as far as the details, they are virtually identical. BLI, when they answer questions about details compared to the Paragon series, insist that the engines are the very same, just no QSI or other DCC/sound system. Instead, BLI has inserted their own proprietary sound decoder that can operate on DC/DCC. If, as with many other users, you get the engine to keep your budget alive, and then add a $20 motive decoder, you have saved yourself as much as $70 over the QSI (now BLI’s own DCC decoder with sound) Paragon engines.
I am not a tinkerer or a fixer-upper. I don’t have the patience and I don’t want to get any. I like my engines to be RTR and to look and operate halfways decently. I decided at the outset that I’d just invite an early deposit of my corpse into a large hole in the ground if I had to fiddle with two decoders. One decoder works very nicely for me, partcularly since I am already a confirmed DCC user.
If you are handy, slow to develop anxiety or frustration, and can follow instructions (and don’t mind asking where they are, or for advice), you will probably enjoy the BlueLine engines…many hundreds of users do today.
-Crandell
I’ve bought 2 steam locomotives from BLI that are Bluelines. I have not yet attempted to convert them to DCC so I can’t comment on the potential issues related to that task.
That being said, I’ve found the Bluelines to be fine DC sound-equiped locomotives if you get them on sale.
I have never had a problem with Blue Line, BLI or PCM decoders. I have 10 engines from BLI all but 4 have been back for repairs, 2 I have fixed my self and 2 $600.00 plus engines will go back again.
It is a good company, but QC is lacking. Main problems I have had has been there Steam Engine. Only one Blue Line diesel.
Far as there repair department, none better that I have found. Just to bad I know them by name.
I have a Heavy BLI Mike that has the QSI decoder. With the small tender, it sound is lacking. I pretty much don’t run it, well maybe 20 hours after 2 years.
Cuda Ken
About 6 weeks ago I ordered a USRA Light Mike from BLI and had it delivered within one week - and that is to Germany! Good service. The loco arrived safely - no broken off parts and it ran reasonably on DC right out of the box. There is no manual worth this name coming with the loco, so I did not know how to install a decoder. BLI answered within 1 day. Installing the decoder was a bit awkward at first, since I did not know that you need to use the extension adaptor that comes with the loco, but after finding out, it was just plug and play.
For me the absence of a “real” manual is the only drawback - but that goes for Athearn and other makes as well. I would be willing to spend an extra five bucks to get a good manual, tellimng me how to service my loco properly. Btw, under EU lawa, manufacturer is subject to fines when selling any technical appliance without a proper manual.
i have14 bli diesels and 2 steamers at first i had problems getting them to run i soon sorted them out what i do now is programme the loco number into the loco then i put a drive decoder into a spare proto chassis programme the number into it THEN check the drive decoder to makesure the proto loco runs ok THEN i put the drive decoder into the bli loco since doing this i have had no problem with any of my bli locos… i love them
I’ve had a Blueline Mikado for about a year and it’s a good runner and suprisingly strong puller given it’s size and weight. Detailing is adequate, but not up to the level of a Proto 2000, PCM or even a Spectrum. Paint is excellent and crisp. I added a cheap NCE decoder. The main downside is the already mentioned difficulty in programming them on a DCC layout. This isn’t a show stopper, just a hassle. The 2-for-1 pricing certainly makes them an outstanding bargain.
Ken, my heavy Mikado has no problem with the sound - are you talking about sound volume or quality or ?? If it’s volume that’s lacking, have you tried turning up the volume both by using CV’s and the manual knob in the tender?? Mine is set around 50% volume and is plenty loud.
I bought a Heavy Mike a few months ago, and paid the extra $20 to have them install the motion decoder (Digitraxx) and program it. Great performance, too, once I figured out that I’d plugged the wires from tender to loco in upside down. The 2 for 1 deal is great. Too bad I can’t prototypically justify any more 2-8-2s for the layout.
I have an older BLI Hudson that I got 2 years ago. It came with QSI sound. It was a great bargain at $129 from Trainworld. This engine has run perfectly for all that time. The sound is good, although there’s a bit of a rattle with the whistle.
The engine has a two-position drawbar connecting it to the tender. Since I run this on 18-inch curves, I have the drawbar in the longer of the two settings for clearance.