Safety Valve,The modeler’s best defense is to know their brands and sub brands from the same manufacturer.Athearn is no longer just BB like it was few years ago.Atlas is no longer just Atlas like it was just a few years ago.BLI is broken down to sub brands as is Bowser.Until modelers takes the time to understand brand X and its sub brands there will be confusion.
Driline, I am a happy owner of 5 QSI BLI, 4 steamers and one E-7. I run DC and DCC. The BLI’s like DCC way better than DC. On DC they take a heck more power to run my MRC thottle shows around 3/4 amp to start the sound and 1.5 amp to start to move. Plus they have a bulit in Monentum as well so they start out slow.
On DCC they need by far less power, right now my BLI Heavy Mike is dragging 32 cars at 50% around 65 sMPH.
I think the messed up hand rails happen from heat, not the way they where made. I turst Paragon, the details on my engines are top nothce. If you want to dump it let me know in a PM.
Cuda Ken
Hey Cuda Ken! Good to hear from you. I trust your opinion because I know you’ve been there done that reading all your posts.
I’m going to keep my BLI. I bought if for the paint job. I’m going to remove the “Helm” leasing decal and substitute it for a Soo Line Decal, as they were prevalant here during the Soo Line acquisition of the Old Milwaukee Road line here in the Quad Cities. (Rock Island) Illinois for those wanting to know where on the map the QC is.
I’m going to spend some time tweaking the DCC start up voltages and such so that I can get it to start a little smoother.
I’m really impressed though with the sound. Its fantastic.
The handrails as expressed by another poster can stay the way they are as some are prototypically bent anyway.
I’m still satisified about the purchase of this locomotive, just disappointed that it’s not equal to an Atlas or Proto 2000 series as the MSRP price suggests.
Thanks Brakie.
Glad you got that sorted out Drilline. I probably count about 18 Engines with QSI already on and two due to be upgraded to DCC.
Yep that’s the way I feel about my 2 SD40-2’s (Paragon series), just rust them up alittle and they will look great. The front handrail /chain just glues back in and looks fine.
I’ve just ordered the new QSI chips from Tony’s for them, but sadly their on backorder.
Ken.
Actually I am wanting to add DC sound to my favorite CF7.The club uses the BLI 2 button side kick…Thats the rub.
IF I could hear this:
http://www.modelrectifier.com/search/product-view.asp?ID=6426
I might go that route…
Every sound equipped loco I have heard to date as been BLI steam or the SD40-2.I heard the Genesis SD45-2 with sound on a friends layout and thought it sound ok…I only heard the Genesis F7 at a hobby shop and wasn’t to impress.
At the other club we have tons of Genesis nonsound locomotives.[banghead]
Cacole, I had a read of the Blue-Line manual and it discusses the use of a loco on DC after a decoder is installed. The sound system in the Blue Line is essentially a DCC sound system that will run on DC. When used on its own in the DC environment, the decoder is setup to produce different sounds according to the DC voltage on the track. As you increase the voltage slowly the various sounds are made automatically like brake release etc. When you insert a DCC motor decoder into the system it overrides the sound decoders DC functionality as the DC functionality of the motor decoder takes over.
So you can run it on DC, but the sound performance will not be the same as without the motor decoder.