Man that was FAST!
Well done BLI!
…unless they had a very limited supply.
I got one on order that I’m waiting for. Glad I did order one before they where released and all gone.
BTW I think this is excellent for the BLI. In the long run it will not be good for a company to blow out remaining stock after a while and devaluing their products which leads to even less people paying for the items on release since they expect them to be given away at half price 6 months later.
So good for BLI and I think that in the long run good for us modellers as well since we might see more different and unusual models.
Magnus
Jason Shron was candid and accurate in his comments in MR this month, and you can bet the other companies have long since agreed with him. Firm orders that are enough to recoup expenditures and yield a good return on investment means that pre-orders are here to stay.
I, too, have a Q2 on its way to me, and I did reserve it. I hope BLI is encouraged by their decisions, and that they remain profitable by sticking to this method for as long as the economic climate dictates.
-Crandell
I was one of the lucky ones, I pre-ordered the Q2 about 6 months ago at my LHS, didn’t think it would ever come out, and even considered canceling my order to use that money elsewhere, boy, am I sure glad I was patient. BLI sure delivered on this one. About 1 week after the release date, mine arrived at the shop, as soon as I opened it, I knew Broadway was back in business. This is, in my opinion, the most detailed model of a steam engine ever produced, by any company. And the sound blows the old QSI away. A model like this could drastically change the HO segment of the hobby only for the better.
This may sound crazy but I think all high end HO engines should ideally be made with this much weight and detail. Just keep making those brass engines, and we will continue to flood the stores and buy them.
It shows how successful Broadway was on this model, you can’t even find the Q2 on ebay now.
Thanks again to Broadway Limited, if they keep up this level of excellent work, I think they will certainly not have to worry about any other competitor.
I had to get a replacement decoder from them because mine was shorted out…under the tender coal pile is where the decoder is mounted…with a thin piece of foam tape…top end of the decoder is a large electrolytic capacitor in which the prongs stick out far enough to make contact with the brass tender shell.
When I put the new decoder in I applied 6 layers of electrical tape and two layers of double sided foam tape ( both 3M products ) so that there is no chance whatsoever in another shorted decoder.
They only produced the number of units that people had preordered, so when they are released, they are gone. Read the Rapido ad “An Open Letter on the Necessary Evil of Pre-Ordering” on page 5 of the April Model Railroadeer. That is the way the hobby has been going for the past few years. A few years ago, I got a BLI E7 for more than $100 under list price because of overstock that was not selling - what is the chance BLI made any money off my purchase? They do not do that any more.
Crandell, what do you think of yours? I have heard mix reviews.
Ken
Ken, I received it only this morning. Looks good, same BLI quality. Runs well around my track system at speed, which is nice for a change. You may recall that I had to rip up 3’ of track about this time last year because the tender from my new hybrid TTT-6 from the Union Pacific wouldn’t stay on the rails. This much larger engine seems to be happy.
The sounds are exceptional…very realistic, better than anything I have heard from QSI, Soundtraxx, or LokSound in HO steam. BLI have nailed sound to this point.
The only glitch is that F0 doesn’t produce a front lamp for my engine. The turbo-generator sounds, and is first class in that respect, but no light! I have a query into BLI this afternoon asking if they would permit me to take the locomotive to my decoder installer and engine repair friend rather than shipping it back.
I’ll get around to testing the engine for tractive effort tonight. May post a WPF pick.
-Crandell
No headlight could be a couple of things. If it is made anything like my Y6 b or Big Boy there is a PC board that has copper tracing on it that feed power to the headlight. Headlight have springs that should push down on to the PC board for power. Not the best idea if you ask me. I had to clean the springs a few times.
Other could be the decoder. My first Loksound decoder would not turn on the head light on my Big Boy. (I know it is not the same decoder) Had to get it replaced.
Looking forward to your review.
Ken
The illuminated marker lamps on the tender really are what make this model stand out above all of the rest IMO. True, they may not operate exactly prototypically, but that doesn’t bother me. They look sharp, its a nice feature, I hope Broadway adds these on the rest of their locos, maybe with time, they will be operational as to many modelers’ requests. Atlas has one diesel out (don’t remember the name of it, not my era) and the markers not only illuminate but do indeed operate prototypically, so its possible.
MTH’s lamps can be turned on or off, and soon I will imagine BLI’s will be designed to do the same per demand. As far as I’m concerned though, I would rather have illuminated marker lamps, than none at all.
The other major positive to the Q2 is the cab light that glows when the engine is idle. Again, how prototypical? I really don’t know, but I love it. For those who were turned off by MTH’s blueish cab light, you can’t go wrong with this Broadway model, they got it right.
The only negative I can think of to this engine is the smoke unit switch design. Apparently its behind the smoke box, but the manual gives you no diagram or instructions on how to access it. I won’t even try out of fear of scratching the beautiful paint.
The smoke can be turned off by F7, but this can be annoying for those who wish to have the smoke off at all times. Although I have read there is a way around this if you are good at programming (I am not).
MTH’s smoke unit switches are incredibly easy to access (a hatch on the tender deck can be removed and placed back with ease), so hopefully Broadway will try something like this on future models.
Overall though, I can honestly say that the Q2 is far more satisfying to run than any MTH engine I had owned in the past, as nice as some of them were.
Congratulations to all who bought the BLI Q 2 - from the pictures I have seen in the web, it is an excellent and impressive model.
Crandall - just out of curiosity, I am eager to see pics of it on your layout!
Aside from the fact that this loco does in no way fit into my layout theme, let alone the size of my layout, and therefore is not on my “must-have-list”, I do have a problem of issuing pre-orders. Usually, the time span between first announcement and pictures of pre-production models (I still like to at least see what I am ordering) is not long enough for me to save up the cash needed before the models are sold out again. This is not a unique feature to the US market any longer, but has reached many a European manufacturer as well. Especially the smaller ones are fighting hard to cut down on working capital, making even bread-and-butter locos unavailable to me, if I do not have the cash stashed away to immediately issue my order. Writing to manufacturers (I should better say importers) has proven to be of no use, as they usually do not know when or even whether they will restock.
Puts a little sand in the gear box … [:(]
It is a great model but now the BLi web site has a video that shows the Q2 running and the headlight is going on and off.
This is not the way mine works or any of the other videos I have seen.
Check it out!! Anyone got an explanation??