BLI Class J looking good.

[Anonymous]

BLI has pics posted of thier Class J.Looks good.If it has the hooter whistle it will join my 1218 in excursion service.Now if I could get them to do the Chessie Steam Special I would be set.2101 or 614 doesnt really matter.If I could afford the Key Brass model I would buy it.It is gorgeous.Dan

[Anonymous]

The Color looks incorrect. And no, The J did not have a plain "Hooter" type whistle. The J's and K's had a Hancock deep throated 3 chime.

[Anonymous]

BLI has a disclaimer stating that the 611 will be painted as it currently appears PAINTED IN NON LEAD BASED PAINTS which is mandated by federal law
Ch

[Virginian]

Ahhhhhhhh! Where is my 613? I want it!
Dan, man what are you talking about, the J's had the greatest, sweetest whistle ever heard. The hooter suits the A's fine, but I am buying one of these just to get THAT whistle. When I hear it again in 1981 after all those years it gave me goosebumps.
I am not going to get excited about the color until I see it. If it matches 611 as she sits I am happy. The current color is real, real, real close to the original in the light of day in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

mmm purty.

I wi***hey would do the 4-8-4 Potomac.

[rrinker]

The next 4-8-4 they need to do is a Reading T-1. It was only the top vote getter in the informal poll Terry did in the editorial of MR last year sometime. Why? Because anyone modelling the East anytime from the mid 1940's to today could run one in one of the various possible color schemes. Original Reading freight loco, Rail Ramble scheme, all gussied up with extra striping, the (for shame!) Chessie Steam Special scheme, American Freedom Train, or as it currently appears (well, if it were fully assembled) on the R&N.
Kind of interesting (not to open another discussion on this) that MTH chose to do a K4 and not a T-1, Mike designed the T-1 sold by Lionel in two schemes, and as MTH sells the other two options.

--Randy

[Virginian]

Oh yeah, MY 613 in a not too glossy satin, with the duplex rods. Looks pretty good. I see they finally got someone to paint the ends of the pony truck axles but I guess they balked at painting the main axles. Oh well, I'm used to that. Since they obviously have MY loco made, I don't see why they don't go ahead and send it to me.

[Anonymous]

I hope the model runs well as I have not been happy with the last few steam engines I received from BLI. They were using Ajin for some of their models and then went to China for lower prices. The first BLI engines were great runners and I have very little problems with them, but the quality seems to be slipping along with the schedules. The J should be a great model and I would guess they will sell all of them quickly.

[Anonymous]

My BLI ATSF 3751 class runs perfeclty for made in China.
Ch

[Anonymous]

Sorry guys.I could have swore when I saw her in KY it sounded like a hooter.Of course things sound different echoing off those hollers.Oh well,if I can scrape the ca***ogether before they sell out Ill have to get a 611.Dan

[AggroJones]

I only would be interested in it if BLI built the unstreamlined version J. THAT was cool! She's very buff under her skirt.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by psngrtrn

My BLI ATSF 3751 class runs perfeclty for made in China.
Ch

I have one of the BLI 3751 class also and it does run well. The K4 that is the premium engine is not as good as I expected. The PRR J1's, I have two of these run Ok, but not excellent. Most of the others that I have from BLI are good and acceptable, so I have to agree the china built engines are good overall.

[Virginian]

The J1s were quite brutish appearing Northerns. With the 70" drivers and no streamlining and those huge rods she looked somewhat akin to the ill fated K-3s I thought, and a lot more like a freight loco. The J is a heck of a big 4-8-4, but the shrouding makes her look a lot more svelt. If you break down and get brass and model one you would also need to model Roanoke Shops so you could show the bearings being serviced/replaced if you're a stickler for accuracy. The reliabilty was so bad the War Production Board let N&W rework them to regular J specs in 1944, way before the war was over. I don't know how they convinced them the streamlining helped the reliability any, but they did that at the same time.

[tcf511]

Are any of you familiar with the Bachman Spectrum N&W passenger cars? I want to have cars to run with the J but the Bachman cars seems to be much more red than the sample photos of the BLI. Did the prototype match and how close to color are the Bachman cars?

[Virginian]

As they rolled out of the shop, freshly painted, the N&W cars were a perfect match for the J's and K's stripes. However, reds have always been one of the faster fading colors. So it has always been possible to find where the colors are not an exact match.
When 611 ran in the early eighties, the whole train, even the auxiliary tender's stripe, was a perfect match, and it was gorgeous. Didn't go with those faded black U-boats that dragged the train back to Roanoke too good though.

[tcf511]

Thanks. I think I'll buy the Bachmans and try to darken them up a little. If necessary, I'll get someone to repaint them. I like the fact that they already have the interiors and lighting installed.