>> Broadway's refurbished locos, where do they come from?
I had a cousin once who was a Furbisher. He started out in the old days when you had to do all the furbishing by hand. He was also among the founding members of the "United Furbishers and Gruntlers Union" (Local 812). At the time he worked for "Joe Johns, John Johnson, Jan Jahns and Son, Ltd." in their manufacturing and assembly department making Satises. For a time, JJJJJJ & Son was the world's largest Satis factory. But their biggest seller was the Tesselated Gruntle, which customers couldn't seem to get enough of. He did a short stint in the army during the second World War as a Quartermaster since he'd had previous experience in high school as a Quarterback. His job was arranging the outgoing cargo in alphabetical order before loading on the ships. When he came home he had changed. Mom always said he seemed out of sorts. While he was gone they upgraded the factory and put in all new automated equipment. It didn't take him very long to get it figured out though so they put him in charge of the Whirling Furbish. Over the years he did well and rose through the ranks to become the Customer Service manager. Though the company made great products, eventually customers started sending them back to have them fixed. Occasionally some would get lost and then it would then be my cousin's job to send out the replacements. He worked there until he retired re-furbishing and handling dis-Gruntled customers.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
John
My PRR J1 and Niagara from the NYC are both refurbished from BLI. At the time, they said people return them for repairs or refuse them because of damaged cartons. They also said they might be factory seconds with minor cosmetic problems. In neither case have I been able to discover any blemish, and they certainly run very nicely to this day.
I don't think this sales outlet is any big secret because someone is buying up the locos within a few days of them being advertised. They are good bargains in my view, and remember that they get the full warranty, too. You get an automatic 40% discount for something that may have as much as 20 hours of use (most have nothing like that amount) and a warranty.
-Crandell
They are locomotives that were returned and replaced because of problems, and those problems have been repaired by the BLI staff. In most cases you can't tell the difference between refurbished and brand new stock.
rjake4454 I was wondering if the company buys used products from customers, or if these are simply left over stock that had problems which were later fixed by the staff. Anyone know?
I was wondering if the company buys used products from customers, or if these are simply left over stock that had problems which were later fixed by the staff. Anyone know?
The latter, according to BLI staff.
Alton Junction