Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Steam VS Diesel/Diesel VS Steam

20289 views
155 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    December 2011
  • From: Northern Minnesota
  • 2,774 posts
Posted by NP2626 on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 6:46 AM

locoi1sa

  NP.

 Just because one steamer is giving fits is really no reason to put all the steamers on a shelf. Our club had 2 of the original J1e Hudson and after the updated chip was installed they ran very good. My BLI M1b had an issue derailing the front truck. It turned out to be installed backwards. I am not sure if your Hudson has the same type of mounting. The ends of the crescent shaped hole that the screw is in should be pointing to the rear and the center of the crescent should be to the front. If the front truck and the tender are derailing at the same point is telling me the curve is too sharp or uneven or may have a kink in it.

       Pete

Where have I said that I am putting all steam engines on the shelf?   Please read post #1 of this thread.  From your description, the Hudson and the M1b don't have the same lead truck, so that is not the problem.  Also, the tender derails in one place, the lead truck derails in a couple/few different locations and the front driver set derails in yet another!

I appreciate that people take the time to make suggestions on potential fixes.  However, I have run all sorts of tests on this locomotive to see if I could determine a fix.  As I stated in my most recent post, BLI has admitted this first production batch of the J1e had problems that were re-designed out of the current design.  We are therefore talking about a faulty product, not a problem with my layout. 

If your club has BLI NYC J1e Hudsons that are working great, then that is good and I'm happy for you!

NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"

Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association:  http://www.nprha.org/

  • Member since
    December 2011
  • From: Northern Minnesota
  • 2,774 posts
Posted by NP2626 on Thursday, March 14, 2013 8:57 AM

Yesterday, I got out the box for my BLI NYC Hudson J1e, looking for the original invoice.  A part of what I found, I have no recollection of and that is paper work showing that I sent this locomotive back to Broadway Limited Inc., for the exact same problems it now has in December of 2003.  Per information their service department has sent me, this would have been at the end of the 1st production run of this locomotive.  Information BLI has told me indicates that at the end of the 1st production run, they knew this product had problems.

Correspondence with BLI's Service Department appears complete, they say there is nothing further they can do for me.  I have therefore sent an email to their Customer Service Department and got a response back, stating that my email had been forwarded to the Sales Manager.

 

NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"

Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association:  http://www.nprha.org/

  • Member since
    December 2011
  • From: Northern Minnesota
  • 2,774 posts
Posted by NP2626 on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 7:18 AM

Yesterday, I got a response from Broadway Limited Inc's service department stating they need my mail address so they can send an RA# for the return my locomotive and upon receipt of this, they will send me one of the present production batches of BLI's NYC Hudson J1e.

If this comes to pass, I will have very high praise for Broadway Limited's dedication to their customers!

NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"

Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association:  http://www.nprha.org/

  • Member since
    December 2011
  • From: Northern Minnesota
  • 2,774 posts
Posted by NP2626 on Thursday, April 18, 2013 9:44 PM

Very happy today!  On the 14th of March I sent my BLI J1e Hudson back to BLI.  I understood they would replace it as my old one was unrepairable.  Today, the box with the new loco was delivered.  I opened the box, looked the new loco over and plugged the tender into the loco and gave it a short test run to see if it worked.  I was surprised first off that as the engine started to move, a puff of smoke belched from the stack.  I found the sounds provided in the new loco where far superior to the sounds my old loco made.  The whistle was much more realistic, there was also some mechanical sounds made, when the loco was switched from forward to reverse and vice vs.  The bell was also more realistic than what was provided in the sound system of the older locomotive.

I am very happy with how BLI handled this situation and would not hesitate to purchase another BLI product, if I could ever put enough "Scratch" together to do so!   I am debating selling this locomotive, as I am not really interested in painting and re-decaling this locomotive to look like Northern Pacific's A1 Northern NP2626 (shy a set of drivers, of course).

If I decide I might keep it, I will need test drive it more to see if this one will stay on the tracks.

NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"

Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association:  http://www.nprha.org/

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, April 18, 2013 9:57 PM

Mark, that is great news.

Give it a test run and report back.

Post a photo.

Kudos to BLI.

Rich

 

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Alabama
  • 1,077 posts
Posted by cjcrescent on Saturday, April 20, 2013 8:02 PM

jacon12

 Wow!  Let me get this straight.  You completely disassemble EVERY diesel locomotive you own, even brand new ones, and do all that to them?  Indifferent

Jarrell

Yep, every single one of them. I do something similar to my steam as well. I've replaced gearboxes in steamers before I've even run them. Every one of my steamers are balanced and have had weight removed or added as needed. I'm very particular about my trackwork and the locos that run on them.

Carey

Keep it between the Rails

Alabama Central Homepage

Nara member #128

NMRA &SER Life member

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!