Hi, I was checking out the latest offerings in the BLI HO steam locomotive brand and I was very dissapointed to see that BLI was offering a version of the GN 2-8-0's among the other railroad Steam offerings.
I would have thought that BLI would only release those road names where there was a strong resemblence between the actual prototpe locomotive and the BLI series being offered.
I remember BLI as being the main supplier of PRR engines and Union Pacific steam engines. I always thought they were very near prototype.
As well as the USRA engines which were the true generic offerings and of course the SP with the cab forward and the BLI series of mallet locomotives .
I see that I was wrong, BLI is one of those manufacturers who will also paint any railroad logo on a steam engine even if the prototype did not have any.
What threw me was some years ago I bought a BLI locomotive of a Canadian Steamer and the detail was very accurate, especially the enclosed winter cab.
GN 2-8-0 steam locomotives had the distinctive BelAir firebox, the BLI offering does not represent that GN class at all.
Also, i have had on order for a couple of years now a 4-8-4 S2 GN steam locomotive. however it is obvious greater car is being given the Brass Hybrid Locomotives being produced by BLI. The final models of the BLI S2 engines were displayed recently and they are very close to the prototype.
It is just a pet peeve of mine to run across any model steam locomotives carrying the name of Railroads that did not use that particular engine.
You can look at the glass as half full or half empty. BLI produces a very accurate PRR H10s 2-8-0. It is obviously correct only for the PRR and the smaller lines that bought secondhand H10s class engines. Then, in order to capture a somewhat larger market, they used the same PRR H10s running gear to produce a generic 2-8-0 with different lettering, a conventional boiler, a different sandbox, and a different tender. This is now available with lettering for several roads, including G.N. PRR's Belpaire boiler was unique to the PRR, so the PRR boiler with G.N. lettering would still not be quite right for G.N.
The resultant generic 2-8-0 is fairly close in appearance to a B&O E-27 or an NYC engine, although many details ought to be changed for a truly accurate model. Some of the other road names are a bit more of a stretch. To put things in perspective, the very popular Bachmann 2-8-0 was correct for only one road: Illinois Central. Nevertheless, it has been produced in great numbers in dozens of road names. At this time, the only way you will get an accurate G.N. 2-8-0 is to shop around for a used brass engine. Some will say the BLI model is close enough; others will say it isn't.
I guess the only comfort is that they say the BLI G.N. 4-8-4 is still in the works, although it's already been a long wait.
Tom
On average, BLI delivery dates are about two years after their "expected delivery" dates. I waited forever for them to deliver their Dreyfus Hudson and finally went with MTH shortly before they actually began selling theirs. The bottom line is they aren't going to start the assembly line until they have sufficient numbers of pre-orders for a particular product.
Bachmann really cleaned up with their "generic" 2-8-0. BLI is looking to do the same with a better quality "generic". I hope that they do a little more tooling and put out the generic engine with a Vanderbuilt tender and a pyle-national headlight centered on the smokebox door. Then they could letter it for UP and SP and please some of us Western modellers!
Don,
BLI has had to face the reality that the customer base may not be as big, or have as deep a pockets as they once thought.
Personally, having a long history in the hobby and the industry, I have a different view on this topic.
Sure, in a perfect world it would be nice every model was a perfect copy of its prototype - but where does that end? Should they offer six different versions of every number showing every documented modification over the 40 years the loco ran the rails?
Truth is, there is barely enough maket for the proto specifc models bening made now - that is the reason BLI has had to move into a few "generic" choices.
They Promised B&O P7 Pacifics for a decade - and what did we get - a generic light Pacific running gear with a generic Heavy Mikado boiler with numbers and names that did not match up. They could not even be bothered with a simple detail like making a Delta trailing truck for the thing to make it look a little closer.
I bought a few BLI Mikes and one Pacific - mainly because I freelance. I skipped the B&O Pacifics, even though I model the B&O - too much money - too little accuracy. Now if they had been $150........
Interesting that as time has moved on, Bachmann got better in this department, while BLI and others got worse.
Not every Bachmann model is a perfect match - we know that. But the Bachmann 2-8-0 is amazing close to something owned by almost all the roads they lettered them for - they are pretty good standins in most cases.
BLI is about 15 years late to party now offering a generic 2-8-0, and their price is not a generic price - especially with the Bachmann product sdtill readily available.
BUT, they simply is a not enough market for proto specific versions of all these locos, especially as the prices keep going up.
I lobbied long ago for a steam loco "kit" like the Proto2000 undecorated diesels. A ready to run chassis with a "shell" to be assembled and detailed to suit. But we will never see that - nobody wants to even build that much of a loco anymore.
Truth is, the 1990's was a golden era in this hobby we might not see again for sometime - glad I bought most of what I wanted at the time.
Other truth is, no matter what you and I want or like, lots of people just want to buy and play with trains, and do not loose any sleep over a B&O Pacific with the wrong size drivers and wrong trailing truck.
Sheldon
Many of us are freelancers so generics work fine for us. Prototype fidelity is not that important. I run a fictional railroad serving fictional towns. Even though my railroad interchanges with real railroads and those railroads run with trackage rights on my railroad, is it really that important that a loco has the wrong sized drivers or the headlight is in the wrong place. It's all make believe anyway.
Just got a new one today. Rio Grande. I don't know if Rio G had them or if boilers aren't the same as the real ones. What concerned me more was that the engine has a diecast boiler and the tender is plastic. First time I ever seen that. Wasn't to keen about it either.
Joe C
I received one today and, as I'd hoped, it was a good starting point for kitbashing a locomotive I want that I can't expect anyone would ever bring out- a Pere Marquette class C 2-8-0. There are only a handful of things I'd need to change to make a "close enough" model of a C-class 2-8-0 that catches the major details, and most of them are minor
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
ACY You can look at the glass as half full or half empty. BLI produces a very accurate PRR H10s 2-8-0. It is obviously correct only for the PRR and the smaller lines that bought secondhand H10s class engines. Then, in order to capture a somewhat larger market, they used the same PRR H10s running gear to produce a generic 2-8-0 with different lettering, a conventional boiler, a different sandbox, and a different tender. This is now available with lettering for several roads, including G.N. PRR's Belpaire boiler was unique to the PRR, so the PRR boiler with G.N. lettering would still not be quite right for G.N. The resultant generic 2-8-0 is fairly close in appearance to a B&O E-27 or an NYC engine, although many details ought to be changed for a truly accurate model. Some of the other road names are a bit more of a stretch. To put things in perspective, the very popular Bachmann 2-8-0 was correct for only one road: Illinois Central. Nevertheless, it has been produced in great numbers in dozens of road names. At this time, the only way you will get an accurate G.N. 2-8-0 is to shop around for a used brass engine. Some will say the BLI model is close enough; others will say it isn't. I guess the only comfort is that they say the BLI G.N. 4-8-4 is still in the works, although it's already been a long wait. Tom
The BLI Hybrid Brass GN S2 is very much near completion. The final prototype is now making the rounds of various model railroad tradeshows. By the recent account of the model railroad shop i deal with the very long weight is ALMOST worth the wait.
In addition there are a number of videos on the BLI site of the final prototype now and also on Youtube now showing the attributes of this new train. It looks like a winner. I have placed my orders. Looks too good to pass up.
Renato SilvaStill no SP AC12 from Broadway....10 years later....still nothing
Hi All--
I've had my past issues with some BLI products. However, I just bought one of the Santa Fe 3800 Class (modernized) 2-10-2's--and it's a great model, so far as I can tell--with a few updates from the previous release (which I did not buy), including improved QA/QC to go along with the drifting valves, etc. Best of all, it runs really well, and now I'm thinking I need more. lol. Best Regards to all. John
P.S. By the way, I think based upon other forums I frequent, that the actual number of folks out there who are still into steam power in any way is not as great as it was. I think there will always be some steam models, but the good folks at BLI are doing what I think will have to be done in order to hold prices to any reasonable level--trying to appeal as best they can to the masses who might want to have only a couple steamers in "their" roadname. Perhaps the generic 2-8-0's helped to pay for the PRR ones???
There are many that would like to see BLI AC12 produced, but it is doubtful since Intermountain finally got the third run to actually run. It still has some problems with certain details, but is nice and does run now. I purchased the first run and the second run Intermountain and gave up since both were shelve queens and I have some brass AC12's.
CZ