The point is that the modeler only needs to satisfy himself. He may be happy with details that are incorrect to one degree or another, and that is his right. It's his hobby, after all. But somebody who sets out to sell you a product, and who accepts money from you as a trusting buyer, has a higher responsibility. That manufacturer needs to sell a product that operates well and represents what it is advertised to represent, within reasonable limits. On your own personal railroad, you are welcome to put a Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme on your GG1 if you like because it's your right to do so. In fact, the manufacturer has the right to do the same. However, he has no business advertising it as accurate.
Note that BLI makes a companion to their PRR H10s. It is a generic 2-8-0 with a radial firebox, which uses some of the same components as the BLI H10s. It's reputed to be a good HO engine, and BLI makes no pretense that it is anything more than an approximation. That's honest.
Tom
I bought an MTH H10s. I don't care if it's sniffer valves are in the wrong place. I wanted it because it smokes and has marker lights that light up, and it runs on 18" curves. It's going to replace a Bachmann 0-6-0 on a small furniture grade layout, and pull some Life-Like passenger cars. I do "toy trains", not "model trains". MTH and Rapido both fit the bill, not because of realism, but because they have things like marker lights that make the model "appear" more fun.
Between you and me, I can't wait for BLI to start producing more locomotives with the coal load that lowers as you run the engine.
TheWizard Between you and me, I can't wait for BLI to start producing more locomotives with the coal load that lowers as you run the engine.
Seriously, is that in the works.
Only problem is that our runs are so short and most of us model only a fraction of an actual line that there wouldn't be much fuel exhaustion over the brief part of the line a loco runs on, even if we imagine there are tens of miles between our towns rather than just a few feet. If I imagine that two towns that are actually only 15 feet apart to be be 50 miles apart, for there to be a realistic drop in the coal load, the level of the coal would have to be dropping so fast it would be noticeable. This is one feature I can do without.