BLI Paragon 3

[Ringo58]

I'm waiting on a BLI 2-8-2 Mikado to come in the mail. Being my first BLI locomotive, I was hesitant to getting it after reading some of the issues on here.

Are there any known issues with the Mikado or the Paragon 3s?

 

[Water Level Route]

There are known issues (annoyances really) with all versions of BLI's Paragon decoders, but nothing that would make using them a non-starter.  Nothing like some of the issues with MTH's proprietary system.  As for the locomotive itself, it is a nicely detailed, smooth running locomotive.  You should be happy with it.

[Trainman440]

I wrote a full article summarizing the BLI Paragon 3 issues, but in short, they used non 5 pole can motors, which used overly high current draws and often overloaded the decoders. Hence why the motor and decoder were usually the main components causing issue. 

This didnt plague all paragon 3 locos, but it was common enough to be the most common issue for people to send their locos in for servicing/repair. 

Good luck!

Charles

 

 

[snjroy]

I have a good friend at the club who owns one. It runs and sounds great. There were electrical issues at some point that I helped him fix. The wiring around the tender wheels were causing problems, as well as those that connected the engine and tender. I kinda remember that the screws holding the trucks were getting loose. Anyway, I took the tender wheels apart, cleaned the connections and pushed the wires back in the tender, if I recall correctly, and it ran again like a champ. I don't know what type of decoder is in it. A sweet little engine. I have an Oriental Powerhouse and we have "drag" races from time to time on the layout... His BLI sounds so much better than mine, that has a cheapo decoder in it. He can also pull more because of the traction tires he has on his engine. The Oriental Powerhouse runs just as smoothly and is old school with brass fittings, so I have a soft spot for it.   

Simon