HO, BLI's N&W Class J Steamer

[Anonymous]

An opinion from another forum.

I stopped by my local hobby shop this morning to talk with the owner as he's a good friend and he had four of the new Broadway Limited N&W Class J's in stock. We set one up on the layout in the store to see how she ran and sounded. IMHO the engine looks pretty good and operates well. The steam sounds and bell are typical (OK) but the whistle... sorry to say it just doesn't match the J's sound unless you’re at least 8 to 10 feet away and then it’s a poor substitute. Now I realize we're talking about an HO scale model and the sound isn't going to be what an O Scale size speaker would deliver but this engine's whistle sounded more like a slightly sick single note horn on an older Baldwin diesel. I should add that my only background for knowing what the whistle should sound like it the fact I worked for N&W, not to mention I grew up less than a block from Lambert's Point Terminal which is (was) the eastern terminus for the N&W. Forgot to mention that while BLI says this engine should be used on 22" or larger curves the one we tested operated on 18" curves with no trouble.

[NZRMac]

Did you see this other thread going

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37602

Ken.

[milwaukeesteam]

Chuck:

Finally, somebody who knows the J!!! This is exactly what I've tried to get across in the other thread. The whistle is totally wrong for the very reasons you described. Although I've not had the pleasure of working for the railroad when the J Class ran the rails I have spent time around #611- both in the cab at 70MPH, behind and outside at rest when she ran excursions. I also own nearly every HO steam locomotive produced by BLI, and own both the Lionel and Athearn HO Challengers. The Lionel HO Challenger sound board and the BLI J sound board have exactly the same whistle!!!! Lionel took plenty of heat around this issue from many modelers. Both of which are prototypically incorrect.

For $300+ the HO modeler should expect the sounds to be right. The QSI system can handle the low pitched whistle with no problem. But QSI / BLI stopped short of making the J something fantastic by accepting a low pitched, gurgle, something other than the J whistle.

For modelers who find the BLI J whistle acceptable - that's fine. I agree that BLI did deliver a fine performance locomotive but stopped short of delivering us something really splendid. The whsitle makes this a B- product in my book.