Official thread of the BLI Santa Fe 3800 class 2-10-2

[AggroJones]

If any one has any thing to say or any new info regarding the upcoming Broadway 3800, state it here please. This thing was supposed to be out, what, like 2 years ago or somthing. I will not reserve one after being burned by that blasted gray 3751 4-8-4. For me, its one of those "wait and see" locos.

If and when it finally comes out you can tell us when you recieve yours. Then give us a full report on it. [;)]

[AggroJones]

As of today, BLI says March 2006.

[Anonymous]

i waited liek you said after the inital run of the 4-8-4's and got one of the corrected balck ones instead of the gray.

[Anonymous]

Well, it took about that long for the UP MT-73s and F7s to come out, so the 2-10-2s/2-10-4s should be here soon.

[AggroJones]

Now its says April. [banghead]

On the bright side, as of now, I almost have enough money for her.

[jaybird1]

Did you see BLI's new Western Maryland F7"s Wrong color scheme. WM never did Black and White. Allways Black and Yellow!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jaybird1

Did you see BLI's new Western Maryland F7"s Wrong color scheme. WM never did Black and White. Allways Black and Yellow!

However, those are drawings that BLI created for those F Units. Not the actual sample photos. I agree with the Black and Yellow. Dont forget the circus scheme.

I am watching and waiting to see how the 2-10-2's perform before considering one.

[richhotrain]

First of all, 2 years is nothing. BLI posts delivery dates while they are still in the dream stage. April, hah! Figure August, to be on the safe side. Every time BLI updates its web site, I cringe because that means that the 2-10-2 and 2-10-4 are delayed another month.

Second of all, where are all of the AT&SF fans? Why wait to hear about performance, these engines look awesome from the preproduction photos. Gotta add them to the stable, el pronto!

[Anonymous]

I cancelled my reservation for the BLI 3800 class about a year ago after receiving the UP mountain, which was about 18 months late. The quality of their latest products have been hit and miss and waiting is a good thing to avoid the problems.

The fact they started PCM and have announced so many new projects is probably taking up much of their time and money also. BLI also imported a second run of many of the PRR engines and now they are in stock or the BLI outlet list.

By the way, those gray 3751 class engines look good with weathering after the black drivers and tender trucks are touched up.

[Anonymous]

David first off great line-up of CP power they look awesome, the only BLI engine i have had touble with was my 2 sw's but i sent them both in and they fixed them no problem. I have a light Mike, a heavy Mike, Penn 2-8-4, C&O 2-10-4, and they all ran great right out of the box.
They are having some touble getting started up after the law suit with Loinel. also it seems all the model railroad companys are starting to have quaitly control problems. Just sent back my P2k 2-8-8-2 with sound, sound worked fine but the engine didn't run. My Bachmann 2-10-2 also went right back to them had a bad gear, they sent me a new one in about 3 weeks it works fine.

[AggroJones]

Uh-oh! They arrived at some dealer's warehouses recently. Anyone got to see one in action yet?

[Anonymous]

My 3855 SF is at the dealer and will be shipped tomorrow. Should have a short review of it in a few days.

[twhite]

I gave up waiting for it, after two years. Whoever gets theirs first let me know how it runs, okay? And let me know if the engine sounds like it's supposed to--very loud, staccato 'pops' from the cylinders. You could hear those babies coming a couple of miles off when they worked Tehachapi. Loudest non-articulated loco I ever heard!
Meanwhile, my Rio Grande F-81 has 2-10-2'd me out for a while. [:P][:P]

Tom

[Texas Zepher]

I was just told 5/25 is the delivery to the dealer date. I ordered 3876. I thought I needed a bit of variation from all the 3700s.... I'll run it though the paces once it arrives and post a report.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by twhite

I gave up waiting for it, after two years. Whoever gets theirs first let me know how it runs, okay? And let me know if the engine sounds like it's supposed to--very loud, staccato 'pops' from the cylinders. You could hear those babies coming a couple of miles off when they worked Tehachapi. Loudest non-articulated loco I ever heard!
Meanwhile, my Rio Grande F-81 has 2-10-2'd me out for a while. [:P][:P]

Tom

The prototype SF 2-10-2 were indeed known for their loud stack sound, but the QSI sound seems to use one recorded version of the 2 cylinder sound, at least that is how I hear it. I recorded several of my BLI engines running on a roller set and when you play them back, they sound the same. I don't hear any major difference between any of the BLI 2 cylinder engines in overall sound.

[richhotrain]

About 2 weeks ago, I finally called BLI because they had not updated their Delivery Schedule since February 8. The woman I talked to assured me that the 2-10-2 and 2-10-4 would be in dealers hands by Memorial Day. Now, I have received an email from internethobbies.com saying that they have them in stock. Nothing on the Walthers site yet. I have ordered one of each from my LHS.

[AggroJones]

Got your's yet? I'm still waiting to see what issues this BLI unit will have.

[hdtvnut]

Received a 3881 on the 25th. Runs well and looks good. Sound is
typical QSI. Only problem was the tender linkpin was left off, so
I used a 2 mm screw for now.

Toolkit includes traction tire drivers, tires, wrench, some ladders,
some standoffs, and hinged plate for the cab. No docs for these.

Hal

[Anonymous]

I opened up my new 2-10-2 and I noticed the headlight on the smokebox door points upward...noticably upward. Anyone else see the same thing? I tried to readjust it, but I became afraid of breaking it off...I haven't called BLI yet, I thought I would check here first to see if anyone has a easy fix.

Thanks guys.

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AggroJones
Got your's yet? I'm still waiting to see what issues this BLI unit will have.

Nope, still waiting. The good news is that another fellow at the club has ordered three. So we will be able to jointly evaluate four units. That should eliminate any one-off fluke type issues.

[Anonymous]

I received my SF 2-10-2 two days ago and tested it. It does run fairly well and looks good.

The LED for the headlight is very dim for some reason, but that can be fixed.
The sound is almost identical to the 3751, which is good and bad. The whistle is correct and sounds like the Santa Fe whistle, but the chuffs are boiler plate sounds from QSI.

Overall, it is a nice model that Santa Fe railfans will want.

I hope they update the model and the next run and include the sport cab version.

The color is black and it should look great weathered.

http://www.tonystrains.com/technews/bli_2102_atsf.htm

[canazar]

Bangor,

I had the same issues with my Hudson, havening a dim headlight. This might apply to you as well with those. There is a LED behind the cover plate on the front of the boiler, that is supposed to light up and produce light through the peice of clear platic and make "the light glow" on the outside. LED's are very directional by nature and I notcie that the LED light was point down from the headlight fixture. I carefully pushed it back and got it to line up with headlight (inside the boiler cavity in the front). It was much brighter one it lined up. The LED was putting ligth directly onto the clear plastic.

I have never seen the inside of one of these, the 2-10-2's. but I am guesseing that are simialr in construction methods. Maybe worht a look.

[:)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by canazar

Bangor,

I had the same issues with my Hudson, havening a dim headlight. This might apply to you as well with those. There is a LED behind the cover plate on the front of the boiler, that is supposed to light up and produce light through the peice of clear platic and make "the light glow" on the outside. LED's are very directional by nature and I notcie that the LED light was point down from the headlight fixture. I carefully pushed it back and got it to line up with headlight (inside the boiler cavity in the front). It was much brighter one it lined up. The LED was putting ligth directly onto the clear plastic.

I have never seen the inside of one of these, the 2-10-2's. but I am guesseing that are simialr in construction methods. Maybe worht a look.

[:)]

I will check the LED to see if it is lined up with the plastic insert. It really should be much brighter for sure.

I like the model and it does look good overall.