Broadway Limited Commodore Vanderbilt Paragon 4 Review Deep Dive

The 7 year wait is over!

[@chrisdaniell2990]

Solid review. Thanks for sharing.

[@ericpeterson6826]

An FYI, all of my BLI steamers with 4-6-whatever, require a weight on the front truck to prevent the same issue. I use stick on wheel balancing weights cut to fit

[@Danthehorse]

We need models like this I the UK. Why aren't there more US streamliners? HO/OO scale is woefully lacking here. I mean, no one is doing the Blue Steak... When I got into model.railways, the American streamliners were the ones I wanted lol.

[@enforcer0175]

I've noticed that too. Right now, at least, there's this which is still available There's a Streamlined PRR K-4, and Bachmann is bringing out the NYC J3 Dreyfuss Hudson around the end of the year. There are a couple others, but I can't remember what right now. Oh, and N&W 611. Someone always has that on the market. I could be wrong but I think most of the British streamliners are pretty much always covered, but it seems that they are almost all a variation of 2 styles. the 'A4' and the 'Coronation'. I'd buy one of each of them but I've spent too much money on trains lately, and should probably cut back lol.

[@Danthehorse]

@enforcer0175 interesting re the Dreyfuss, thanks. Yeah if only it had been the PRR K4 Torpedo.

[@jackcieslawski1076]

Very cool , very informative , thank you. So , just purchased refurbished 2842 for US$ 299 , thank you again for the tip. It is "UNLETTERED" whatever that means. It will be flying to Australia soon. I am into HO ( Europe / Japan ) and OO ( British steam ) and now also into US models. cheers jack

[@RodimusPrime]

Unlettered means it has no road number on it, you will have to decal that on

[@James-Railyard]

I love my Commodore Vanderbilt! I wish I had the 35” curves at home and my club’s layout to run it prototypically.

[@RodimusPrime]

Im a bit disappointed by the pull power, seems to be a hallmark of BLI locomotives lately, they are pretty but lack the ability to do the job

[@James-Railyard]

@@RodimusPrime mine is able to handle 15 Walthers proto cars on a flat, that is with adding oil to the axle ends as Walthers recommends. She can handle about 9-10 on a grade. I also took notice when I got it that I could add extra weight, however I would have to be careful not to unbalance it. My Dreyfus has balance issues with most weight on the rear but the CV has nice balance. I guess the pulling power is hit or miss on BLI engines. My 844 has the power, the BB and Challenger I have also have the power. I wish they would just use the whole boiler for weight instead of adding the smoke.

[@myhiddennameis]

​@@RodimusPrimeMine is also able to pull about 15 cars (the most I have been able to try) too, even on a small grade. I have 14 heavyweight passenger cars in the NYC Two-Tone Gray paint scheme (all Walthers except for one Bachmann) and also an express boxcar too. It can easily pull all of them (on larger curves too of course).

[@daniko4447]

15:37 Not very accurate, It had a little bit lower pitched NYC 6 chime, a bit similar to Mdwhistles's cast iron NYC 6 chime replica. Also there's a undubbed video of it

[@RodimusPrime]

Not surprised they rarely get any sounds correct

[@myhiddennameis]

There is an alternate whistle built into this model too. I don't remember the Function number off the top of my head, but it's in the function list and using that function will swap the alternate whistle to be the active one. I have no idea how accurate that one is either, if at all, but there is a second whistle sound pre-installed.

[@myhiddennameis]

So actually, there seem to be 4 variations of whistles to choose from and 2 different bells too. There's the alternate whistle that I already mentioned and then by modifying CV values, you can choose from a couple others too (plus the 2nd bell sound too). Here's a video that demonstrates them all: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHWYgJaIbpmfoLMsi=Fds7vi-hVglYS0qr

[@mojessedax9089]

oh Jeez, the usual BLI lousy smoke unit 🤬