Deep Look! BLI - Broadway Limited Imports New York Central Commodore Vanderbilt Hudson in HO Scale

Deep Look! BLI - Broadway Limited Imports New York Central Commodore Vanderbilt Hudson in HO Scale
All, since I'm a historian, I want to clear up a VERY common misconception about the Commodore Vanderbilt (and the "Dr." in "Doctor Hobby" is thanks to my PhD. in history ;) ). The Commodore Vanderbilt WAS NOT the first streamlined steam engine. The Europeans were far ahead of the U.S. in streamlining. The French came out with several that were at least semi- or mostly streamlined (such as number 220 of the 2750 series, Heilmann locomotive's, particularly the second one [although this was a steam-electric locomotive, I think the "steam" part of it counts as steam]) all before 1900. The Prussian Class S9 No. 561, although experimental, can certainly said to be streamlined by distinct design (although it does look ugly). I think the confusion comes from the term "Streamliner" vs. "streamline." The Commodore Vanderbilt was the first Streamliner steam engine of the Streamliner Era, which lasted from the early 1930s until the mid-1950s, or so; however, this doesn't make it the first streamlined steam engine where "streamlined" refers to any type of modifications or designed outer skins that helped a locomotive cut through the wind more easily.
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There are some HO scale items that I'm looking for; perhaps you can help me find them?
docs.google.com/document/d/14...
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There are some HO scale items that I'm looking for; perhaps you can help me find them?
docs.google.com/document/d/14...
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[@DoctorHobby]

All, since I'm a historian, I want to clear up a VERY common misconception about the Commodore Vanderbilt (and the "Dr." in "Doctor Hobby" is thanks to my PhD. in history ;) ). The Commodore Vanderbilt WAS NOT the first streamlined steam engine. The Europeans were far ahead of the U.S. in streamlining. The French came out with several that were at least semi- or mostly streamlined (such as number 220 of the 2750 series, Heilmann locomotives, particularly the second one [although this was a steam-electric locomotive, I think the "steam" part of it counts as steam]) all before 1900. The Prussian Class S9 No. 561, although experimental, can certainly said to be streamlined by distinct design (although it does look ugly). I think the confusion comes from the term "Streamliner" vs. "streamline." The Commodore Vanderbilt was the first _Streamliner_ steam engine of the _Streamliner_ Era, which lasted from the early 1930s until the mid-1950s, or so; however, this doesn't make it the first _streamlined_ steam engine where "streamlined" refers to any type of modifications or designed outer skins that helped a locomotive cut through the wind more easily.

[@dinglebopsmoothedwithshlee6830]

THANK YOU! I'm so tired of so many people thumping their chests because they know as a "fact" that the Vanderbilt was the "first" streamlined steam locomotive. It's not and never was, but once these things get started it's off to the races!

[@patrickmurphy6775]

I am stuck in Marklin AC so enjoy seeing your trains. You seem to own many of my favorite engines. Btw, I am an American living in Germany.

[@thomasavensjr.2790]

Very handsome steam locomotive model, the NYC had had an impressive streamlining shroud design on their Hudson type locomotives and engine 5344 was the very first streamlined steam locomotive in the USA in 1934. The Commodore Vanderbilt is an attractive streamlined design and has a unique appearance, engine 5344 is a self established individual locomotive with it's personal design and this model would be a great display case locomotive while not in operation on a layout.

[@SCL3618]

The gunmetal grey is indeed the correct color for the Vandy. Lionel botched it back in the day with their silver, still love mine though! You've had better luck, they sent me the wrong version out of the gate, so I'm waiting on my Disc driver to finally make it home. I checked out another as delivered model, smoke unit pooling up and the chuff going off sync above mid speed were the only performance issues I found. Good video!

[@DoctorHobby]

Between my two, I'm starting to think there's actually a flaw in the smoke unit's fan for this model. I'll look into it farther as soon as I'm able.

[@MaxSupercars]

Yeah, we have been wating for this loco for how much? 5-6 years or so? And she is finally here. She looks very good, hopefully you got not big issues with her. Have a good time! 🙂

[@DoctorHobby]

Well.. it didn't look good for the CV at first, but CV 8-8 reset did it ok.. but the smoke unit on the Pacemaker.. uugh.. not 100%.. "It's always something with BLI."

[@anthonysmithson4496]

Thank you for a great review on this model. It is very unfortunate that BLI do make some very beautiful locos, but i do agree that they are let down by the lack of technology up date needed for their locos. Sounds all sound the same, the smoke units are very dis-hearting when the fan breaks down or the elements give up. I my self have many BLI locos, but I do much prefer my collection of MTH locos, as they all have their own very unique sounds, and the smoke units are much more superior to BLI smoke units. I feel that if Scale Trains now have the Blue prints and moulds from the unfortunate collapse of MTH, that they could really create the MTH that people loved once again. This may just force BLI to get with the program and start to update their Tech. All the best Ant.

[@Danthehorse]

It amazes that the Streamlines aren't wildly more popular and enjoying a healthy, extensive market share. I'm a Brit and they are my favourites. As if Hormby would ever make American Streamlines 😢

[@nycj3ahudson341]

You chose the Pullman 1948 20th Century consist, which NEVER ran with the early "Commodore Vanderbilt" Hudson. The early "Commodore" ran with PULLMAN HEAVYWEIGHT Passenger Cars. The 1948 "Century" had either a matched set of E-7 DIESELS at the head end, or rarely, a 4-8-4 Niagara or an un-streamlined Hudson for motive power. By 1948, many of the 10 streamlined Hudsons had lost their cladding, and they looked pretty much like any other J3a...

[@evanhizon8112]

I have the disk drivers version of this. I did not have the proper NYC Pullman green heavyweight for this engine. So instead I used the Walthers 1948 20th Century Limited and for some reason, it kind of matches the locomotive.

[@Stanf954]

5344 ran until it was retired in 1958. By then the streamline shrouding had been removed and it was relegated to commuter service pulling an assortment of available equipment.

[@jeffreyrule8143]

As always beautiful locomotives and consists. This locomotive is starting to grow on me. I like the dark gray locomotive more than the two tone one. Thanks for sharing Bruce. 😊

[@DoctorHobby]

Thank you very much! It’s a good looking machine, to be sure, and I might go through with more testing to see which one will be permanent.

[@skipglobal1305]

The correct consist for this era (before the engine was re-streamlined in the Dreyfuss motif) would be all heavyweight cars painted Pullman green. I guess Athearn and Rivarossi made some in that rather bland paint scheme. It's much better visually with your CV pulling a two-tone gray fantasy train.

[@Marco-xz9sc]

I had an idea about the smoke units. What if you took an ESU decoder. Wire up the heating element to Aux one and set it to suethe smoke unit, wire Aux2(1) to the fan and make that the trigger smoke chuff and Aux2(2) set it at suethe smoke unit and make it the idle fan. In the function mapping set let’s say F7 to DriveF7 Aux1 and Aux2(1). Not drive F7 to Aux1 and Aux2(2). I think it could work with either a LokSound 5 or LokSound 5 working with a lokpilot Fx. It’s idea so the BLI board can be replaced

[@officialpennsyjoe]

I would of possibly considered one of them if were there was a stealth series option available. 'Edit': The 1950's 20th century looks good with the Vanderbilt.

[@DoctorHobby]

Maybe that'll be an option on the next run. I think it looks good, too. I'll see what it ends up like.

[@myhiddennameis]

I just got this Vandy Hudson too and I also decided to go with the two-tone gray paint scheme heavyweight cars. I think it looks much better than the prototypical green ones. I was debating on the Walthers 20th Century Limited cars, but they're too rare and expensive to justify it. I see that color does look odd too. I have about 10-11 gray heavyweights to pull behind mine, but have yet to test it out as I don't have anywhere to run it currently.

[@JeffAndersen-lc7zx]

I guess when you look at the specials that run behind some steam fan tour trains they have every available coach in the consist so dont sweat it. Just run whatever you feel happiest with.

[@jasonanderson6583]

Another banger of a video. Also I have a question. Do you plan on getting one of the Texas and Pacific 2-10-4s from bli

[@DoctorHobby]

Thanks tons I really enjoyed making it! I don’t have one of those as I really don’t have anything to run with it; although if I ever pick up a consist I’ll go looking for one as I really like them!

[@terranempire2]

Both consists look good.

[@DoctorHobby]

Yeah.. now that you mention it.. it's hard to put something behind the CV and have it look bad.. Thanks tons for watching and for weighing in.

[@TheTrainman888]

I kinda like the original version with the old school spoked drives. Cool model overall

[@DoctorHobby]

I liked that style, too! I had to choose one, tho, and I went with these, but I would have been happy with either, I'm sure. Thanks tons for watching!

[@fredrick5152]

That observation car, the smooth side one is also very rare.

[@DoctorHobby]

Indeed! I’m glad to have picked it up, but it needs modifications to be sure.

[@RobertoCardosoDiniz]

😍 Wow! Beautiful train! I loved passenger cars, Madson style, but here in Brazil it is very difficult to find. Can you indicate the site where you bought it? 🙏 Ah! I want to leave here my congratulations, because your KZbin channel is wonderful, I found your channel because of a train that you received as a gift from a Brazilian acquaintance, since then, I've been following your videos, and also watching old videos. ✌️😉

[@DoctorHobby]

Thank you so much for your kind words and greetings to you! I collected these cars over the course of about a year and a half from various places like eBay and train shows. You always have to think of the long term when acquiring out-of-manufacture cars like that.

[@RobertoCardosoDiniz]

@@DoctorHobby Thanks for the feedback! I'll look at these sites, and do as your tip. Thank you very much! Success more and more... 🙏

[@patrickerwinii9241]

1:10 I know how you feel. I’ve been having bad luck every time I got a new model for the past few months. Defects just kept happening to me because of bad luck.

[@DoctorHobby]

It gets fairly disheartening at times, doesn't it? Keep your chin up and we'll hope it gets better in the future!

[@patrickerwinii9241]

My Broadway Limited 844 wasn’t having any problems with the mars light. I wasn’t accessing pro mode lighting right. It wasn’t bad luck it was lack of knowledge on how to access lights and programming.

[@James-Railyard]

I’m trying to grab a full Walthers 20thCL train, I have 8 cars now and need about 6 more. Could this thing handle a 13-14 car train if I keep the axles well lubricated for smooth rolling?

[@DoctorHobby]

Doubtful it would handle one that long. Sortof depends on your curves, tho. Definitely wouldn't on mine.

[@James-Railyard]

@@DoctorHobby my curves are 31/28 on the outer and the inner will be 28/26 (easement/main) the club I’m a member of has a minimum 26/27, they also have grades. My Niagara (Blueline) is the only one that can handle the train so far. The 20thCL is the 50’s so I might need the Alco PA/PB from Rapido for the train.

[@DoctorHobby]

Probably would be a real stretch with those. My curves are 33.33 and it won't pull the 11 or 12 I have. I think I'm putting them behind diesels since I don't want to sell any of them :)

[@James-Railyard]

@@DoctorHobby well I’ll still try. I think a good lubricating is needed as it takes a bit to even move the cars by hand when all together. It’ll still be better than my Dreyfus, I’m just going to get the IHC/Rivorassi cars for that one.

[@James-Railyard]

@@DoctorHobby I have an update: After using conductive oil on the Walthers 20thCL cars and adding a fee extra for a 13 car train, my Dreyfus which is a bit lighter than the Vandy can hustle them around. I had the Vandy handling 9 of those cars at 100/128 no slippage. I feel when I get the last 4 cars I need I’ll just add a single sticky weight inside the Vandy for insurance to handle the train. I’ll be needing a set of Alcos when I’m all done anyway for the train.

[@DietPizza1]

Really want a Dreyfuss in N or HO. Hoping Kato or new MTH steps up to the plate

[@DoctorHobby]

Is there something stopping you from getting either the MTH, Rivarossi, or BLI HO Drefuss now?

[@James-Railyard]

Scaletrains now owns the MTH tooling so sometime in the next couple of years they should have theirs out.

[@DoctorHobby]

What about just getting one off of the used market.. now?

[@OriginalBongoliath]

@@DoctorHobby Some people are scared off by the Proto 3.0 board either because it isn't 100% DCC compatible even though it is 99.9% for the most part and since MTH isn't supporting their HO stuff anymore if the board goes out then you either accept it as an expensive yard decoration or you get good at decoder swaps. Me personally I am a sucker for Proto 3 and found out how to get the older MTH models to program via JMRI so they work for me. That and the fact MTH even their first gen decoders have more features than BLI, sound better, their passenger locos have unique passenger announcements to the railroad and train it ran, and smoke units are way better with all diecast boilers.

[@DietPizza1]

@@DoctorHobby your BLI reviews never seem to make me want to buy one 🤣 I’m in no rush…for now, curious to see if MTH makes an announcement

[@danielboone3770]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@OriginalBongoliath]

Prototypical exists for a HO Commodore Vanderbilt but they go for well north of 2 grand, no DCC or Sound, and definitely no smoke. If I am paying those prices I might as well go G Scale and get more train for that money.

[@DoctorHobby]

Yeah... as expensive as BLI's are, the 2+G ones are going to be out of reach for most anyone, I would think. Thanks tons for weighing in!

[@Tauschung]

A friend ordered one of these for me a few days ago and now I am horrified that they just wasted their money. How did you end up getting all of the electronics to work after getting it out of the box?

[@DoctorHobby]

CV8-8 got it running. This is actually one of the better models I've received from BLI lately

[@Tauschung]

@@DoctorHobby thank you so much. If that doesn’t work, should I just send it back to BLI?

[@DoctorHobby]

Yes. Their after-sales support is thankfully excellent.

[@bbrockRailFan]

They look okay but at almost $500 I just cant justify this price tag for this model.

[@DoctorHobby]

Hopefully there will be some pop up in the refurb store for you or good examples on the used market in the near future.

[@evilshenanigainspod]

nice💗🟡💗✔

[@DoctorHobby]

Thanks millions!

[@fredrick5152]

Do you have just have bad luck or does BLi suck?

[@DoctorHobby]

Let's put it this way. Someone wrote on one of my reviews where i was a bit critical of one of BLI's steamers that I had to me wrong about a potential flaw because his model ran fine for a whole five hours. That's right..a person thought a particular BLI model was flawless because it had made it an entire five hours. There's where the stakes are with BLI at the moment.

[@roperdoper7812]

@@DoctorHobby oh man, I remember that guy! Bill or something. Horrible fanboy to the extreme. No matter what types of evidence you put in front of him he wouldn't believe that BLI was anything short of God's own model train manufacturer. Completely annoying human being. He's stopped posting as of late and I hope it stays that way.

[@DoctorHobby]

Small world

[@stroodlegoatcheese4384]

@@DoctorHobby I remember that guy. Didn't matter what you would show in your videos, BLI could do no wrong. Really obnoxious poster and I'm glad he seems to have quieted down.

[@nicolasloud995]

Try rebuilding your track layout and you wont notice half the problems from your trains.

[@DoctorHobby]

Naawew.. It's all good

[@stroodlegoatcheese4384]

Op gets an eyeroll

[@DoctorHobby]

OP don’t get it

[@utahrailroadsofamerica1991]

In The First Streamline Of The New York Central Railway, Is The Commodore Vanderbilt Witch Had A View In 1934 ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Vanderbilt ) R.I.P. Cornelius Vanderbilt ✝

[@jimtrack3786]

Doc, NYC is my road of choice. I like the Commodore but not enough to own one. Streamlined loco's never did it for me. I love the unstreamed Hudson and Niagara. Sadly my BLI Niagara was a POS right out of the box. It's long gone. My Hudson is still running fine but I had to take it apart to solve a vibration noise years back. BLI was really rude to me when I tried to explain my vibration noise. I mean really rude. I told the guy to go and F*ck himself, hung up and fixed on my own. I have the original BLI Hudson J3 run with Paragon YUCK! sound. I run it with 19n Rivarossi 20th Century cars which only works on level track. I want a GS 3 or 4 Warbaby. Does anyone other than BLI make one that passes the test?

[@DoctorHobby]

Streamlines are a bit out there for some people, and I totally get that. They definitely violate some norms and their aesthetics are a bit of a hit-or-miss affair. I'm really sorry to hear about your experience with BLI. So far, I've had Train World and Macro Micro Mundo on my "rude to me" list, but not BLI.