N Scale BLI T 1 Reading Review

Review of Broadway Limited Imports' Reading T-1 2-8-2 locomotive with Paragon 4 Rolling Thunder sound decoder. Another steam locomotive? Another BLI locomotive? But why?! Watch the review for how it handles, is it worth it, and why I purchased another steam locomotive.
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Technical Stuff:
Footage is captured with an iPhone 11 and narrated in real-time during the recording through a headset mic.
Video is assembled/edited with Microsoft's Clipchamp video editing software.
Music is provided royalty-free from www.bensound.com

[@Cee_Eff]

I have one on pre-order. I recently bought a SD40 Paragon 4 from thier refurbished site and it's been running great. My other BLI Paragon 4 locomotives have all been great. The T1 Duplex is on the finicky side mostly because it's sensitive to track work. Overall a big BLI fan

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

i'm glad you're having good luck with BLI. seems some do, and others don't and i'm in the latter group. doesn't seem to be much middle ground with them - either love them or hate 'em. in general, their models for me have looked great, but sound issues and more importantly operational issues just make me shy away from their products.

[@BosleysStuff]

Sorry to hear about your troubles with Broadway in the past, hopefully this & your southern unit can zero out the record in the long run! they make in my opinion what are among the most beautiful N scale models (especially steam) on the market. I have 2 personally, the N&W Y6B & a 2-8-2 war bonds Mikado which I got refurbished from them and both have been absolutely flawless in their operations (so far)! From what I’ve seen if it’s Paragon4 it doesn’t tend to have the electrical or QC issues as much as they previously had in some earlier iterations

[@wmjm74]

Beautiful engine! I agree wth you about BLI diesels. I have a few of the early ones and have replaced most of the decoders. I bought some😮 of their DRGW F units on sale and they sound great and run well. The windows are too squinty but only noticeable if next to an IM or Kato. Adding some Plano grills really helps. I'm not a steam guy but do own 2 PRR T1 units - 1 paragon 4 and one stealth. Just for fun running - kind of why you said you bought this. Thanks for the video!

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

we're in that group of "i don't do steam, but..." and i honestly didn't think i'd ever be there but here we are. now that i have two, i think i'm done with steam BUT a big old NW steamer would fit my coal hauler route so.... but yes, BLI diesels are a big no from me - really shying away from them if other options are available.

[@1Klooch]

Thanks for the review! I have some second gen SF diesels on pre-o with BLI, my first try with this company. Fingers crossed. Maybe for some fun run it as a fantasy excursion. Pick up some gently used random roads light weights in corrugated and smooth. Lash in one from your diesel roster as a helper, spot some railfan/photog figures around the layout. Maybe festoon the cars with green garland and twinkly led lights and run it around for the Christmas season. (OK, perhaps the "twinkly lights" are a bit too much.} Have fun with your new loco!

[@user-bm8dz6zd5z]

The chesse and the Santa Fe war bonnet have the best paint scheme , in my opinion.

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

I can see why Santa Fe would score points - it's a nice look. I go from the colorful Chessie to the two-tone BN. There's something about that cascade green and black combo that i love.

[@benjaminturner7422]

Great video I bought the contrail T1 as well as one of the freedom trains.

[@Bliz0516]

Very good review. About the sound on steam when quickly throttling up or down, that sounds like a sound decoder issue. It’s just not very realistic though for steamers to throttle up that fast, but they can certainly coast

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

ah, i was afraid it was a decoder issue. and i guess realistically i wouldn't really drop the throttle out like that in normal operation so maybe it'll be ok?

[@wilzdart]

thanks for the honest revue. All honest thoughts. I have a bunch of BLI PA's and SP and have had no issues. As far as steam engines I have 6 of them and don't run them, on display. I have older sound decoders and need to upgrade to the newer decoders that have stay alive built in. To be honest I am not a large fan of sound, for me a little goes a long way.

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

sound, done right, is a really nice feature. I like to have at least one loco in a consist with sound - not necessarily all of them because that does get a bit much. but on my non-sound locos, i find myself hitting the horn/bell at crossings and then there's the disappointment when there's sound. I'll keep going back to my first BLI experience with the SD40-2s and that really left a terrible impression.

[@keving126]

My bli big boy had the same issue with the jerky motion and bouncing up and down. Found ripping the traction tires off it smoothed right out. Just a suggestion .

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

how was the pulling power without the traction tires? i was actually happy they had them on - but didn't think they would be an operational issue.

[@tommynorwood5184]

Hi C Mastracci, I was just wondering if you bumped head. But I will say she does look nice. I just want to see a N & W in the J unit. Scale Trains just announced it in H O . Hope that they do it in n scale that would be nice. I’m still not sold on B L T but what I’ve seen on there steam locomotives are better than the diesel locomotives. I know you have some 2 bay open hoppers with coal loads to put behind her. I been collecting them in the N & W and Virginian railroads. Also in C & O and B & O with a couple of Southern in there. Thanks for the review. Have a good weekend. 😎😎 👍

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

no, i'm with you on BLI. I wouldn't make them my first choice if someone else produced the model i wanted. i do think they have a serious quality control problem. I'm thinking if the HO version does well, scale trains will do an N - that seems to be how it goes with them. Enjoy your weekend too!

[@AtomHeartMother68]

The chuff sound will be greatly reduced on a steamer when throttle is reduced- coasting/ braking. Some steamers you'll hear rod clank under those conditions. I've got their Reading T1... been a superb runner. I like the chessie scheme though....hmmmmm

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

a rod clank sound effect would be awesome with this model. i'm just wondering if the decoder is dropping out for some reason - it didn't seem intentional for the sound to stop so suddenly.

[@AtomHeartMother68]

@@AlleghenyNorthern my EM1 has a rod clank sound effect and it is pretty cool. I think it's just a programming feature on the paragon decoders to chop the sound under those conditions. I agree a transition or fade sound effect would be better. They do it as well with successive, quickwhistle blows. Instead of reverb it'll cut the first whistle blow and start the next. Sounds kind of funny.

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

@@AtomHeartMother68 i'm relatively new to sound but in my opinion, ESU Loksound blows Paragon 4 out of the water.

[@AtomHeartMother68]

@@AlleghenyNorthern Esu are quite good. I have several in steam and in a gtel turbine. Speaker type makes a huge difference for sound quality as well. Ironically, one of my best steam whistles and sound is on an older Paragon2 m1a steamer. Also, the paragon2 on my PRR Baldwin centipede is fantastic. I like that esu and paragon allow you to use the whistle and bell even while muted(f8). That way you can still enjoy the horns and bells without the other sounds, which can be grating after a while.

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

@@AtomHeartMother68 i love the sound in locos when i'm running but i have a terrible habit of not clearing them from the system after i run them. so when i restart the layout, i have a TON of locos that all go through a startup sequence. it was funny at first but it is A LOT of sound LOL!

[@MrTech2three]

Do you plan on trying out the smoke unit?

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

Oh yes. At some point i do want to try it. i'll be sure to show it in a video when i do.

[@whispofwords2590]

I think the hate for BLI (n scale at least) is generally unwarranted. Out of Bachman and Kato I would say they definitely offer the best steam locomotives with decent sound, great pulling power, awesome looks, and always diecast. They also plan to offer prototypes that most of the other companies will probably never make like the accurate ATSF 3751 (as opposed to whatever that thing bachman makes is supposed to be) the PRR H10, J1, etc. I can't speak for people more partial to modern (1970s and onwards) stuff. For that Id go to scale trains. But for the transition era, bli is your best bet. I own a fleet of BLIs and I've never had issues with their decoders P3 or P4, (mainly because I handle them properly unlike some of the people I've seen complaining about them). P4 seems to have improved the sound quality a lot at any rate. Anyway, that's just my two cents. I look forward to their future n scale projects.

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

my hate for BLI is 100% warranted. while their steam loco is nice, i detailed previously how their SD40-2 failed miserably. So yes, the ScaleTrains version were definitely a noticeable improvement. I have not only issues with the BLI mechanisms, but the sound was unreliable. Terrible first experience. And those are Paragon 4 so top of the line. I'm very skeptical of anything BLI and won't purchase their products until they've been out for a while and others have had a chance to run them.

[@whispofwords2590]

@@AlleghenyNorthern so one model performing poorly justifies condemnation of the entire brand? Even though the most recent model you have performs great and is more in line with their claim to fame?

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

@@whispofwords2590 for a manufacture to offer 'premium locomotives' and my first impression of theirs being an expensive flop: Yes, they were judged. I've not had any issues purchasing any other manufacturer such as missing parts, intermittent sounds, and in general poor performance. and that's not even in the same locomotive - different issues in two locos.

[@whispofwords2590]

also yeah, if no steams going to the cylinders the locomotive shouldn't be chuffing.

[@AlanRitchie-wr1uz]

I would strip and repaint it.😂 No such thing as Chessie Steam Locomotives ever existed. B&O or C&O scheme only.😂

[@James-Railyard]

Are you joking or do you legit not know about the Chessie Steam Special? Heck I bought the Conrail 2101 as that was going to be the excursion ran after the CSS.

[@AlleghenyNorthern]

I assume you're joking because I legit explained this was the Chessie Steam Special and you can find a lot of images of the real loco by simply typing that into google.