Hello folks, Looking to buy an SP A-B set and was wondering what people's opinions of this was. I have a new Paragon 3 Mikado that stalls intermittently on perfectly clean straight track (admittedly, haven't trouble shot it yet), so wanted advice before I took the plunge. Thanks, Ajay
The previous releases from BLI do not have a 'keep alive capacitor' so if there is any issue with the track there will be a loss of electrical continuity. Even so... there can be issues with Paragon 4 if the track has pitting caused by using abrasive Brite Boy track eraser. Never use anything that will leave microscopic grooves that will fill in with dust or other electrical blocking debris.
Other than an HO Scale GG1 from their first set of releases, I don't own any BLI offerings, namely because the reviews I have heard and read have been far too uneven for me to consider buying one. I'm paying for a model, not to be a company's QA department. That's true for model railroading and everything else.
This has been a frequent complaint about BLI offerings. I have had two different BLI products: the USRA light 2-8-2 and the Baldwin Centipede. I do not use DCC. The steam locomotive stalls occasionally, but no more so than anything else. The centipedes stalled frequently. I sold the centipedes, eventually, mostly because they simply did not fit my pike rather than the stalling problem. They were simply too large a locomotive for my pike.
N scale? I've had good luck with BLI products ,but I know a lot of people have had poor luck. I have 2 E6s, 2 E7s (1 without sound), 2 Pacifics, 1 Mikado, 1 SW, and 2 P5s. I had 1 E6 fry a decoder (probably from running too high a voltage at the club on DC) which was replaced under warranty. I've also had a couple that had identity crisis issues and had to be reprogramed. I've been told locking the decoder will fix that issue. All have run perfectly otherwise which is pretty impressive considering a lot of the time they are running on NTRAK layouts, which can be rough since the modules are built by ? number of different people and the joints between modules can be truly horrible. Only other issue has been if the sound is turned up too far, it seems to build up heat in the decoder and the loco will start to run a little rough ............again, this is at club events where the loco may run for several hours non-stop. Turn the volume down (or off) and no problems. Running "normal" times at home, it's never been an issue. Both my Athearn and Kato locos have this issue also, so it isn't limited to BLI. I was actually clued in to this problem by Kato, but it definitely applies to BLI also. I've heard there was some gear issues with at least the early releases of the F7. http://www.spookshow.net/loco/blif3f7.htm
