Broadway limited duplex.

gcav17 Dec 11, 2019

  1. gcav17

    gcav17 TrainBoard Member

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    Just curious how good an reliable this locomotive is. How many of you have this model and what are your perceptions?

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  2. badlandnp

    badlandnp TrainBoard Member

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    I liked mine at first, but it became troublesome as it ran longer. It needs a keep alive circuit in it, and doesn't have one. It resets from square one everytime it skips power. Pickup has been iffy from day one. And this is the second unit they sent me, the first would not work. From further research and reading, it appears that I will probably just replace the decoder and speaker with a newer Loksound and a keep alive circuit by the same. Then these are reportedly working well. It appears that the big issue is the BLI decoder itself.

    They are a beautiful loco tho!
     
  3. gcav17

    gcav17 TrainBoard Member

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    Hey bro.
    Do you think some of those pickup issues will be resolved with the 2-26 ? I know you have had your issues with the stuff. But what do you think?

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  4. Keith

    Keith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Had mine since they came out. Have not had any issues with mine!
    Will be put to the test this weekend though, at railroad club train show!
     
  5. jdcolombo

    jdcolombo TrainBoard Member

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    I despise the Paragon decoder. The Paragon 3 in my BLI Mike couldn't even be programmed to keep the headlight on in both directions! Even the cheapest of the cheap decoders can do this easily. There's no way to attach a keep alive to it, either.

    My solution: tear everything out and put in an ESU LokSound with a TCS KA-3 keep alive. Now the headlight stays on, the chuff timing is light-years better, there are no stalls or dropouts courtesy of the keep alive, and I think the motor control and sound is better, too.

    Video of my transplant:



    John C.
     
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  6. Keith

    Keith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Has anyone tried the Rolling Thunder system available??
    Wanting to get it, for the T-1, as well as my ABA PA set.
    Not sure if it’s compatible though! Would be fun/interesting, at train show.
     
  7. drbnc

    drbnc TrainBoard Member

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    I have a Rolling Thunder box. Bought just the box (refurb), and used a spare sub. It does work, but only for one loco at at time (whatever is nearest the box). It does it's job - annoys the cat, dogs and wife. The F units sound the best, my Mikados sound okay. Depends on what you like - since I'm not John Colombo (a true wizard with N scale sound, IMHO), I usually run with sound off since it gets on my nerves after a while.
     
  8. MRLdave

    MRLdave TrainBoard Member

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    A friend brought one to a club setup........it was pretty cool and the sound was great, and the whole thing got really annoying after about 5 minutes. Also, the sound was so out of proportion to the size of the trains.........kept looking around for what was making the sound.
     
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  9. Sharky_McSharknose

    Sharky_McSharknose TrainBoard Member

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    I have a T-1 Duplex and so far, no issues with it. It's pretty and it's stout - mine hauls 12 Kato Budd fluted coaches + two express boxcars up a 3% grade like they were nothing. I do wish it were a teensy bit faster since I can't get mine to exceed 100smph light or laden, when the real things could do more than that.

    I am aware of all of the issues other BLI owners have had with their locos, but I've had few issues with mine. Maybe I'm lucky? The one annoying thing they do have in common is they're all more sensitive to dirty track than my other DCC locos, some more than others. BLI has posted a document on where to solder keep-alive caps on their decoders. My Centipedes will be the guinea pigs since they're out of warranty and have the worst pickup problems.

    http://www.broadway-limited2.com/support/Adding a Keep Alive.pdf
     

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