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I had gotten an email about a week and half ago about factory direct trains having a blowout sale. You could either go in person or order online. I had to order online since I dont live in Florida. It was basically a mystery box you ordered. You did not know what you were getting, things could be broke, damaged, not have a motor, no sound, etc. For $29 i said why not. When i was finalizing the order i had put in the comments as a joke, to "accidentally drop a few steam engines and sd40-2's" in the box. Well a week went by forgot i even ordered the package. Goto my mothers and find the box sitting there. I rush home, open up the box and was a stunned!!
In the 11lb box were 2 BLI paragon NYC J1e 4-8-4's. First box has a nearly complete setup, minus the dcc/dc board and sound. No a problem to me.
Second box is ehhhh, steamer seems a bit banged up. But seems like it could be worked on to get it working. I haven't really disected it to see whats wrong. Next were 4 boxes of SD40-2 shells or as they spelled it on the box, SHEELS. Not a thing wrong with them. Still wrapped in bubble wrap and foam inserts along walkways. And also 2 frames, 1 with motor, dcc/dc board and headlight, no speakers or trucks. Second frame has motor and speakers, no dcc/dc board or trucks. I had no idea which frame these were till tonight when I popped a shell apart. To my amazement, they are frames for my SD40-2 shells. So my joke/wish in the comments turned out to be a sweet deal. I got a nearly 90% complete steamer and 2 SD40-2s plus 2 extra shells to hack up
Now here's my dilema, does anyone know if BLI sells parts seperately? I need to order trucks for the frames and maybe the dcc/dc board for the steamer.
I had gotten an email about a week and half ago about factory direct trains having a blowout sale. You could either go in person or order online. I had to order online since I dont live in Florida. It was basically a mystery box you ordered. You did not know what you =
I wish I had knkown about that, because they are close enough to me to drive. BTW, Factory Direct Trains is in Asheville, North Carolina, about 50 miles from me.
I wish I had knkown about that, because they are close enough to me to drive. BTW, Factory Direct Trains is in Asheville, North Carolina, about 50 miles from me.
I went in on this last week.. not a bad deal IMO if you like tinker with them to get them running.
I got 2 NYC Hudsons minus the DC/DCC board in the tenders. I used my BLI mike tender to test both and they run flawless.. Could put in a tsunami in both and have fully functioning locos.
2 steam engine boilers
1 small tender for a heavy mike
2 PRR tender shells (T-1 ??)
3 ATSF F unit A-B-B shells.
misc parts
would consider selling or tradeing if anyone is intrested. I will post pics soon so make an offer or lets trade parts... I may keep one NYC hudson just because its a road I never had before.
Trent/fellows: My two Hudsons worked perfect as well and the tenders are in excellent condition, minus decoder/speakers. With a BLI 2-8-2 tender, I ran them around the layout for a good while and they were smooth and solid. They even came with original boxes. (Now to order a couple of sound decoders and speakers.) Other parts were a complete Hudson boiler/cab unit, two steam engine frames, tender frame, and a pair of new A/B F7 Western Maryland shells, and a pair of War Bonnet shells.
I was talking to a local, about 45 minutes away, hobby store owner who was closing his doors this spring. I had just gotten back into the hobby. Apparently he had been around about 10 years, I noticed that he was selling the store layout on Craigslist, that's how I found him. He was selling everything in his store for 50% off list He was then going to sell the rest at train shows. Looking at his Ford Excursion and trailer he had been a regular on train show circuit.
We talked about how tough things were in the business and he seemed to know quite a few people in the industry. I was buying some stuff and he had a 4-8-4 Northern on his store layout. I was mentioning that I just bought a Blueline 4-8-4 from FDT. He said that BLI wasn't going to be around long, but you didn't hear it from him. I didn't know him well enough to know if he knew some inside information or was just making an assumption.
Why would BLI have this sale? Maybe they need cash and aren't concerned about parts or repair. They need money to pay bills or start new production in China. Or they might be preparing to close up or move the store like Athearn?
I think this economy is really going to hit this industry hard.
Jerry, from what the flyer said, they are moving into a new building and didn't want all the junk. Of course, we don't know for sure.
BTW: There must have been something bad wrong with the J1E Hudsons. Seems like everyone got one, two, or parts of these units in their grabbag. Anyone heard of problems?
wow so my two J1E's could possibly run flawless if i can get a tender with the dc/dcc board in it. sweet. I forgot to add that I also got a UP big boy top half of the boiler. No running gear or cab. Just the big heavy brass boiler. I also got a partial SP cab forward. There is no top half of the boiler, just the internals. Also missing the front driver's and tender.
I did email BLI about trucks for the SD40-2's i got. They said $15 each, im hoping they mean per pair and not each individual truck. I'll never get these on tracks running if thats the case.
wow so my two J1E's could possibly run flawless if i can get a tender with the dc/dcc board in it. sweet. I forgot to add that I also got a UP big boy top half of the boiler. No running gear or cab. Just the big heavy brass boiler. I also got a partial SP cab forward. There is no top half of the boiler, just the internals. Also missing the front driver's and tender.
I did email BLI about trucks for the SD40-2's i got. They said $15 each, im hoping they mean per pair and not each individual truck. I'll never get these on tracks running if thats the case.
Missed this one too, dang it. Sounds like the parts bin was worth at least $29. I wish other manufacturers would do this type of thing on occasion since I'm sure extra parts and seconds must appear all the time.
As for BLI, I think they are like the rest of the economy, hoping to hang on until people start buying trains again. The one thing they have going against them is most of their products are high end and that's the area of the hobby that's been hurt the worst.
