BLI Blueline SD40-2's...are they worth it?


W

wongsing

Member
I know someone has perhaps asked a question like this before, but just how bad are the Blueline locos from BLI? I have been looking for a BNSF SD40-2 for a while, and while Kato has the best looking one, even Ebay barely lowers the price to a mere 120.00!!!! Alittle pricey I'd say! Athearn doesn't appear to even have one planned for the future, so again, how bad are they? Performance wise, sound wise, and detail wise? I remember seeing one in the hobby shop sometime back and not liking it for one reason or another, but it was also priced at 169.00 (because they were JUST released!) I found this one on Ebay...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Broadway-Limite...ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Would you guys think thats worth it? They don't look that bad in the pics. Can anyone elaborate their experiences with these? Some better pics would be nice. One last thing, I thought the Blueline series had the SAME detail as the regular locos from BLI, but with the new synthetic mixed sound decoders? Is this true? Thanks guys!

-Rich
 
The Blueline series does have a DC sound system but this model does not come with DCC so you'll have to buy and install a DCC decoder if you want to use it for DCC and sound. The DC sound sytem requires the use of an outboard controller, which is not included with the engine. I have a BLI Paragon E-7 with QSI sound and Blueline GP-7 with a Digitrax decoder. The QSI sound is definitely superior to the Blueline Geep but both are very acceptable. Both run quiet and are good pullers. The level of detail is essentially the same on both models. Both the price and the shipping on the Sd-40 are good deals so I'd say snap it up.
 
For 169.00 I had picked up my Paragon SD40-2. Though the Bluelines sound is more prototypical, the QSI decoder has better features.
 
Well, they run nice, but each version (Blueline, Athearn & Kato) have differing exterior features. The Blueline is an early SD40-2, with chicken wire grills. The Kato is a Mid, with corrugated grills. The Athearn's vary from Early, to Mid, to late, with both chicken wire & corrugated grills, and a plus, Athearn has the only Q-fan SD40-2.

Quality wise, on the shells, the Blueline is comparable to the Athearn.
 
i will never buy anything else from blue line. i purchased an sd9 and the model itself is great,shell, detail and so forth.however, i run dc, and this thing was a real heap to run.it kept stalling,the sound was not great ect. the other worst thing was the total lack of support. the person i had contact with was no help at all. eventually i ended up gutting all of the pc board and so forth and rewireing the thing myself. when i got got it appart i found that some of the wires were crimped in the shell. shortly after i bought this thing, i purchased 2 of athearns new sd40-2's. the detali level of the shell is not quite as detailed. but it was a much much better value. and best of all it actually ran. i miss the ols days when i could get a good athearn engine for forty bucks rewire it for two and have an awsome runner. these are still some of the best running engines on my layout!
 
thank you, i look forward to hearing from you. i must confess that i did have one small issue with one of my new sd's. in reversre it made some odd noises. sounded like something hitting the shell. turned out one of the rivets holding the pc board was not secure. i just trimmed the ends off the the top clip, soldered a wire from it to the bottom clip and it was fine. seems like no one can make anything right anymore. but, athearn was very helpful and even though they did not diagnose the problem, they at least were knowledgable.
 
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