Whatsit?

[diezmon]

Picked this up on the cheap for... Well, who knows.

Any idea what manufacturer it is?  It only says "made in China" on the fuel talk.

The shell is nicely detailed with pre drilled handrail holes

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[Chris333]

Early BLI?
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/pcme7.html
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/blie6.html

[diezmon]

Early BLI?
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/pcme7.html
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/blie6.html

Huh, good call.  I keep forgetting about the database. 

[C855B]

Early BLI?
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/pcme7.html
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/blie6.html

Yep. I have a few of the early sound-less run, and what you have is from that batch.

[diezmon]

How do they run?  I haven't had a chance yet.  It it worth putting a decoder in, maybe some sound?

[diezmon]

So, yeah.. Turns out I have one.  Sheesh, I should open my storage more often

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[Sharky_McSharknose]

Looks like an E8A to me, but I've been wrong before. 

I have a PCM E7A with sound in the NYC Lightning Stripe livery being shipped to me. The PCM E-units came with ESU LokSound V3.5 Micro decoders from the factory, before BLI started installing their proprietary Paragon decoders. I'd be interested to see what the connector looks like, if it is a standard NMRA 8-pin, European 6-pin, etc., or if the connector is a proprietary type.

Can you put the DCC E8A on a programming track and find out what CV8 says?

[peteski]

The decoder to me is unquestionably BLI (so the rest of that model must be BLI). 
Spookshow's site does include info  on how each model runs, so his website should be helpful.  I believe that those locos had electric pickup problems.

[diezmon]

The decoder to me is unquestionably BLI (so the rest of that model must be BLI). 
Spookshow's site does include info  on how each model runs, so his website should be helpful.  I believe that those locos had electric pickup problems.

Yep, The reason I forgot I had the one with the sound in it is I shelved it a long time about because the pickup was so horrible.   Maybe if I MU the two together, hmmm...

[Sharky_McSharknose]

You can try some Conductalube or CRC 2-26 on the pickups. I used the latter on my BLI PA1/PB1 and Centipedes, and it did help with reducing stalling/stuttering. It's not a panacea since both types of locos still have pickup issues.

BLI recently posted a document on their website for where to solder in keep-alive capacitors to their decoders. I will be trying it out on one of my Centipedes as a lab rat (lab Centipede?) since they're out of warranty and have the worst pickup problems of all my BLI locos. If it works the other Centipede and PA/PB will get the caps next. My T-1 and F7s seem to be OK.  http://www.broadway-limited2.com/support/Adding%20a%20Keep%20Alive.pdf

[peteski]

Yep, The reason I forgot I had the one with the sound in it is I shelved it a long time about because the pickup was so horrible.   Maybe if I MU the two together, hmmm...

A large and heavy 6-axle diesel should not have bad electrical pickup.  There likely is a way to remedy that without MU-ing.  If I owned one of these, I would sure try to improve its pickup.  Didn't someone do a write-up on how to improve the pickup in those (either here or maybe in Spookshow's review)?

[diezmon]

A large and heavy 6-axle diesel should not have bad electrical pickup.  There likely is a way to remedy that without MU-ing.  If I owned one of these, I would sure try to improve its pickup.  Didn't someone do a write-up on how to improve the pickup in those (either here or maybe in Spookshow's review)?

Exactly.  I was surprised at how badly it would lose power.  It's on my ever-growing Todo list

[C855B]

I haven't run mine in quite a while, but IIRC some of the pickup problem was attributable to the traction tires on the rearmost axle. By themselves they were of course not contributing to pickup, but they were also lifting just enough of the truck for the center axle to not reliably rest on the rail. The wheel blackening didn't help, either.

[Mark5]

Some folks replaced the traction tired wheels with regular wheels and saw improvement.

[Cajonpassfan]

Yes, I replaced the TT axles with standard wheel sets (available from BLIt the time, don’t know if they stil are) on the PA’s and  E units, and noted considerable improvement. I also added some tungsten weights wherever I could.
Otto K.