BLI Alco RSD-15

[rrjim1]

Received these today very happy they run and sound super great.

[Kentuckian]

Me too!

[C855B]

Oo! Haven't heard from my guy yet! I'm guessing I should have two ATSF in the mail next week.

Hmm. I see what looks like a firecracker antenna on that C&O high-hood, but no top hat on the Santa Fe. Easily fixed; I have 3D artwork for that style. Handrails could be finer, but I'll have to see how they appear in comparison to other models on the layout.

[Cajonpassfan]

Too modern for me, but good for you guys!
I must say I do like the long "Alligator" noses on the ATSF units...
Otto K.

[wazzou]

I wouldn’t mind the diameter of the handrails as much as I would the variation in color, TBH.
Maybe they match the SF, but it looks like they used those same handrails on the C&O too?

[reinhardtjh]

Interesting, the BLI delivery schedule page still has these as "In Production" and it was updated not even 2 weeks ago.  I doubt they airlifted them from the factory.  They didn't make the listed November deadline but they were pretty close.  Hopefully the Big Boy and the Y6b are that close to on schedule as well.

https://www.broadway-limited.com/schedule.aspx

[C855B]

All I can figure schedule-wise is somebody might be spot updating listings, but not reviewing everything. Based on my last reading of the published sched, I'm surprised, too, that these are already being delivered.

Good point on the handrails, Bryan. They must be relying on the molded-in color and the ATSF blue was "close enough".

[C855B]

May as well get this over with while I'm thinking about it... anybody taken a look at the internals? I figure on running mine for about a lap on the layout and then it's going to the bench for a different decoder. Spookshow documents a big change inside between their first- and second-run SD40-2, and it would be nice to know what I'm facing with the Alco ahead of time.

[rrjim1]

Hand rails on mine measure 15ths, thats smaller than my Kato and Atlas locos. I'm happy with the decoder will be keeping them unless one fails. Have several BLI locos and haven't had a defective decoder yet.  One thing I have never seem before was a warning on the box, " To avoid damage to your BLI loco please turn off track power before placing loco on the track" 

[Kentuckian]

I wouldn’t mind the diameter of the handrails as much as I would the variation in color, TBH.
Maybe they match the SF, but it looks like they used those same handrails on the C&O too?

It looks like the handrails are bare plastic, not painted. I am disappointed in that.

[Glenn Poole]

Waiting on DC only version 😜. I really wanted these but won’t pay for DCC which I don’t use.

[learmoia]

Interesting, the BLI delivery schedule page still has these as "In Production" and it was updated not even 2 weeks ago.  I doubt they airlifted them from the factory.  They didn't make the listed November deadline but they were pretty close.  Hopefully the Big Boy and the Y6b are that close to on schedule as well.

https://www.broadway-limited.com/schedule.aspx

I like it better than their earlier vaporware production model.

[C855B]

Waiting on DC only version 😜. I really wanted these but won’t pay for DCC which I don’t use.

Good luck with that... gonna be a looooooong wait. As in "never". BLI's profit is in the sound decoder markup. Heck will freeze before they back off of that in spite of what was implied in their recent survey.

There was much gnashing of teeth on my part when they announced this model, since same as you this prototype was a "gotta have" for my modeling era and locale. Not many roads had RSD-15s and there were few of them in the first place, so all it takes is a single modern manufacturer (other than Bachmann) to "capture" modeler demand. Bottom line is nobody else is going to produce an RTR RSD-15 in my lifetime, so I ordered in spite of my "never sound, never BLI" self-declarations.

So... if you want an N scale RSD-15, IMO this is all there is going to be, so pony up. I had to, resenting it every inch of the way.

[CBQ Fan]

Good luck with that... gonna be a looooooong wait. As in "never". BLI's profit is in the sound decoder markup. Heck will freeze before they back off of that in spite of what was implied in their recent survey.

There was much gnashing of teeth on my part when they announced this model, since same as you this prototype was a "gotta have" for my modeling era and locale. Not many roads had RSD-15s and there were few of them in the first place, so all it takes is a single modern manufacturer (other than Bachmann) to "capture" modeler demand. Bottom line is nobody else is going to produce an RTR RSD-15 in my lifetime, so I ordered in spite of my "never sound, never BLI" self-declarations.

So... if you want an N scale RSD-15, IMO this is all there is going to be, so pony up. I had to, resenting it every inch of the way.

I am struggling with the price point just to say I have one!  I could get two more FP45 for almost the same money.

[Spruslayer]

RSD-15/17s are technically not in my layout's prefered road name i would like to have a couple.And like others the priceis a little to hot for me so i gonna wait till i find them posted in the BLI refurb section.That will knock off 40% or more from the Bli price and will bring the total monys down to something more reasonable.
May not make me as happy as having Hilda under the christmas tree but at my age it will have to do!