SNFF 2010 02 28
Hi, all,
For this week, my contribution are these informal comparison photos
of the new N scale Broadway Limited PAs, compared with the June 1998
Kato PAs.
Frankly, the photos are rather bad in lighting, but within the time
availability I had, I trust these will be of good public service to
our N scale community.
Draw your own conclusions
.
For myself, I think both do really well. Especially considering the
Kato is 12 years old. Here's some of my observations / thoughts:
* Note the Kato PAs have been lightly weathered, and in particular, the
trucks have been painted, weathered, and then given a wash to increase the
appearance of depth.
* The BLI is stock, no weathering, the only modification is that I painted
with silver, the ugly black BLI PA diaphraghms and the
standard BLI Micro-trains 1015 couplers. (Otherwise, the BLIs would not have
compared as well with the Kato PAs in the photos).
* The Kato weighs a hefty 5 ounces, the BLI weighs 3.75 ounces.
* The BLI DCC/Paragon2 Alco sound is great. In my case, I turned down the master
volume CVs, to '96' from the stock '128' - otherwise the sound was out of
proportion too loud. (The Kato is standard non-sound).
* The powered BLI PA had no problem towing one of the dummy BLI PBs and a 8 car Kato
passenger train around my level layout.
* As has been reported elsewhere, the electrical pickup on the BLI PAs can be
problematical. These BLI's will occasionally stop due to break in the pickup,
then restart again - the sound of course, will cut out then restart when that happens.
Just expect that will be the case, it's prudent to expect many N scale sound locos
to be a bit finicky. In comparison, my Kato PA's never have a problem with
electrical pickup running on exactly the same track (Kato Unitrack).
Here's the photos:
Have a good week, all.
