EMD BL2

[Nick Lorusso]

With Atlas now owning the Walthers/Life-Like molds. Do you guys think there might be a chance of a retooled BL2? I’d love a demo unit with sound.

[Allegheny]

I'd like to see a new run of the BL2s especially in C&O script.  I'm a fan of the ugly duck.  My first diesel decoder install was back in 2008 with an Aztec modified frame.  A new run with sound or at least a spot to put the speaker would be great.
Allegheny

[Nato]

                  No, I really don't think so, very old school tooling even version II. I have some of both versions, a lot of work to come up with a new D C C sound or non sound mechanism . Too bad a sound version BL 2 would be nice. Nate Goodman. (Nato).

[wcfn100]

                  No, I really don't think so, very old school tooling even version II.

They're as good as the FAs aren't they?

Jason

[CBQ Fan]

They could create a new mechanism For the existing shell. I can’t recall the detail level on the most recent shell, so I am not sure if that is even desirable.

[thomasjmdavis]

The "late model" (early 2000s) LifeLike BL2 is a split frame that runs well, but according to Spookshow's review, is a pain to get DCC into.
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/bl2.html.  The later version also has body mounted couplers

DCC is straight forward enough on the old ones.  The older models have a plastic frame, which solves most of the isolation issues, and the soft metal weights are easy to remodel (although I am guessing they contain lead or other nasty metals, so take precautions)- and for the E8s, a couple of companies offered modified weights with a space cut for a DZ126 or something similar and would not surprise me if such were available for BL2s as well.  No idea how to go about putting sound into one.

If Atlas were to do a new version, I would expect them to use a modified version of the chassis for the recently released GP-20 (stretched 4 scale feet for the longer BL2 truck centers and plus or minus some metal here and there to fit), which accommodates a sound decoder.

I have a couple of the Life Like.  One is an old one I added a MTL coupler conversion to and painted up for Monon, the other is in a box somewhere, and I THINK it is a newer shell on an older chassis (IIRC) and may get C&EI paint one of these days if anyone ever makes decals for the C&EI blue/orange scheme.  That said, Atlas has been generous to C&EI modelers in recent years, so just maybe they would do the BL2s in that scheme if they were to do a new run.

[Tom L]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Tom L
Wellington CO

[Mark5]

The "late" ones with split frame and body mounts are good models. Main upgrade would be to lose the big flanges.

[brokemoto]

They're as good as the FAs aren't they?

The F-unit and the BL-2 came out toward the end of the T-O-Y ere of LL.  The details were either clunky, missing or incorrect (the last more so on the F-unit).  They ran fairly well, though; better than many N scale locomotives of their era.  They were also excellent pullers.

Come the FA-2.  It caught everyone's notice.  Reviewers touted it as marking the end of the T-O-Y era for LL and as LL's first "hobbyist" quality offering n N scale.  The mechanism was essentially the same as the F-unit and BL-2.  The difference was that the detail and overall appearance was pretty good; certainly better and more crisp than the BL-2's and especially the F-unit's..  MT even considered it to be worthy of a conversion kit specifically for it.  It had a dummy B and very close coupling Rapidos.  One of the few redeeming qualities of the Rapido is its reliability.  Thus, many who purchased it left the Rapidos between the units and put the MT that was supposed to go onto the B end of the A unit onto the B end of the B.  This, of course, did not work for the WM units, as LL did not offer a B unit with the WM units, as WM never had any FB-2s.  You could have left the Rapidos on the B end of the A unit on the WMs, I suppose, as long as you planned only to run them in pairs.  As WM was a model railroader's dream road for mixed motive power consists, though, you might have been compelled to convert all ends, especially if you wanted to follow prototype practices.

A quick check of Spookshow's website reveals that the F-unit appeared 1990; the BL-2, 1992; the FA-2, 1993.

When LL put some items onto split metal frames, it dropped the F-unit, but retained the BL-2.  In order to keep down the costs, it kept the same casting, it simply modified the shell so that the split metal frame could accommodate it..

[thomasjmdavis]

The F-unit and the BL-2 came out toward the end of the T-O-Y ere of LL.  The details were either clunky, missing or incorrect (the last more so on the F-unit).  They ran fairly well, though; better than many N scale locomotives of their era.  They were also excellent pullers.

Come the FA-2.  It caught everyone's notice.  Reviewers touted it as marking the end of the T-O-Y era for LL and as LL's first "hobbyist" quality offering n N scale.  The mechanism was essentially the same as the F-unit and BL-2.  The difference was that the detail and overall appearance was pretty good; certainly better and more crisp than the BL-2's and especially the F-unit's..  MT even considered it to be worthy of a conversion kit specifically for it.  It had a dummy B and very close coupling Rapidos.  One of the few redeeming qualities of the Rapido is its reliability.  Thus, many who purchased it left the Rapidos between the units and put the MT that was supposed to go onto the B end of the A unit onto the B end of the B.  This, of course, did not work for the WM units, as LL did not offer a B unit with the WM units, as WM never had any FB-2s.  You could have left the Rapidos on the B end of the A unit on the WMs, I suppose, as long as you planned only to run them in pairs.  As WM was a model railroader's dream road for mixed motive power consists, though, you might have been compelled to convert all ends, especially if you wanted to follow prototype practices.

A quick check of Spookshow's website reveals that the F-unit appeared 1990; the BL-2, 1992; the FA-2, 1993.

When LL put some items onto split metal frames, it dropped the F-unit, but retained the BL-2.  In order to keep down the costs, it kept the same casting, it simply modified the shell so that the split metal frame could accommodate it..

I don't want to start an argument, but have a couple notes-
1) MTL also made a conversion kit for the BL2- one of mine is so equipped. 1163 or (in more modern package) 001-42-010
2) The later version has a revised shell with body mounted couplers.  To quote Spookshow's review: "A redesigned version of this locomotive was released in 2001. The shell remained pretty much unchanged from the first version, but with a few noteworthy new features - namely, printed number boards, full pilots, and shell-mounted couplers (Rapidos on the first run, Accumates on later runs) -"

[Philip H]

(Attachment Link)

Tom L
Wellington CO

Is that a Wisconsin scheme?

[brokemoto]

1) MTL also made a conversion kit for the BL2- one of mine is so equipped. 1163 or (in more modern package) 001-42-010

I never saw the conversion kit for the plastic frame BL-2.   This might have been due to the fact that one of the wires on mine came unsoldered while I was still using Rapidos and I did not fix it.

2) The later version has a revised shell with body mounted couplers.  To quote Spookshow's review: "A redesigned version of this locomotive was released in 2001. The shell remained pretty much unchanged from the first version, but with a few noteworthy new features - namely, printed number boards, full pilots, and shell-mounted couplers (Rapidos on the first run, Accumates on later runs) -"

I am aware of the body mounted couplers and filled in pilots on the metal frames.  That is not a difficult modification to an existing design.  Perhaps I was careless in my initial statements. 

It is interesting that you note the Accumates.  I never saw one with Accumates,  I had three metal frames.  I have one left.  Mine came with Rapidos.  By that time, I was using knuckle couplers, so I replaced the Rapidos with 1015s(?).  I never knew that LL had issued  those things with Accumates; interesting.  Was this under the WKW regime?

I do not think that I paid the printing the number boards much attention.  I bought the WM fireball when it appeared.  I seem to recall that it was Number 82.  Several years later, I saw another one at a show for a good price, so I bought it with the idea of changing the number to 81.  I actually did that and must have put the appropriate number into the number boards.  I do not specifically remember my erasing the 82 in the number boards, but, if the number boards were printed, I erased and replaced.

I am hoping that Atlas does not return to the flexing wires soldered to pivotting trucks of the plastic frame FA-2/F-unit/BL-2.  In this age of DCC, many manufacturers have reverted to that as a simple way of isolating the motor.  The problem with it was that eventually, the joints came unsoldered.  This happened on my FA-2s, BL-2 and F-units.  The bronze strips that contact nubs on the trucks are so much more durable.  LL actually had the idea with its plastic frame PAs, E-units and SD-units.  They had the bronze contact strips embedded in the plastic frame.  The nubs on the trucks still contacted the bronze strips.  As the frame was plastic, it did not carry electric to the motor.  Instead, LL soldered fixed wires from the motor terminals to the contact strips, thus preserving the durability.

[altohorn25]

The first runs (the ones with the plasic floor) are easy to put a decoder in. 5 wires to solder (if you're using the headlight).

[Tom L]

Is that a Wisconsin scheme?

Yeah, Janesville is Janesville Wisconsin.  I don’t really know anything about the Janesville and Southeastern RR but I assume it was one of the many short lines that existed in Southern WI and eventually became part of Wisconsin & Southern.

I really like the paint scheme. It makes a kind of ugly loco look good!

Tom L
Wellington CO

[Philip H]

@Tom L  my in-laws live in Green Bay so it’s a familiar name. Good to know - I may now have a reason to paint one up if they get redone.