Anyone get their T1 yet?

[Altoona]

"Not a fan of the blind drivers.  They could have allowed some more lateral play in them and kept the flanges."

The blind drivers are prototypically correct.

Judd Barton

[peteski]

Thanks Pete.

If I had to guess, I would say they used a different alloy for the inner drivers because they had a separate machining operation for cutting that bevel, and they found that it worked better with a different metal (perhaps softer?)

I wonder if that damage you see on the bevel is just a by-product of a worn cutter, or if that could have happened just from you running the engine.  I would hope it's just a cutter problem from the factory, but I also notice a scratched diagonal swiping pattern across the rest of that tread, right near the damaged bevel.  That's what I would expect if the wheel picked up over the edge of the rail and grazed across it.

My guess is that the metal used for both types of drivers is the same but the plating (or even weathering/darkening) process was different for some reason.  But when polished, they started to look more similar.

The diagonal scrapes you noticed (I should have expected that from you) was done by me gently scraping the tread surface with a hobby knife to see if there was bare brass under the weathered surface. The damage itself I believe was done at the factory. It looks like it was done during assembly or when the parts were manufactured or stored in bins rubbing against each other.

Someone else mentioned "why so many negative comments"?  Why not? If something is wrong, it gets mentioned.  That is all. There is no question about it: the loco has a *VERY* smooth running mechanism, and as I see mentioned here, it is a great puller (I have not had a chance to test that for myself).   But it is not all rosy, and I don't see anything wrong in mentioning those "warts" too.

Has anybody been able to reduce the minimum speed yet?  It seems to run relatively fast at DCC speed step 1.  I'm sure this smooth mechanism is capable of crawling much slower.  I'm a bit spoiled by my recent experience with  the extremely slow speed of my Turbo Train. I hope this model can also run that slow.   Starting in really slow speed greatly enhances the model's realism.

[dougnelson]

The blind drivers are prototypically correct.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.  The T1s drivers were all flanged.  The PRR I1 had blind center drivers, but not the T1.

You can see the flanges in the engineering drawings here:
https://prrt1steamlocomotivetrust.org/gallery.php?group=4

[peteski]

Unfortunately, that is not the case.  The T1s drivers were all flanged.  The PRR I1 had blind center drivers, but not the T1.

You can see the flanges in the engineering drawings here:
https://prrt1steamlocomotivetrust.org/gallery.php?group=4

The model's drivers already have quite a bit of side play and I think they would negotiate rather sharp curves (even with all flanges present). I was actually thinking of ordering a flanged set of drivers and replacing the blind drivers, but it is not that easy (due to the different counterweight size and the location of the main crank-pins). .  However I might still give it a go. I have to take my model apart to see what type of axle swap is feasible.  Too many projects!

[tpwillie]

Pete, after looking at the drivers it looks like you could do like the 1:1's do and just change out the tires from the extra set of drivers.  That way the the drivers would have their correct weights and spoke pattern.  Would really show your talents to pull that off with insulation and adhesion of the tires to the drivers being another problem using that solution.  Will be interesting to see the results to put flanges on the blind drivers.  Good luck whichever way you go.

John (tpwillie)

[Doug G.]

I think they just turned down flanged drivers to make the blind ones. You can see it.

Doug

[peteski]

Pete, after looking at the drivers it looks like you could do like the 1:1's do and just change out the tires from the extra set of drivers.  That way the the drivers would have their correct weights and spoke pattern.  Would really show your talents to pull that off with insulation and adhesion of the tires to the drivers being another problem using that solution.  Will be interesting to see the results to put flanges on the blind drivers.  Good luck whichever way you go.

John (tpwillie)

Thanks for your  vote of confidence John, but I think that the plastic wheel centers are molded into the metal wheel backs. Unlike many steam drivers in N scale where the tire is a metal rim separate from the plastic spokes, these seem to have a solid metal wheel with the plastic centers molded onto it. Similar to the drivers Kato uses in their steam locos. But on Kato's drivers the wheel centers are simply plastic inserts which can be popped out, I think the T1 centers are molded around the wheel.  I'll have make a close examination of the  driver's construction later - I'm juggling too many projects already.   

Doug, I'm not sure if they machined the flange off the flanged drivers. They probably have some sort of CNC lathe set up to simply machine both types of drivers.

[propmeup1]

I have two, they are beautiful. Sound is a bit off for my liking but I'm going to replace the speakers as soon as they arrive.  My biggest complaint is the noise at anything above speed step 15 or speed step 0-126 that will put me at 66 when they start getting noisy.  I emailed BLI and told them I run two and both do the exact same thing at speed step 15. He agreed and said it is the characteristic of the engine and nothing can be done.
      So speed step 15 for my NCE is about 65 mph. They do look good at that speed but when you put the coal to them and ask for 85-90 mph they are just too noisy.  I was really hopping they run like the M1s do, quite.

Keith

[C855B]

... a quirky thing is that when you turn on the headlight, you can hear the dynamo spin up and the headlight does not come on for few more seconds. ...

I programmed a friend's T1 last night for him. Nothing complex, just the road number, I wasn't going to fiddle with CVs and he seemed to be happy with the result. That thing with the headlight not responding until the dynamo "spun-up" was, frankly, infuriating. #1 test for verifying basic DCC operation is "can I control the headlight?", and they have put stuff in the way of that feedback.

Ran it a little bit and could not get past the speaker being all the way in the back of the (long) tender. All the locomotion up front and all the noises several inches away was a distracting cognitive dissonance, at least to me.

... I tried running it on friend's layout but even after the wheels were cleaned, it was stuttering badly.  I got frustrated and put it away to work on it later. Instead I pulled out my Rapido Turbo Train which runs and sounds flawlessly!

As it happened, I made the same comparison, T1 vs. TurboTrain. Same result - had to clean track and wheels a few times before the T1 would run even 15 feet without stopping and restarting the sound sequence. TurboTrain? Perfect, smooth as silk. I cranked the throttle to full warp with the T1 and it would power through contact problems, but that's no way to run a railroad.

[uncljoe]

Just sent TWO back to Seller ,both acted the same ON DC.. then on DCC (NCE) both started running maybe 6 inches then started jerked both directions ,sounds like marbles in a washing machine  SOUND unit is BAD not in a good way light dynamo kicks in sounds like a f16, etc
 Before trying the loco ,track was cleaned both with a abrasive stone and alcohol
 . ,                              Other BLM loco's with sound ok and run smoothly
                                  Brass all run .....
 Figured I would save the return money for a Key brass T1
Semper Fi
 Joe
     
   

[StewRRFan]

I was trying to get mine to perform to some level this afternoon or I was going to send it back.  I was working on cleaning the drivers per Pete and accidentally tore up the traction tires.  I pulled these off and guess what.... it has been running for the last 30 minutes with no stalling.  Even ran it over some track that has not seen a cleaner in a while and it did not flinch.  Could the issue have something to do with the way the traction tires were installed?  Next test will be to see if it will pull without the tires.

[peteski]

I was trying to get mine to perform to some level this afternoon or I was going to send it back.  I was working on cleaning the drivers per Pete and accidentally tore up the traction tires.  I pulled these off and guess what.... it has been running for the last 30 minutes with no stalling.  Even ran it over some track that has not seen a cleaner in a while and it did not flinch.  Could the issue have something to do with the way the traction tires were installed?  Next test will be to see if it will pull without the tires.

I suspect that the real problem is with the tender's pickup. Only three drivers pickup power on the loco. The traction tire on the driver possibly lifts that driver slightly higher than the other 3 drivers, making the loco's pickup intermittent. With the traction tire removed the other drivers have more positive contact with the rail, giving the loco better electrical pickup.  In this situation, even if the tender is not picking up electricity, the loco will behave better.

I would say that you should check the tender trucks.  First make note which tender truck picks up from which rail (which side is the uninsulated wheel on).  Then remove the screws and snap off the axle cover from one of the trucks, and remove the wheels. Make sure that the metal fingers under each axle are bent up high enough to positively contact the corresponding axle.  Those metal fingers are in pairs, so make sure that both of the paired fingers are bent up high enough.  The reinstall the wheel sets (double checking that the uninsulated wheels are on the correct side) and reinstall the axle cover.  Then follow the same process on the other truck.  Hopefully this will allow your loco to run better, even with the traction tire.

[greenwizard88]

I have one without any problems. It runs 3.7smph at speed step 1, responds to programming on the main without any issue, with a DSC51. The sound is about as crisp as any BLI engine I've owned in HO or N scale, so no surprises there, but nothing to write home about either. The rolling thunder antenna appears to have a slightly better range (by a few inches) than my ES44. Pulling power appears superb, as the max speed is 91smph with 12 lighted Kato passenger cars, and 92smph without any cars. It navigates the Kato crossover switch without any issues. The mechanism was rather noisy at first, but is quickly quieting down. I haven't experienced any power pickup issues. Overall, I'm quite impressed with it.

Not a fan of the blind drivers.  They could have allowed some more lateral play in them and kept the flanges.  Even if that still limited this engine to, say, 15" curves, that would have been a better design.  Who is going to spend the big money for an engine like this and run it on 12" curves anyway?

Erm, I would, I have a few 248mm curves

[spookshow]

Out of the box, mine was a bit stuttery at slow speeds. But after a few minutes of highballing around the wheels de-crudded themselves and the issue resolved itself. Still have to keep things clean and shiny tho (as seems to be the case with most DCC-Sound locos). But anyway, I gave it an "A" - http://www.spookshow.net/loco/blit1.html

-Mark

[gkoproske]

Just got my T1.  It runs and all the F button functions work properly, once you get used to how they perform.  The F0 headlight spin-up, well, I'll get used to it.  However, all attempts at programming failed.  Used 2 DT throttles, in Pg, Pd and P0 modes.  Will not accept a 4 digit address nor read back the 2 digit.  Nuts.  Now what?  I use a PTB100 with my DCS100.  Some posts here say they can program, some say it took a few whacks at it to work, and some say it doesn't work.  The rest have not tried it.