I received my Broadway Limited E7A last night, and got in some quality time
with it (and my daughter), so I thought I would post a mini-review. I will
also say that it looks like I will have an extra one, and if you didn't get
one yet, guess what? They're already gone! Unless your local hobbyshop or
distributor ordered one, no more to be had. If you're interested in this
extra one that I will have, email me offline. I will primarily be interested
in a trade for
a Broadway Limited CB&Q Mikado when they get released (hopefully later this
month).
Packaging and Appearance: As per usual, the locomotive arrived in a nicely
packed BL box, well wrapped against poor handling. The locomotive itself is
beautiful. I didn't get a chance to compare it to the real locomotive
paintschemes last night, but I will tonight and post an update. Not all of
the detail on the plastic locomotive is installed at the time of arrival,
there is a small plastic pouch of grab handles and so on that can be
attached later. It is certainly comparable to the Proto 2000 E8 in level of
detail, and here it sits next to my P2K E8.
http://www.castlegraphics.com/graphic/transportation/ho_trains/e8-n-e7a.jpg
http://www.castlegraphics.com/graphic/transportation/ho_trains/e8-n-e7b.jpg
Operation: I did not get the DCC version, so mine is all on analogue
controls. Again, in operation, it is very similar to the Proto 2000 E8. It
is a fairly heavy locomotive, and since I don't have any brass passenger
cars to tote around, I put a nice 25 car freight drag on it. It was able to
pull it no problem, complete with some simulated coal loads and flat cars
with die-cast tractors. The locomotive is not *quite* as smooth as the
Proto 2000 version, and it slows down much faster than the P2K, which is
rather annoying, as you lose a lot more speed with a twist of the throttle
than it seems that you should. One other thing that I found was that the wheels
or trucks were squeaky. I was not impressed with this aspect, as I didn't
think I should be hearing squeaks from a brand new $200+ locomotive. I may
take a look tonight and see if I can figure out where they are coming from
and eliminate them.
Sound: Well, what can I say. This is what the BL have built their name on,
and frankly, I thought it was great. However, several caveats on this
(mostly for those of you who may have never heard a BL before)...pushing the
sound of a diesel locomotive out of a tiny shape like that does come with
some drawbacks. It does NOT sound like it would coming from your stereo
speakers.
The locomotive has a bell, horn, brake squeal, air hiss, and of course
diesel engine noise. Each of these works as advertised, and the horn & bell
work on the reversing of the direction switch, depending on the speed the
switch is thrown. It sounds accurate and none of the noises abruptly cut
off when the switch is thrown back, so you get a very realistic horn and
bell. The only complaint I had was that I thought the engine noise was
rather loud for it's size, it would be nice to quiet the engine a bit but
leave the horn and bell the same volume. You hear the air hiss as it sits at
idle, and you hear the brake squeal as it slows down.
All in all, pretty pleased with the product.
Cheers!
Jan
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