Broadway limited RSD15 Santa Fe:
For the first time a manufactures produces the Alco RSD15 with sound, I couldn’t believe it. And to top it off in the original black and white strip model and also the pin strip model.
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
The packaging needs to improve compared to Tower 55, Atlas, Athearn and Tower 55. Plus doesn’t compare to the 4-8-4 Northern packaging, which brings it up to that signature quality level. The model comes with mostly plastic parts and nicely detailed.
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ON THE TRACK:
As with most of BLI’s trains a solid performer, but programming need to be done on the main by using CV17. However, JMRI new version (1.7.3) does program these correctly. But, a booster is needed otherwise there is not enough voltage to program.
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SOUND:
The sound is QSI sound and typical:
On a rating from 1-10
F1 - Bell pretty good. 8
F2 - Horn Very good. 9
F3 - Uncouple. Ok. 5
F4 – Fans. Great 9
F5 – Dynamic brakes – hmmm ok 8
F6- Air blow off. Excellent 9
F7 - Brake squeal - 6
F8 - Mute. Excellent 9
F10 – ID when idle, when running speed in MPH. Excellent 10
F11 – Number board lights – Excellent 10 (great feature to turn these on and off)
THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY:
Mostly I would rate this very high up in comparison to other manufactures and recommend it for the serious model
Overall rating (1-10) 9