BLI or MTH PRR H10

Both versions of the BLI H10 are very accurate models of the H10. New and used models do appear regularly on ebay. The MTH H10 unfortunately has some details more properly found only on H9 Consolidations.

The BLI Paragon2 or Paragon3 decoders work well, but not as good as the current Economi and Tsunami2 from Soundtraxx. Sound is a personal preference, but the BLI sound file could benefit from improvements.

I have no info on the MTH decoder being used.

The online magazine The Keystone Modeler, issue #90, Autumn 2014, has an extensive review of the BLI H10. Download here: http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/newPRRKeystoneModeler.htm

Steve Hoxie

Pensacola FL

Performance wise

I have several ( 6 ) of the BLI Consolidations. They pull like crazy, walk up a 4% grade with ease, have no problem negotiating my #5 and curved turnouts, and sound pretty good to me ( except for that funky tweety whistle, which you can change ). My experience with MTH is addressing their CV's is limited without their dedicated DCC system, thus I do not have any, nor can I comment on them. I am hoping they have changed this recently, as there are several locomotives that MTH builds that I would like to have.

Michael

p.s. Thank you Steve for the link to Keystone Modeler. I have never seen this publication before, and it is loaded with information.

Get the BLI one. I've had 2

Get the BLI one. I've had 2 BLI ones and an MTH one.

The first BLI one arrived broken, I sent it back for an MTH one, which arrived with a bent axel that prevented it from pulling much, and caused it to derail on curves. I sent it back to MTH, 8 months later I got it back. As long as you never take it off of the track, it was nice, but the details are too fragile, and when taking it to my local train store they managed to break it even more trying to repair a coupler. In all, I possessed it around 2 months the first year of ownership. I sold it on eBay and got another BLI one. Also, the DCS wasn't so hot, if you disable the scale MPH speed curve, it disabled BEMF too.

The 2nd BLI one arrived in perfect condition, and has been through a bit of layout construction without any issues. If BLI ever gets around to releasing a Paragon3 version, I'll be first in line for at least another one, maybe even 2. It's a fantastic engine, although it does require more perfect trackwork than 6-axel diesels.