Post by prr 4467 on Jun 16, 2024 12:29:42 GMT -8
Hello folks--
I have been watching the Fathers' Day sales. There seem to be possibly more this year than I ever noticed in the past?
Several BLI steam locos, both regular plastic, and diecast, and even the brass hybrids, are on sale at various dealers. There are some good buys to be had if you shop around. It seems that different dealers have different locos on sale, perhaps depending upon which ones they think they have too many of, while others are maintaining their standard price point on the identical models.
Walthers is THE first dealer to discount the HO BLI brass hybrid C&O K-2 2-8-2 down to about $675. (MSRP is $899.95). Most others still have them at a higher price point. This also means that Walthers has actually reduced the dealer discount price such that a local dealer can order the same loco from them and can sell it to you at the sale price point, and still make a pretty nice profit of I believe about $150 on one loco.
I'm not a C&O fan per se, and never really cared for the flying air pumps and Elesco feedwater heater (friends of mine loved that look), but I must honestly say these are some of the most highly detailed steam locomotives BLI has ever done. They are outstanding and appear to be highly accurate (I am not using a scale ruler to check but they look like the locos in the photos). The C&O K-2 is basically a USRA "Copy" Heavy 2-8-2, with the aforementioned C&O appliances and improved boiler tube layout. The recent book from the C&O Historical Society includes a cadd image that shows the boiler of both the K-2 and K-3 is only 2% or so different from the standard USRA heavy boiler. The images are almost identical.
Anyhow, I wasn't necessarily planning to get a second C&O K-2, but my local dealer graciously offered that I can put one on layaway as long as I need to, so we did place an order friday to get the other version with the long tender.
I know that a lot of folks might not be happy that "their" loco that they desperately want to own is not available, but I'm also learning that taking the best of what actually is available can be a lot of fun. I just picked up my first BLI Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 off layaway, and it, too, is amazing.
John
I have been watching the Fathers' Day sales. There seem to be possibly more this year than I ever noticed in the past?
Several BLI steam locos, both regular plastic, and diecast, and even the brass hybrids, are on sale at various dealers. There are some good buys to be had if you shop around. It seems that different dealers have different locos on sale, perhaps depending upon which ones they think they have too many of, while others are maintaining their standard price point on the identical models.
Walthers is THE first dealer to discount the HO BLI brass hybrid C&O K-2 2-8-2 down to about $675. (MSRP is $899.95). Most others still have them at a higher price point. This also means that Walthers has actually reduced the dealer discount price such that a local dealer can order the same loco from them and can sell it to you at the sale price point, and still make a pretty nice profit of I believe about $150 on one loco.
I'm not a C&O fan per se, and never really cared for the flying air pumps and Elesco feedwater heater (friends of mine loved that look), but I must honestly say these are some of the most highly detailed steam locomotives BLI has ever done. They are outstanding and appear to be highly accurate (I am not using a scale ruler to check but they look like the locos in the photos). The C&O K-2 is basically a USRA "Copy" Heavy 2-8-2, with the aforementioned C&O appliances and improved boiler tube layout. The recent book from the C&O Historical Society includes a cadd image that shows the boiler of both the K-2 and K-3 is only 2% or so different from the standard USRA heavy boiler. The images are almost identical.
Anyhow, I wasn't necessarily planning to get a second C&O K-2, but my local dealer graciously offered that I can put one on layaway as long as I need to, so we did place an order friday to get the other version with the long tender.
I know that a lot of folks might not be happy that "their" loco that they desperately want to own is not available, but I'm also learning that taking the best of what actually is available can be a lot of fun. I just picked up my first BLI Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 off layaway, and it, too, is amazing.
John