Article: The Broadway Flyer: December 2024
The Broadway Flyer: December 2024
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!
Curtis here! We're back with the holiday edition of The Broadway Flyer. Before we dive into this newsletter, we wanted to take a moment to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope you got everything you asked for and are enjoying time with your family and new trains.
2024 was a great year for us here at Broadway, and we couldn’t have done it without you—our amazing customers. 2025 is going to be even better! Our next HO and N scale announcements will take place at the Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Here’s a little hint: our HO scale locomotive will be a Brass-Hybrid steam engine, and we’ll be introducing a newly tooled diesel in N scale.
In The News:
James Wright recently reviewed several of our HO Scale SD70ACe's. It took only 3 of our locomotives to pull 150 intermodal cars! James breaks down everything in his latest review, which you can watch here.
Here is my video on our 3 most recently announced HO scale projects! Be sure to contact your dealer to get your orders in! Dealers are taking pre-orders on these now!
Ken is always excited to make new videos! Just before Christmas, he made a video showing off 3 of our latest HO Scale releases, the Diecast metal HO Scale SD70ACe, the PRR Q2, and the EMD GP30. You can click the thumbnail above to watch the video, or simply click here!
In addition to his video on 3 of our newest releases, Ken made a video last year with a great holiday message. We think it still holds true and is worth a re-share!
James Wright also checked out our HO Scale Brass-Hybrid PRR Q2 locomotive. These models are nearly sold out so if you haven't placed your order for one yet, contact your dealer to get yours!
Ken Patterson and his crew got together to run some trains! Our HO SD70's were one of the many locomotives running on his layout. You can watch the full video here.
I was recently on with the folks at Midwest Model Railroad talking about several new projects. Thanks to them for inviting me on for their holiday stream! You can watch the playback of the stream here.
The folks at The Steam Channel shared their review of the Brass-Hybrid of the PRR Q2 on YouTube. Plus how does it compare to it's live steam counterpart?
Order Deadlines:
We've got some order deadlines approaching in the coming months! Below are reminders for a few of them. Please note that we at BLI will fill orders placed after the guaranteed delivery date on a first-come, first-served basis, while supplies last. It's important to place your pre-order with your favorite dealer if you want one of the models below. We often get emails and calls from customers looking for models after they are released, only to find that we are sold out and they've missed out on that particular run.
- N Scale Paragon4 EMD SD40-2: January 16th, 2025
- N Scale Stealth EMD SD40-2: January 16th, 2025
- HO Scale Paragon4 UP Bullmoose: January 24th, 2025
- HO Scale Stealth UP Bullmoose: January 24th, 2025
Samples, Renders, and Updates:
We have several exciting things to share! Before we get into the new tease we promised, we wanted to share some renders of our HO Scale Power Car 2066.
These cars are available in Sound and No-Sound options and with antenna arrangement details. The renders below represent the car with the video relay antennas. These antennas on the prototype can be commonly found when diesels are pulling the train. These antennas, as the name states, carry a video relay feed from the camera on the front of the locomotive to the rear of the train and in several cars in between.
Despite not much of an "interior" to show, we are still going to offer these cars with lighted interiors.
Just like our Kenefick cars, the Power Car and our "Fox River" Theater/Inspection cars will also have matching yellow colors to the WalthersProto passenger cars.
These are initial 3D Renders. Details are still subject to change.
You can find out more information about these cars by clicking here.
Hurry today and place your order with your favorite dealer!
Next up, we’ve got another exciting teaser to share!
F-Units have long been popular locomotives among modelers of all ages. Behind the scenes, we’ve been making adjustments to our HO scale tooling, and we’re proud to share some preview images of the Norfolk Southern Executive F-Units!
Please note that we are still fine-tuning the tooling to ensure these models are as accurate as possible. These designs are not final, and we plan to announce them sometime in 2025.
In addition to the Norfolk Southern schemes, we also plan to include the Reading & Northern and Aberdeen, Carolina & Western schemes.
- HO Scale Kenefick Cars: These have been delayed as we work with our factory to match the paint with WalthersProto passenger cars. We now expect them to arrive in stores around mid-February.
- HO Z74d/P70/PB70 Passenger Cars: These are expected to arrive by late February. Like the Kenefick cars, we are currently approving paint schemes for each sample.
- N Scale PRR M1a/M1b Project: Recent samples did not meet our running standards. We’re working closely with our factory to ensure they pass our quality control checks.
- HO Scale Shay: Tooling adjustments have been completed, and we expect revised samples next month. We’re still targeting a late 2025 release. For those unaware, we adjusted the tooling so these locomotives can navigate 18-inch radius curves. We had a lot of requests from modelers who operated logging railroads that they would like them to operate 18 inches.
- 2nd Run of GS-4s: While we hoped to announce this project earlier in December, the flu and Covid affected much of our team during the first few weeks. Thankfully, our staff is healthy just in time for the holidays. We still plan to announce a second run of GS-4s, including de-skirted versions, in 2025.
Delivery Schedule:
Customer Q&A:
A: Thanks for the question Fred! Before we choose what products we make in N scale, we want to see how they do in HO scale first. So before they come to N scale we would build them in HO first. Don't worry though, we have many other N scale steam locomotive ideas on our radar that we would like to build at some point!
Q: "Do you foresee the N&W Class A being offered in N Scale?" - Allen via email
A: It's a possibility! We haven't put it on our radar yet at this time, but it could be something we look into.
Q: "I would like to throw in a question regarding HO electric locos in general. I know it is a bit of a niche market compared to diesel, but are there any plans for new runs of existing electrics or brand-new electrics (E44, some Milwaukee's?)? Thank you in advance for the answer." - Lukas via email
A: Thanks for your question Lukas! Electrics as you said are a bit niche, unfortunately the few electric projects we have done have never been popular items, even the famed GG1. Because of this, we don't have any plans for electrics of any kind at this time.
Q: "Are the 1947 B&O Cincinnatian rebuilt heavyweight passenger cars ever going to be on your to-do list??? It’s a beautiful looking train that consists of 5 cars." - Sam via email
A: Hey Sam! It is a gorgeous train! However no we do not have any plans to build it at this time. There are several trains we would be interested in building instead of the Cincinnatian, it's not to say we won't build it or aren't interested, it's just not in our plans right now.
Q: "Hi, I know you folks do tons of Pennsylvania Railroad steam (thank you) so I’m just curious if any of the railroad’s earlier 4-4-2 Atlantics could eventually be in the works? More specifically the E2, E3, E5, and E7. As someone who is trying to model the 1910s-1930s these models are sorely needed in an RTR form." - Garrett via email
A: Thanks Garrett, and you're welcome! We do not have any plans for those Atlantic's at this time. We currently have many other steam locomotive projects in the works right now that currently have priority. Maybe at some point we will look into the E series of locomotives, but it is not on our radar right now.
Q: "How about an accurate B&O Cincinnatian streamliner and T-3 Mountain, Maybe Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and as built versions of 1309. Also some Reading T-1 and C&O 614/490 rereleases" - Justin on Facebook
A: Thanks for the suggestions Justin! We have Western Maryland 1309 on our radar. We have reconsidered a re-run of C&O 614 and NYC Mohawks but we would like to wait until those locomotives get closer to completed restoration. That way we could coordinate to record the sounds of the locomotives. Right now we do not have plans for the Reading T1 at this time.
Q: "With you guys doing Union Pacific Power Car #2066, how about doing one of the original power cars? The one I'm talking about was called UP #206 it served as one of the power cars as part of the Union Pacific Heritage Fleet for a number of years. This car was also known as American Freedom Train #111. "The Exit Car". - Ben on Facebook
A: It's safe to say a lot of requests for many different types of Business Cars have come in recently. As of right now, we are not working on car #206. Currently we are working on the ATSF/BNSF "William Barstow Strong" Inspection Car, and the Conrail/CSX "W. Thomas Rice" Inspection Car. Car #206 could be on the table for a future project but right now the next UP Cars we plan on doing are the platform observation cars we have designed.
Q: "Will you do the Fox River, UP 2066 and the rest of the heritage fleet in N scale?" - Chris on Facebook
A: We will do some of them in N scale! We currently have the designs for the Kenefick car done, before we decide to do the 2066 and Fox River in N scale, we want to see how the HO Scale cars do first.
A: We'd be interested in doing the CNW Business Train if sales for the CNW Fox River prove to us that the market there is strong. If it sells well, we will look into other cars we can possibly do!
Q: "Are we going to get another run of UP Challengers that are not Conductor’s Club Exclusive?" - chase_engley on Instagram
A: Not in the near future. If you are interested in one of the Challengers, we still have a few extras you can purchase with your club membership. You won't find a brand new Challenger at our club price anywhere. Plus you get some great perks of being a member!
Q: "On a previous 'Broadway Flyer' you mentioned there are no plans for diners or sleeper passenger cars. What is the reason behind that? I love your passenger cars and would love to have a full consist!" - thebeercan_dle on Instagram
Q: "Hi! This is kinda two questions into one. How do you determine a fantasy scheme and how it fits a model, and could you possibly design your own locomotives or fantasy streamlined versions of already existing engines? Thanks & Greetings!" - CRTRailway on YouTube Community
A: Good question! We usually determine what schemes to use based on popularity, "what if" scenarios, and tributes to those who have served our military. Our Military schemes are always a huge hit amongst customers. In regards to your second question, we do not have any plans to design our own locomotive. Mainly because there are other locomotives that are prototypically accurate that we believe would be more popular amongst customers.
Q: "Would you ever make Paragon 4 decoders available for engines that you only did as QSI or Paragon 2 releases?" - SteamFan42 on YouTube
A: We don't offer Paragon4 Decoders for those models because the PCB boards are different. If you wish to upgrade your QSI or Paragon2 model to a Paragon4, contact Train Service Depot. They do a great job and are more than happy to help upgrade your model so it can continue to serve your railroad!
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NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS: HO Scale Yellow Jacket, UP "Fox River" and UP 2066
We at BLI are excited to announce not one, not two, but THREE brand new product announcements for HO scale. First up we are expanding our Brass-Hybrid line with a brand new streamlined locomotive...
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