The Broadway Flyer: January 2024
Happy February everyone! Curtis Koch here from Broadway Limited Imports. We have a lot to get to in this edition of the Flyer. New product announcements, product updates, delivery schedule updates, and of course answering your questions!
Before we dive in, we wanted to expand a big thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth, checked out our models, and chatted with myself and Matt Williamson at the Amherst show this past weekend. We got a lot of great model suggestions from you all and it's great hearing how much you enjoy our products. So again, thank you for stopping by!
NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT:
If you visited us at Amherst, we announced our first HO scale products coming later this year. Starting with some new passenger rolling stock! You can find out more about each of the new cars by clicking their link.
- PRR PB70 Combine Cars (Individual cars)
- PRR Z74D Business Cars (Individual cars)
- PRR 5 Car Passenger Set
PB70 Combine:
Combines, as the name suggests, housed two car types under one roof, offering efficiency by reducing one car from the train. A common type was the coach-baggage, accommodating passengers and luggage. Often used on small trains and light branch lines in the later decline of passenger rail travel.
Positioned at the train's front, the car earned the term "head-end equipment," alongside locomotives and non-passenger units like the RPO (Railway Post Office) for mail transport. Combine cars, serving as coach-RPOs, placed the mail section ahead of passengers.
The PB70 classification stands for Passenger, Baggage, 70 feet long. They were found mixed in on many PRR passenger trains such as the Pennsylvania Limited, The Admiral, The Duquesne, The Red Arrow and others. The Pb70 passenger cars we are offering here are prototypically accurate to be coupled with PRR K4s, PRR T1, EMD E6, E7, E8, Alco PA, Baldwin Passenger Sharknoses.
In our first production run, we are offering 6 different cars. Two with 1930's paint, two in 1940's paint, and two in 1950's paint. These will feature prototypical details, colored interior and lighting.
Z74D Business Car:
Several of the Z74 cars had rolls in American history. For example, Car #7504 was used by President Eisenhower on October 25, 1956. Car #120 was used to carry the body of Robert F Kennedy from New York to Washington D.C in June 1968. Sold to Juniata Terminal Company in 1985, it rode at the rear of the final westbound Broadway Limited run on an all-PRR route in 1990. It also operated on the last eastbound Broadway Limited run in 1995. It's safe to say these cars were icons of the PRR system!
These cars are perfect for Pennsylvania Modelers who are looking to add some style to their passenger trains.
PRR 5 Car Passenger Set:
The Pennsylvania Railroad operated dozens of passenger trains, and in fact, was one of the largest passenger train operators in the United States. With trains traveling to cities such as New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. Broadway Limited is proud to offer modelers the chance to own a 5 car passenger set featuring PB70 Combine, P70 Coaches, and the stylish Z74D Business Car.
The 3 variations of five car sets are perfect for modelers who have layouts of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's. With collaboration of the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society, these sets are sure to be great additions to your passenger fleet and will look great behind one of our many different PRR steam locomotive offerings.
Our second announcement during Amherst was the introduction of the Conductor's Club! As a member, thrill yourself with exclusive deals and incredible benefits, all while securing a highly detailed model at a price reserved just for you. When we announced the club, the feedback was not the greatest so let's breakdown what some of the perks are and further explain the exclusive HO and N scale locomotive offerings.
So to recap, what's in the membership?
- Exclusive HO and N Scale locomotive offerings **at a members only price**
- Be the first to know about upcoming projects and technology
- $29.99 Yearly membership fee
- Quarterly newsletter providing in depth details of upcoming projects
- Additional 10% discount on the BLI Outlet store
- Members only merchandise, giveaway items, and artwork
- Additional 1 year warranty on new BLI products purchased in 2024 and in the future
- Member only gatherings w/ BLI staff
- VIP product suggestion portal
So what would a members exclusive HO and N scale locomotive be? How much would it cost? A Conductor's Club exclusive locomotive would be a locomotive we have already made or offered, but in a paint scheme or road number never offered. The best example we have is in HO scale, offering an 844 FEF-3 in Greyhound or 8444 in Greyhound. The price for a model like this in Paragon4 would be around $300. Same would apply for N scalers. We plan to announce the first members-only locomotive in both HO and N scale in the near future, so stay tuned!
The other question we got a lot was the extra year of warranty. Would you get it if you were to purchase a model from your dealer? The answer is yes! If you were to buy a new HO or N scale locomotive with your dealer or online retailer, you get an extra year warranty. Once you purchase the model, register it on our website and include your membership number and you'd be qualified. We plan on sending out membership cards in the future so when you arrive to our booth at shows, you can get members only merchandise or giveaways.
For more information about the membership, visit here for additional details. This is a soft launch right now as we still iron out the details, so expect more information to come in the near future!
What's new at BLI?
Many of you N scalers are asking where are the Reading T1's. We are still awaiting for them to arrive. With Chinese New Year approaching in just over a week, we are awaiting for them to arrive. The latest information we were told is for them to arrive on February 18th so we are crossing our fingers hoping they arrive sooner. We can't stress enough that we thank you for your patience as we have been working on getting these to you N scalers soon!
Other news we can share is we are getting closer and closer to wrapping up the design for the UP Business Cars! See some screenshots below of these early 3D drawings. We are still planning on making a few tweaks to these cars to ensure they will be accurate for modern day UP excursion and heritage fans. These will go along perfectly with our UP Big Boy, FEF and Late Challengers. Take a look at the screenshots below and keep in mind we are still working on the designs for final details. These cars in the first run will be for modern day modelers.
IN STORES NOW:
- New Haven I-5 Hudson, HO Scale
- AAR 70 Ton Hopper, HO Scale
- Cryogenic Tank Cars, HO Scale
- EMD GP30, HO Scale
- Cattle Cars with sound, N Scale
- EMD SD40-2, N Scale
PROJECT UPDATES:
As of right now this is the current status, of projects through the Spring of 2024. You can always find the latest changes in our delivery date and status on our website, here.
CUSTOMER Q&A:
This month, on Facebook and Instagram, we asked for your questions! We got a lot of them, so let's get started!
Q: "Hi Broadway I heard that you plan to make Santa Fe 2900 class in HO in the near future how things going with that" - Daniel on Facebook
A: Hey Daniel! I remember you from Amherst! Great meeting you! The 2900 class northerns are in the design process at the moment. We are going to start these off in HO. We hope to bring them to N but we would like to see how the 3751 class would sell first before we make that decision. We have been working close with the folks at the Santa Fe Railways Historical and Modeling society for details and we are working on reaching out to the group who operates 2926 as we would like to record the sounds from the locomotive. As for road numbers the only one we have confirmed is the 2926. We haven't narrowed down the others just yet.
Q: "Given production and tooling costs, for a steam locomotive, what is your average minimum run number to get it at a reasonable price point? For reference for those of us that want the obscure models." - Leighton on Facebook
A: Good question Leighton! It's kind of hard to pinpoint a "minimum" number because there are lots of factors. How popular the road name and what popular road numbers there are is one. Tooling costs usually vary from project to project depending on if it's a Brass-Hybrid or a diecast metal model. The minimum would probably be in the 600-700 range. Again, lots of factors vary.
Q: "Any plans on producing Penny's G 5 in HO?" - Ronald on Facebook
A: This was one of the biggest requests we got at the Amherst show. We will look into it. We heard it from Pennsy and LIRR modelers! If we were to do it. Most likely it would get into design list for 2025/2026. No guarantees.
Q: "When could we see a steam engine from a Midwest road like the CNW? Personally I think the CNW has been poorly represented in the steam market outside of brass. The big Pacifics, class D Atlantics, R-1 ten-wheelers, H-1 Northerns" - Ross on Facebook
A: Midwestern steam is definitely something we want to add to our list. We have some CNW stuff we are working on, as well as Frisco 1522 and a few others. No timeline for an announcement but they are 100% on our radar. Same with some CB&Q and Illinois Central locomotives.
Q: "I have noticed that all of my BLI engines are massive pullers. How does Broadway pack so much traction into an HO locomotive? Is it design? Is it testing?" - Bruce on Facebook
A: We love hearing and seeing from customers how much our locomotives can pull! It's a big sense of pride for us! The main reason is weight. The added weight of the diecast metal or brass boiler, along with the weight of a smoke unit and added traction tires, all contribute to the pulling power our locomotives have.
Q: "What is the latest on the UNION PACIFIC Business Car series? Can you shed any additional updates on which cars will be initially offered? Any insight would be appreciated!" - Rick from Facebook
A: Hey Rick! See above for the latest update. As soon as we get the designs finalized, we will have an announcement. Hopefully in the next few months!
Q: "First of all, love your models! Detail is great IMHO. Question: Will BLI be coming out with any N Scale GP models in the future?" - Sandy on Facebook
A: Thanks so much Sandy! We are looking to bringing both the GP35's and GP30's to N Scale. Both were really successful and we'd love to bring them to N scalers layouts!
Q: "Me, living in SWFL, your base is FL, how can you not want to N'thusiastically release this paint scheme in a stealth version?" - Jeff on Facebook
A: For context, Jeff shared a picture of Florida East Coast's new paint scheme. To answer your question Jeff, we'd love to do it! It's too late for this current run of ES44's coming out but it along with other CSX heritage units are definitely on our radar for future runs!
Q: "BLI had well received runs for the Zephyr and Daylight passenger consists but hasn’t had full passenger consists since. Were there any lessons learned from those runs that you could share with us?" - Geoff on Facebook
A: The biggest takeaway for us was tooling costs. At the time we made them, the Zephyr cars were over $50,000 + in tooling per car. Similar costs for the Daylight cars too. It's more cost effective for us to do individual cars. If we were to do a full set of cars, we'd most likely release them in waves instead of all at once to spread out the costs.
Q: "Any hope for The SP #4219 Auxiliary Tender? SP 4449 & ATSF 3751 & CP 2816 used it. Has been know for its Black & daylight & CP colors." - brandon_sp3 on Instagram
A: Another rolling stock project on our radar. No plans right now, but it's another piece of rolling stock we'd love to bring to market.
Q: "Hello! I've been loving running my N scale Paragon4 Light Pacific. Your past newsletters have mentioned 6 n scale steamers are in the works, including the FEF. Any hints on the other 5? Thanks!" - theveeker on Instagram
A: Right now the two we have the designs finished for or are nearly done are the Santa Fe 3751 northerns and the Union Pacific FEF-3's. We are not at the point to tell you which locomotives we have in que at this point in time as we are still gathering data packages, reference materials, price estimates etc. It takes a lot of work to get new tooling accurate especially for road specific steam. The difficulty in gathering these materials is finding enough photography and references from all angles. It helps with our designers to make the model. From there it takes anywhere from 3-4 months, sometimes longer depending on the model to create a rendering. I can't say which ones we are working on, but here is a list of locomotives we want to bring to N scale. SP Cab Forward, New Haven I-5, Commodore Vanderbilt, GS-4, C&O K-2 Mikado, among a few others. We have heard from you N scalers you want more steam, and we're looking to it!
Q: "Will you ever do anymore NdeM steam or any Mexican steam in general?" - octanbricks on Instagram
A: We're open to it! But at the moment we don't have any in plans right now.
Thanks again to everyone who writes in questions and reads these every month! We thank you again for your patience, ! As always, we share the latest information on projects on our social media accounts. We are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Also please share this newsletter with your friends and tell them to sign up for our emails! Until next month, happy railroading!
-The BLI team
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9 comments
I look forward to seeing what the conductor club has to offer and how I can get more great models in the future with the discounts
Levi French
Would love to see some anthracite region articulated. Reading Mallets or D&H Challangers, possibly some lehigh valley/D&H steam!!!
jeffrey searfoss
That’s a good idea for y’all to make your own version of the GS-4 in N-scale. I hope that like the HO-scale version, it will also have a die-cast metal body shell for both the engine and tender and maybe the exterior detail parts will be made of metal, too. I personally also hope that it will be even more realistic than Kato USA’s version. Since Kato USA’s version was made to pull the N-scale “Daylight” train that they manufactured years ago, I hope that maybe y’all will make your own version with an optional Kato coupler for the tender so that it, too, can pull the Kato “Daylight” train.
John Billingsley
New PRR cars look great except for ONE THING: No N Scale!!! PLEASE HURRY!!!
Jim Duncan
Love that you are doing the UP heritage cars. Would love to see the sleepers that no one else has done. I also hope you will do these in not just the modern versions but in the 1980s schemes to go with the 8444 greyhound you hinted at as well. That loco alone would be worth the joining the Conductor’s Club.
Mike M
any plans on prr‘s q1 or up’s c855？they are too hard to find…best wishes
CoolX
With the Paragon 4 GS-4s being delivered to customers and retailers, does this mean we could see a rerun of the Coast Daylight passenger cars from 2015?
Benjamin Harp
Is there any chance we could see an N scale PRR I1, similar to what is offered in HO scale?
David H.
I love that you are planning to bring GP-35s and GP30s to N scale. CB&Q as well as GN in both orange/green and big sky blue would be the schemes I’d buy several of. As for steam the NP A3 is on my want list. Thanks BLI!
Kim Saign
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