Broadway Limited Imports upgraded its HO scale Pennsylvania RR K4s with its Paragon2 Digital Command Control sound decoder and electronics. The model also features lighting effects and puffing smoke. Watch the HO scale steam locomotive as it hauls a PRR passenger consist around the Model Railroader staff’s club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy.
Video: Broadway Limited Imports Paragon2 HO scale PRR K4s
By Angela Cotey | February 19, 2014
| Last updated on November 3, 2020
The HO scale steam locomotive model features Digital Command Control (DCC), sound, and smoke
After purchasing this engine the first thing I did was turn off the smoke unit. Second, in programming I shut off the extraneous sounds (“radio chatter” etc.) Once that was done, it turned out to be much better than the American Flyer copy I had in my youth; although I think the Flyer smoke was better. This is a definitive Pennsy engine, particularly for those who are not Pennsy fans.
Dana, I would hazard a guess to say the consist was from Walthers. Right?
Melissa, I agree 100% about the "chrome" pilot and tender wheels. It's a real pain in the #$% to almost HAVE TO immediately paint a brand-new model, because those wheels look so terribly out-of-place! I just don't get their thinking behind this….
Too bad that you can't burn soft coal in the fire box to get the real sweet smelling incredibly dirty full of flying cinders smoke that seeped into the coaches back when the real locos were pulling Pennsy trains. One day on a WWII troop train on the PRR we tried to play cards and gave up because of the cinders. The model looks great but needs breaking in. It was rough at first.
Hi David,
If you read the review you'll note that two of the drivers have traction tires, so they of course can't pick up current. And Michael Helfand makes a great point. We can't shut off the heat/ac system in the building, including the room the MR&T is in, so that makes it challenging to shoot a model with smoke.
Thanks for watching,
Dana
Senior editor
Model Railroader
Thank you for the clarification, Dana. My apology for not catching the traction tires in the review. My bad.
On the smoke issue, I think many would agree (from reading these reader comments) that the smoke produced by this loco is not too realistic given any HVAC environment, either beneficial or detrimental. We all know what real steam loco smoke looks and plumes like, and if any model were to produce it accurately our operating sessions would get cut quite short.
Great review, smoke chamber works great. Remember MR staff is filming in a building where there are more air currents then someone's house or layout room. As in any modeling we can't scale real air in mph just think of the gentle airflow from ac or heat duct times 87 for HO.
Mike Helfand From Michigan
The smoke is not realistic and a distraction. I wonder if what ever generates the smoke will contaminate the layout space. If it is an oil, then it will.
It seems kinda odd that downtown Waycross would be a passing siding for long approaching freights. I wonder how many times a day this occurs. I gota believe there would be objections by the townspeople if this unnecessary tying up of railroad crossings continued. I know of one person, a kind elderly lady, that would be standing in front of the Mayor's desk pounding on it demanding a stop be put to this nonsense.
Dana, Besides the Walthers B60b Baggage (Non-messenger version) and BM70m RPO, what Broadway Limited cars were running in that video? Just curious…
I'm a diesel guy, so I may not know what I'm talking about here, but I too would say the smoke feature is unrealistic. I'd rather run the loco without the smoke and let my imagination create that effect. Second, the video's caption states all four drivers pick up electrical current, but my eye spots 6 drive wheels. On the positive side, the chuffs appear to be synched to the drivers' rotation.
As a side comment, with all the digital and electronic advancements in the hobby it seems to me it should be quite easy for manufacturers to develop an LED/infrared-based sensor on a gear in a steam loco's drive mechanism to detect driver rotation for chuff sync. The mechanical cams (Soundtraxx, as one example) are okay, but subject to periodic adjustment and cleaning, and of course they will eventually wear through. (I own and maintain one on my layout's sole steam loco). And attempts to sync via DCC CVs are folly. An optical system would eliminate these woes and be extremely reliable and accurate. Any manufacturers reading this?
Nice review! One thing that really bothers me cosmetically is those bright shinny wheels on the front of the loco! They strive for such realism why wouldn't you blacken the wheels? I know you can paint them but you shouldn't have to for the price of the engine!
I have to agree with Brian, the lurching when leaving the station would have left all the passengers on the floor. And the smoke was totally un-real, that is unless you were looking at a Lionel model of many years gone by. And the 200+ MPH didn't help either.
You guys need to spend some time watching real trains and see how they operate.
Would "radio chatter" be prototypical in this model?
Video was erratic. Engine needs a break in period to get rid of the jerking at starting.
I'm not fond of the chuff sounds. If you listen closely, what I call the #1 chuff sounds different than the other three. If this was typical of the prototypes, then fine, but otherwise it's distracting to me.
A great video of a very lovely model. The two let-downs were the firstly the dreadful lurching of the loco when starting but the biggest was the smoke system, when the loco pulled away the smoke was laughable. It was only once the loco was running at speed did the smoke look right. I hate to run down models but I feel the smoke system could do with some serious mods to look prototypical. But thank you for an interesting revue Dana, keep up the great work.