As far as looks is concerned, nobody has ever beaten Athearn Genesis! Genesis always looks like the real thing.

Came here via the guy you gave the genesis to and i must say, i like your style, with the lines of text while narrating, it is fun to watch. Greetings from a new sub from the Netherlands. Really like U.S. trains, like lot of american stuff it's no nonsense badass. Function over form like the Germans do also. (Or did 70 years ago) ghehe

Though I prefer the BLi product while it's still running , my three BLi big boys all have gearbox failures and the two Athearns are still running fine. The Athearns have about four to five time the mileage too. All the locos have the Non-Traction-tyre drivers fitted so have never been overloaded.

Great comparison video Sparky! With the price of quality steam these days a person really has to do their homework before making a purchase and videos like your's sure help, very entertaining as well. Thank you!

I had a super hard time finding a Big Boy but I got one today from Western Depot! I got the Athearn with DCC/DC/SOUND! Cannot wait for Christmas! LOLThanks for sharing Sparky!

Broadway Limited knocks this out the park on every aspect of this comparison. Just being made of brass alone rather than plastic already destroys the competition. It's a no-brainer.

Man both of them look awesome, great video Sparky.

Man speed is everything but I think it's the other way around, you want your loco to be able to go as slow as you can go for realism and BL kills Atherns locos in that department

Broadway Limited is the winner for me, an engine like that should be made of diecast metal. I have the diecast metal TRIX BigBoy but not their Challenger (became way too expensive) so I sometimes imagine it is a Challenger with two driving axles extra.

Looking forward to the MTH video. I just got mine and comes up short in various areas using DCC.

I was trying to decide if I should get the athearn or the Broadway limited big boy and this video really helps clear things up because the smoke unit I was wondering how the athearn one would work over the Broadway and your video explains it very well so thank you.

I just found this video, so you might know this already but if you hit f8 twice it lowers the volume, hit it repeatedly and it will get more lower, you just can't hit it once or the sound turns off

Welldone. As usual!!

I did a pre order through Trainworld for the new release of the excursion model BLI excited to see it end of Feb

The BLI engine would pull the athearn one around the track if it came down to a tug of war, broadway engines are notorious for being strong pullers.

If you haven't figure out how to do the pull test, get a small length of braided spider wire fishing line. It's basically miniature plastic cable. Tie one end to the scale and the other to the shank of a spare kadee coupler. Lay the scale down flat so it pulls in a straight line, hook up the coupler and homd enough tension on it to keep it connected. Alternatively get one free rolling small car, like an ore genny or something and tie the scale to one end and couple to the unit under test on the other.

I love the Broadway Limited Big Boy I cannot wait until I am able to afford the BL's Challenger! Great Review!!

Speed step 5 should be slow. You can turn down the volume of the sounds. Check the documents that come with the loco. Not sure if the settings are the same on the Paragon 3 as Paragon 2. Everytime you double click the f8 button on your controller the volume will decrease 1 step until the lowest level is reached. then it will reverse.

sparky I saw an nice Atlas dcc and sound MP15 switcher Conrail at a hobby shop Panthers hobbies in Mississauga looked nice

i have a 2-6-6-6 but one of the wires is snapped of between the loco and the tender HO/00

Only negative feedback back for you Dave, is never ever never do that again with the stacking like that. I am sure Ron is going to flug you with a water tower next time your over at his house after he sees this lol. overall great comparison of the two, Athearn might have a bit better detailing, but overall construction, look and feel has to go to Broadway. But in my opinion next to brass steam, Broadway makes the best steam locos out there for sound,detail and perofrmance. Well done.

no big boys where harmed in the making of this video

Maybe next time put the “top” loco on top of an equally tall piece of wood behind the bottom instead of on top of the loco

I got a Broadway limited Big Boy and an Athearn Genesis Challenger

Sparky,every cv and it's uses are on the BLI web site look under parra 3 steam tech ref manual pdf.Cheers Jon

I love this train

Broadway Limited takes the Gold on this one

I have a Revell Big Boy, looks good but can't pull anything, static model

i wonder if they do a 2-6-6-6 broadway

nice review !!

Still like both cheers Robert

I agree with you on that Sparky if you got a steamer it's got to smoke

I would be happy to have either version. Any Big Boy is a great Big Boy in my opinion!

What will be the CV on Digitrax for smoking while stationary ? please advice. thanks

I just picked up a Athearn

love it I have the athern one

My choice too. I did buy one and it is a beast!!!

Use an extra coupler and run safety wire through the hole to your fish hook. 👍

a key ring like one from a garage when you got service some give you a little tag like this & then to a coupler ...just thought this one up ...lol keep it tight & it may work???

I have the Athearn 4014 Excursion w/oil and I have the BLI 4014 Excursion model w/oil and it has only one wheel under the cab like your 4022. With oil you don't need the two other wheels that dump the ash. So I assume this BLI locomotive is a heads up on the coming Excursion oil burner. You sort of failed to mention the light Marker lights and boards on the BLI.

Volume with the Broadway Limited Big Boy if you are using an NCE Pro cab just double click button #8 & you can adjust the volume of your engine!

The Athearn Big Boy is like a PC, you can upgrade to it's full potential until there is no more room to upgrade. The Broadway Limited is like a Mac, it's already equipped with the standard operating system for all models.

Nice review Dave! I like BLI for sure. They cost a bit more but I get irritated much less. The repair department can likely answer any CV questions. They are great at responding and trying to help. Try that with Bachmann, ha! Thanks. Cheers, Dan

They’re both good. But keep in mind the BLI Big Boy is more expensive. Like what Ericstrains said, it’s like comparing a Honda to a Lamborghini. That being said I do agree the BLI version is probably one of the best HO scale Big Boys on the market. It really does appear that Broadway Limited took some notes out of Lionel’s playbook and attempted to do what Lionel did with their VL Big Boy. BLI did a great job but Athearn did a good job on theirs too.

Use a paper clip to connect that scale to the couplers

There are also Big Boys from Märklin/Trix, Rivarossi and Revell, so you can go on teting. Cheers Andy

My god I thought he stacked the two trains on top of each other, jesus

Love Big boy Cleber Brasil

I like the Broadway Limited model better. I have one. It has whistle steam, and a depleting coal load. Its like an HO scale version of a Lionel Vision Line Big Boy.

only thing i don´t like about the aethern is that the double steamer is is a bit too high pitched in my opinion. The broadway is a bit loud but thankfully you can adjust that. so. despite me being in Nscale. i like the Broadway limited better ^^

I like the athern one even though I had a problem with it it's fixed now

sparky107107 I would suggest to try using fishing line with the next pull test

I prefer the athern one it's cheaper but I am have ing some problems with it

Nice comparison. I dig the smoke.

Hey Sparky, can't you take a 1x4 and cut it just a little longer than the locomotives and zero your scale out to get an Accurate weight? Instead of the way you had it setup.

Hello Sparky! Lol! Very nice video buddy. I'm thinking about getting another Big Boy 4014 but the excursion prototype this time. I have the first run of the MTH 4014 Big Boy which is currently my favorite, I also have 4005 as well which I have experience a lot of drama with, see past videos on this. The Broadway model is very nice but I think I may go with the Athearn model. You may ask why the Athearn model? Well I planning to mod the Athearn with an ESU Loksound Decoder so it will have an ESU smoke unit instead of the Seuthe smoke units. This will be part of my new UP Heritage Excursion fleet that Martel and I are creating. The reason why you are having problems with the Seuthe smoke units is because the bottom of the Seuthe units are too short and will not reach the electrical contacts. I had the same issue with the 4019 I once had. How I fixed this was to solder a piece of copper or brass to act like a spring, (bend into a "C" shape) onto both Seuthe units. Once this was done the units were working fine. Oh BTW, the Broadway Big Boy is not brass, it's die cast. ;) Peace my friend.

Wow there massive

Broadway limited for me too 👍

stop the bell driving me crazy

careful sparky with putting one locomotive on top of another you might break detail parts!

I read the comments first before watching and thought, surely he didn't stack his big boys. You did! Lol. -Mark

they are both great but I like the B Limited

Being a HO steam fan and knowing that these big boys range from $500 to $800 no one except this guy would put a track, another big boy on top of the over especially how much it weighs, damaging the other steam locomotive when comparing them put them on a shelf or glass case. Are you crazy doing that?

and Marklin will be making the Union Pacific Challenger too :-)

my Trix big boy weights 1464grams !

Broadway Is Much Better But More Expensive

I do like the smoke and all... and you didn't mention the lit marker and number boards which are really nice too. I also like the whistle on the BLI better. But there is the small issue that there is about $200 difference in street price for these two as well. For many, that is a huge issue. And the reality is that the Genesis unit has better detail in some areas than does the BLI. Is factory smoke worth $200.... I am sure for some it is. I am not sure if perhaps buying a DC version of the athearn and installing an ESU bigboy decoder wouldn't get you better speed control and sound, at a far cheaper price. Still no smoke though....

The user manual and tech manuals are totaly diferent,cheers Jon.

I really want the Broadway...but the price is...ouch. You can find the Genesis engines brand new on EBay for as low as 200.

Which one pulls more cars?

jlwii2000 has an easier way to do pull test I would suggest asking him this is his channel jlwii2000

I'll stick with my genesis smoke generators are easy and cheap and it gets with it with a long train like the real thing I'll shut up now

Thought you were gonna say people driving the locos are loco. I like them both. If I have two2 choose then I'll go with the Athearn Genesis even tho I like the smoke. Some one's gotta go four4 the under dog.

1:28 bruh there is literally a meme exactly like that

just wish it wasnt so expensive either one

They are both great steam engines. When you pay more you normally get more but always the case. Hard to say which is better. The both have their pros and cons.

what is the tightest radius these can travel?

You could just hook that fish scale thingy in a coal or wood chip gondola

Brass is always Better Quality and Athearn is generaly not so great

Does Broadway Limited has metal gears on this loco?

BLI uses scale speed sets compared to Genesis

oy they have my name!

I don't know man, I like the Broadway Limited Bigboy because it has all these nice features, but because of my bad experience with the Broadway Limited Paragon 3 Milwaukee Road S-3, I'm kind of hesitant to get this locomotive now.

If both locomotives are set to 28 steps, the Broadway Limited is dead on and the Athearn is way to fast. The Athearn would fly off the track at speed step 28.Remember these were built to go only 70MPH.

I have never seen a review like that but theirs a first for everything right. In general Broadway limited is of a higher quality. I'm almost at two years of KZfaq just one more month. How long have you Been doing the you tubes? Happy model railroading...Zane

I will never ever buy a MTH locomotive again! 3 out of 5 are junk and the 4th one is awful close. 5th one after the previous ones seems fine at this time, but I holding my breath anytime i run it. Veranda has been back to them twice and now no part [gear] to repair it. I have barely run it because of the previous issues. now I'm going to put it,along with the others on a display so visitors can see the "LEMONS"!!!!

top one looks better

From a Modeler's stand point the Athearn is a better choice all around. It already has excellent detail and you can take it to another level and add brass detail parts and model any Prototype Big Boy you want. Those additional Smoke, weight, sound and features you liked on the BLI. can be easily added to the Athearn model because it is plastic and easy to work with. I have seen some Athearn models with added details look as good as the highest quality of brass models out there. I have a couple of Athearn Big Boy models I have been working on myself. As for the BLI model it is not so easy to upgrade the details on it because it is metal and some of the molded on detail will be a challenge to remove. My vote is for the Athearn because I am a Union Pacific Prototype Modeler.

But the smoke doesn't look realistic at all.

Broadway Limited. (If money out of the comparison.)

I'm torn between the Athearn genesis ( which has got the better coal ) ,,,,,,,,, and the Broadway limited ( which has got the better everything else ) !!

Will I be able to use my EZ Command Control Center with the Broadway?

love your videos sparky be glad when i can build another ho layout my family suffered a devastating house fire that burned up my entire ho scale collection and layout any donations are greatly greatly appreciated ho cars track locomotive you may have lying around thank you all very much

I have 18 big boys , bli/mth/rivarossi old & new /athearn/ I will collect all 25 #s but MTH BLI are the best but rivarossi with tcs wow sound is really good also

broadway for me

BLI hand down

I wish to be rich like you so I can own 4 steam locomotive and 4 other trains

Broadway Ltd., BB the best , good demo!!!

i like athern better

The BLI model of the "big boy" has better detail features compared to the Athearn Genesis model, the smoking steam whistle & decreasing coal load add a realistic appearance to a steam locomotive.