Modelling the Boston & Albany this engine was a must have. I'll start with the good points. Engine is a very nice model of a unique locomotive. Pretty good runner as long as you have it programmed for 128 steps. Sound I'm sure is a generic set. Not sure which one but it sounds nice. The small tender portion must resonate it well. I prefer setting the chuffs at 4. They seemed to rapid to me and switching the setting to 3 seemed to bring it closer to 4. Paint and finish is nicely done. The B&A is loaded with white striping. I prefer the plainer NYC version. I usually weather my engines. This one I think will get only a light dusting. Often times engines were striped up for a retiring engineers final run. I'll just portray the engine as that.
Now for the few negatives. If you plan on running the smoke unit. A mod must be made to the engine or it produces a rapid chuffing when you turn on the smoke unit. A simple fix and the dealer you are buying from should have the factory fix they came out with.
Running along the top of the chassis are a red and green wire I believe. Probably goes to the smoke unit. These stick out like a sore thumb and detract from the engines appearance. Some heat shrink tubing over the wires should fix it and blend it more into the chassis.
I still experience stalling on my ROSS Doublecrossover at slow speeds. The engine comes with 3 or 4 pickup rollers. I can't remember at the moment. The problem seems to be the rigid chassis when crossing the diamond portion. You have a traction tired wheel, a blind driver and only one making real contact with the outer rails. Pushing down on the engine or jumper wiring the wheels will get it running. I've had issues with other engines that have been solved with soldering more wires to the rails and adding relays. It's not a track problem. But there seems to be an easy fix. Generally trailing trucks and pony trucks are just loosely mounted to the chassis. Adding some wipers to the wheels or simply just a ground wire to the truck itself should solve it.
Lastly is the problem of what to run with it. These are scale engines used in commutter service. A consist of heavyweights look out of place. The GGD coaches or the Weaver PULLMAM Bradley's look good behind it. Problem is you have a nice small engine thats capable of 031 curves but cars that need 072 to look good. I'm presently running some GGD NYC coaches. I've written Scott Mann and hopefully will see a B&A set of coaches in the next run. There were many engines sold in 2 rail as well and a definate need for somewhat correct cars.
To sum it up. A nice little engine. Parts at some point may be a problem. Lionel may reissue it at some point. The motor has been used in numerous applications without to many issues. The weak link may be the K-Line cruise. Works fine for now. If ou have issues down the road. TA Studios is working on a drop in board that will use the stock spend sensor. Eliminating the need for adding there timing tape. Unless Lionel does a reissue I doubt you will see this engine done again.
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