I'm not much for reviewing new purchases that I make. The reality is I don't make that many new locomotive purchases. That's why I've never tackled reviews the way that the magazines or Eric's Trains do on Notch 6. Today was the exception though. When it was hinted at almost a year and a half ago that Lionel would be re-releasing the Berkshires, I immediately made up my mind that I would not miss out on this run. Many of us missed out on the last run of the 765 from Lionel, and as a result the last issue has held its market value VERY well. When Lionel brought these back out in the catalog this year and announced that whistle steam would be part of the package, well it was a done deal right then and there.
Today was the big day when I high tailed it down to Carmel Indiana to pick up my engine from Steve Nelson at Mr. Muffins Trains. By the way he has a nice sized pile of NKP, Polar Express, and other engines that just came in. If you are on the fence about this engine and need someone to sell you one at an awesome price, give him a call. I opened the engine at the store and checked for a cracked pilot bushing, which some folks have mentioned is showing up as an early issue. The pilot looked great and so I packed up the Berk and headed for home.
I arrived at home just after 4PM after picking up our seven month old son Henry from Daycare. Henry just started crawling, so trying to figure out what to do with Henry while I went to the basement to unwrap our new toy was a bit of a challenge. Usually I can just lay him on a blanket and we're good. Today not so much. Henry took off crawling for the display cases and was in the process of selecting a Williams challenger to cut his teeth on when I decided to involve Henry in the process of unpacking the new engine instead. I sat Henry down in his Bumbo seat and we went to work.
The first thing that struck me when we unpacked the engine is the certificate of authenticity signed by the entire Fort Wayne Railroad crew. Lionel has done some nice COAs in the past but this blueprint of 765 is by far one of the best and most unique that I have seen. The locomotive was neatly packed in the foam, although I will say that there seems to be more play in the cradle than I have seen in other locomotives. I wonder if this is why some are showing up with the pilot bearing issues. So, we get the engine unpacked. Henry checked it out and gave his seal of approval. We admired the details of the engine and also noted the real coal load in the tender.
Ok, once Henry gave it the once over we were ready to roll. The Berk went up on the layout, added 20 drops of smoke fluid per the manual, set the switch to program and added power. The Berk flashed to life and gave a short hoot of her whistle as she was assigned a number. Power back down, set to run. The moment of truth had arrived. Did we have a winner on our hands?
Power back up. Address the engine. Air pumps come on as the engine comes to life. Lights and sound begin to fill the room. Hit the smoke button on the Legacy remote. Smoke starts drifting out of the stack as the engine idles. Crank up the volume on the tender. NICE solid sounds from the tender. Very crisp and clean. I pull down on the whistle slider for the first time and a jet of steam erupts from under the whistle. COOL! This is my first engine with whistle smoke, I can see what all the fuss has been about. The whistle is dead on. I can get three short blasts to back up or lay into it at full throttle. The bell, while being the correct air activated ringer, still sounds a bit weak. Seems like they could have done a bit more here. I pick Henry up in my arms and he paws at the velocity knob on the Cab-2. At only seven months old he has figured out that if he spins the red wheel then things happen. The engine starts rolling backwards with deep chuffs and perfectly timed blasts of smoke out the stack. Blasts is no joke. This thing can smoke you out of a room. Also, for those that have seen the video posted in the other thread, the smoke rings are no joke. This thing will blow perfect smoke rings! 
We couple up to our consist of MTH Conrail business cars and we get ready roll out.
Hit the Towercom button, and the radio crackles to life. Air test is complete says the man in the cab who also taught me to run the 765 in real life. Off to the races. We crank open the throttle and the 765 takes off around the layout. The chuffs and the labor rates are really nice. There seems to be a very wide range of labor sounds, it's much harder to tell where the steps are in the sound set than with older engines. The smoke continues to roll out of the stack as the engine picks up speed, the deep chuffs of the engine fill the room. I'm not sure if this is a new thing but this engine does appear to have four chuffs per revolution. This is a nice change for me, but sounds so much different from any other steam engine I own. Will take some time to get used to. The engine starts to climb the grade on our layout and doesn't miss a beat. This by far is the smoothest steam engine I own. I started to run it along side my scale J tonight from 2005 and you can start to see just how far we have come in only nine years. The Berk sounds, smokes, and just flat out runs better.
We took about an hour to unpack and put the engine through it's warm up laps. The entire time it was running, Henry intently followed the engine as it made its loops. Over all I am incredibly impressed with how this engine is performing. I love that as a hobby we continue to find new high water marks with the features and running abilities of these trains. So over all I am VERY happy with our purchase. I'm sure there are some detail items that folks will find fault with, but I'm not that crazy when it comes to details. This is a wonderful representation of the 765, and as someone who has spent plenty of time riding behind and even in the engineers seat, this takes me right back to being with the real engine. Excellent job by the team at Lionel. I hope everyone else who has or is waiting for this engine enjoys it as much as we are enjoying ours.
Derek
. I know you are a proud Dad...you done good!!
