Looks like I didn't get a flawless locomotive either. I'm not sure if it's warranty worthy though.
- I'm binding somewhere when I go forward. I think I identified it as the forward drivers on the right hand side. I'm not sure if something needs tightened or loosened. The voltage on the transformer drops to 15. Probably not good for the engine.
- I don't know if a speaker is loose or what but the rattling is supreme when I blow the whistle.
- Most fascinating, when I blow the whistle with the whistle steam on, smoke comes out around the front of the boiler where the headlight is
I suspect this one is related to acoustics. I haven't taken the engine apart but I doubt the whistle steam has any parts anywhere near the front of the boiler. I figure the speaker is vibrating at the right frequency to make the joint separate a little bit. I should have checked it with the other whistles.
Here is how I started it up: I added smoke fluid to both units and then started up with all smoke off. I just wanted to hear the literal bells and whistles and see the bell swing. I think that's one of my favorite parts about this locomotive. I would love to add it to others. Anyway, I ran it forward and it hung up. I thought a roller got caught on a switch but soon discovered that wasn't it. Then I powered down to turn on stack smoke. It came on and worked well. Very happy with that. Then I ran in reverse to check for binding. It did but not so much. I powered down and turned on whistle steam. Powered up, whistle steam was slow to start but seemed ok. I didn't use it much for fear of burning anything up. Ran forward and noticed the binding seemed to occur when the front drivers where at the end of their stroke. Powered down to turn on blowdown steam. Tested the blowdown and it's pretty awesome but again, I didn't use it a ton until we know more about what's burning up and why. I pushed the engine forward while running at low speed and that seemed to stop some binding. I'm suspecting I have loose linkage somewhere. I will have more time to investigate another day. I just wanted to get it under power and see what I'm working with.
Anybody else get the binding?
I hope @Bruk gets his soon so he can tear it apart haha
Overall, this is my first high end locomotive ever. First I ever saw in person and first I ever owned. What a beast! It is darn cool. From the front to the back, it's pretty awesome in terms of detail and it looks even better when everything is in motion. I budgeted all year to afford this and it was worth it. It's definitely no speed demon though. It'll be great for my coal drags 
