As I noted earlier up-thread, I did order one of the S-gauge Berks from Trainworld (the Pere Marquette version). I think it shipped on 5/3 and I got it today (5/10) -- UPS ground, not bad for going all the way cross country from Brooklyn to the SF Bay Area. I unpacked it, put it on the rails and it ran fine under conventional transformer control. I downloaded the LionChief control app onto my iPhone and it also ran the engine well. The one thing I noticed is that the icon for the electrocoupler was grayed out -- I'm wondering if that's because my old Gilbert 30B transformer probably isn't putting out 18 VAC, which is what the instruction manual sez is needed to run using the remote control systems. I'll measure the output voltage tomorrow and see, but I'll bet it's closer to 15 - 16 VAC. Not quite sure what to do if the 30B is putting out ~16 VAC - anyone know of a way to squeeze an extra coupla volts out of one of these??! I'll also put batteries in the Flyer Chief controller and try that.
One other things I noticed is that the backup light in the tender doesn't seem to go on in reverse?
It really is a nice looking loco - true that it would be better if the hand rails weren't cast, but still, its nicely detailed and certainly fun to drive with the bluetooth capability.
