Wrapped up work for today. I couldn't resist hooking up the motor and seeing how it runs. It's a puller now, what a difference! I hooked it up to my track cleaner, my usual test subject, and it can start out slow and pull it without any slipping at all! It's truly like a different locomotive, I can't imagine it having any issues pulling the cars now! The ERR AC Commander in 100 step mode seems very smooth, I think this is a major update to the engine.
Now I can't wait to get the audio stuff in and it back together, I'm a happy camper!
To Marty's point, I did think of a small issue with the cam switch replacement. All of the axles on this now have magnatraction, so that may preclude me using the original idea of magnets and a reed switch. I'll probably have to drive it from the motor voltage if I need it. If I need a toggling voltage, I'll probably put a little oscillator circuit across the motor field and drive the RS input with that. We will overcome! 
I'm heading over to Harry's tonight, I'm going to run it on the large layout and see if it'll pull a bunch of cars around the whole layout. This seems like it'll be the silver bullet for the Phantom.
