UPDATE: Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes???
Ran the loco for about 20 minutes and decided to lube it; that was fortuitous. Upon lubing the tender I found that the rear most wheels on the rearmost truck were not turning - they were binding up and dragging on one side. No amount of lube remedied them. Finally, removed that bracket (2 screws), swapped the rearmost axle with the middle axle, re-installed, all spin freely now - go figure.
Found that there is no Bluetooth app for Windows. Other than that, she's a good runner; smooth thru all speed steps; no need for a capacitor on the motor!