I bought one of these when it first came out back in '98 ('97?). It was the first time I could afford a 'scale sized engine', and it was Lionel's first release of the scale Hudson with TMCC and Railsounds. So I jumped in! I think the Vandy tender looked great, with the Baldwin (?) drivers. Initially I was a bit disappointed at it's low speed gearing, and the roughness of the mold, with very noticeable part lines along the top of the casting. But after running it with some scale sized equipment at realistic speeds, I'm a huge fan. The bell and whistle sounds are fantastic, even if the 1-chuff per revolution isn't as cool as 4.
Right now I pull a 6 car NYC Heavyweight passenger train. As long as it's lubed properly and regularly, it runs very well. A beautiful looking engine. It easily handles a 12 car freight as well and looks just right on 72" and 63" curves.
I love the idea of adding the RailSounds 5.0 PT tender ! Cheers, Kyle
