Nick: Your argument misses two major points.....and like you said, you don't have any skin in this game.
There is nothing unreasonable about expecting the 2019 VL Challengers to sound and function like the 2010 VL Challengers....and almost every other articulated that the Company has issued. That is NOT complaining or bashing in my book. (Now, if you wish to purchase via BTO and have no reasonable product expectations when doing so, that's up to you.)
Second, it's important (to me, at least) that my 3985 sound more like my 4014 and not like my 844. It doesn't matter where the drivers are or whether they are in or out of sync. I want an articulated to sound different than a regular steam engine. I want the variety and the locomotive sound differentiation. As delivered from the Factory, this will not happen. Ergo, my initial disappointment.
