When I got back into O-Gauge ten or eleven years ago I had a list of locos I had to have. The S-1 was on it. I'm not into PRR that much but I have tremendous respect for the railroad's engineering department and the locos it built. And the S-1 - sheer size alone made it a must have. I've managed to get most of the locos on my list over the years, but not the S-1. Until now. Through a mix up with a supplier on a pre-order, I missed out getting one when they were released but I finally got one.
Quality is perfect: No broken or unattached parts, no rust, no shipping damage. Everything works right out of the box.
It runs smoothly and makes it around 72" curves as advertised. For some reason, seeing a non-articulated loco this size round the curves near the edge of my layout makes me more anxious than seeing an articulated of the same size run through them. Anyway, it runs well - quite smoothly at adequately low speeds in conventional.
Sound at idle is generic steam engine to me, no different than any other MTH product, but the chuffing sounds when moving (see video below) are very "multi-cylinder" and different than most, the whistle is deeper and sounds better than in the second video (lousy microphone on the camera) - I like it, the bell is, well, a bell, nothing special at all. Lights are good. Smoke, as with all MTH, is outstanding.
Detail is what I expected, which is to say adequate but not outstanding. Streamlined locos don't present all the opportunities that non-steamliners do to wow you with lots of "separately applied" pipes and such, but still, detail and the visual 'wow factor" on this big puppy are a good notch below the MTH Premier ATSF Hudsons released a few months back. But they are more than adequate and because I had studied pictures I knew what to expect. I think the windows in the cab are far more recessed than in the real world - the depth of the window sill looks too deep to me, and a bit strange, but I can certainly live with it. And maybe this is how they were, I just don't know.
It is a very handsome loco from just about any angle.
The loco itself is about 1 inch shorter than a scale Big boy loco - it looks longer here because of perspective, the big boy is behind it a good 10% farther from the camera. The S-1 tender, of course, is way longer, making it the longest O-gauge steamer I have. .
It is a very good smoker as you can see. I didn't run it too long because it came filled with something that smells quite a bit and my wife is still sleeping. I'll put NADA fluid in it if I run it more.
The camera's microphone does get the low tones here quite right. While not so low I'd call it a moan, it is a nice whistle. I like it a lot.
This monster runs on my 72" and 84" curves but it will not make it around my layout unless I remove one tunnel portal, about twenty trees, and one building (they are removable so I can run the big boys): for that reason and the aforementioned smoke smell, I have not run it much and will not 'til this afternoon, when I will warn she-who-gets-po'd-if-she-smells-smoke that there will be a brief period of it.
Regardless, this will be mostly a shelf queen. I now have all the big locos on my original list, to go on display on my "power wall" o shelves one above the other so I can compare them. That is really the reason to have Queen S-1. Its beautiful and big, as I expected. Nice.
