Get to know your new pal, and as a little time goes by, you'll know what it really needs. Once that's done, it will likely out live you. It doesn't need constant attention, but you need to get familiar with yours, and it's easier than it may sound. That said, likely no big hurry on a lot of the following, but good to read it over if you don't have a manual yet.
1. Warmth is normal; on long sessions the frame might get downright hot.
2. yep, brushes spark some, more below on those.
3. They do use more juice, and hold less smoke fluid. If it "leaks" its overfull,( or needs a chamber inspection).
4. Reversing blows the whistle? more below.
5. Uncoupling, more below
The crash coarse-
Inside, the e-unit's toggle just slides on a fiber board, and contacts a small rivet for "on". As you move the lever, feel for a bump as the contact centers itself over the rivet; its on. Loose ones can be tweaked for firmer contact that wont "jump around", but that can usually wait for when you have it apart.
Today-lube any truck slide plates. Oil the roller arm pivots. Clean wheels and rollers on the outside with some alcohol or Naptha (watch the paint). If the roller axle looks dirty, clean that and flush the hole/axle to see what come out, but think about "conductive lube" or thinner oil on the roller's axle-pin after! Also oil the rod journals, smoke piston pivots, etc..basically anything that moves; like all of your axles and gear shafts, then set it on a towel overnight at a slight side angle, and re-wipe the bottom the next day (30w motor oil is ideal). "Clean it like a soldier cleaned his Garand".
Since its old, check your driven axles for play (should be like the undriven ones). Bushings (cheap) do get worn over time (into ovals). Inspect gears & their shafts for the same thing too. Any of those being worn will increase noise some, but likely will run for many years till you're ready.
I think that is worm drive so grease the worm! The rest still applies though the descriptions are a little off from worm drive.
If its grubby black underneath (axles etc), clean with Q-tips, and repeat oiling often for a while. The oil will carry the dirt out of cracks, so stay with it, and eventually the crud becomes very minimal &/or "disappears".
Use duct tape to remove anything stuck by Magne-traction.
Sometime very soon, you should inspect the brushes. They are just small graphite cylinders, a buck or two a pair. Lift those little springs or remove the caps, point the headlight up, and tap the cover till they fall out They should be flat where they contact the armature plates, and if still long enough, you can dress the tips with fine sandpaper too.
If it starts to run "funny", balks, or stalls, clean the brushes & brush holders, pull the motor cap off and clean the gaps between the armature plates (tooth brush or similar, I lightly drag a pin point though the gaps). If the plates are smooth you can clean the plates with a pencil eraser, if grooved smooth it with fine sandpaper (and clean the grit & residue away). Don't get windings or paint wet with it, but alcohol on a q-tip cleans well, &/or buy some "safe for windings and plastic" electrical cleaner (great for e-unit cleaning or flushing axles etc., if really dirty, re-oil).
Still runs funny?, check the "fingers" and "drum" on the e-unit for heat discoloration, springiness, pressure, or old, dried, lumpy, grease that might prevent the fingers from contacting well. Clean &/or rebuild it.
Opinions do vary on the next bit. Some folks use "tons" of oil, and clean often enough for it not to mater. I like a dry armature as I feel excess oil retains brush dust, which can bridge the plate gaps, and cause running issues. Oil on the brush plate's side of shafts should be used very sparingly because it t will creep to, and then run across, the spinning plates (by centrifugal force).
The whistle motor also has brushes & an armature, and should be taken care of in a similar manner. And yes it will need a tiny drop of oil on the armature shaft (or its felt oil wick(?)). Getting the bottom shaft by the impeller is important too.
The whistle activating in reverse could be a few things, a fray on a wire, cold solder (a solder crack you often can't see), dirty rollers, dirty wheels, brushes tips worn at an angle, a relay in need of a better "common" or "hot" connection, or just a tweak of the relay arm (try last). To isolate the cause, try running it behind another train, or pushing it around (backwards and fwd.) by hand to see if it still does that. It may also stop doing this as you run it more, and aged metal to metal contact points become cleaner, & fresher from friction.
If the tenders coupler is a shoe type, inspect the shoe and wire, and check that the coupler assembly isn't loose. On the shoe, there should be two ridges that sit higher than the contact rivet. Replace the shoe if worn, or tape it, or the offending track spot. You could also use a later truck there, "customize" the couplers firing, or simply disconnect the coupler wire, and just rely on the cars to uncouple it. On occasion, flipping a shoe works for issues.
If it isn't a shoe type, there is a pin on the underside of the coupler that may be tweaked, worn, or the notch it sits in may be worn. Easy to replace the moving jaw on most knuckle couplers, but I never did an electric version. I just replaced the whole thing with a new coil & knuckle, or added the later magnetic type truck.