Interesting! I can trigger the crunch sound with the engine at idle and pushing the trailing truck back and forth. I understand it’s some type of sensor, just not sure what kind. I looked them up on the support site. The Niagara breakdown shows it. The trailing truck armature/mount/sensor has about +/-3/32” of travel from center from my quick investigation. I’m wondering if it can be adjusted.
Minor issue aside, I absolutely love the whistle effects with the engine and tender speaker interaction. It’s my first engine with this feature and it’s really neat to play with.