I have included a short video with the whistle. All I can say is WOW!!! There is a volume knob on the back of the tender, I have it at full blast. THe engine is a very quite runner and can do slow speeds. The passenger cars look great (the doors even open). You can also see the large size of the merchandise car versus a 6464 type box car.
My friends at Eastside Trains in Kirkland WA called me on Monday to tell me that the Berkshires have arrived (plus other stuff). I had concerns on Tuesday morning that I would not be able to get there because of two inches of snow was on my car in Tacoma. I was able to get there after work and Johnny, Steve and I opened the box before I headed home that took nearly two hours in stop and go traffic all the way back to Tacoma. I purchased the set with the Madison passenger cars, and also got the Merchandise car.
So, I have posted a few more pictures. First, its really a nice looking loco, the coat is dull, not shiny. I have not been able to run it yet, I needed to redo all of the ceilings in my house over the summer, and needed to dismantle my layout. plan to rebuild!
There are traction tires on the back wheel set. The magnetraction seems very light to me, I have a picture of my 736 and the wheels are holding a nail, the new 726 can't. Jim Policastro flew in today to do an inspection of the baldwin disc drives, he is standing next to the ones on my 675 and then walked over to compare them to the new ones on the 726. He commented that the new discs look like faithful reproductions, but they are smaller than the ones on the 675. He couldn't remember if the discs on the old 726 were the same size as the 675 (in his rush to get here, he left his 726 at home) so someone else will need to weight in.
He also looked at the new BNSF Auto Racks. They are really, really big!
The Merchandise car has two shoes. I don't know enough about its opperation to tell you much about it.
Here are the pictures.... 
I tried to tap the stack down, but couldn't would like to know if others are like this:
The merchandise car was a separate sale, its big! larger than a 6464. 
The back wheels have traction tires
The 736 can still hold a nail, the new CC726 had very little magnetraction
My 736
the new CC 726
Baldwin discs on a 675, these are beautiful!
Jim P checking out the discs on the 675 
Jim thought the discs looked great on the CC726, but either he grew or the discs are smaller than the one on thr 675
These are really big. 
Jim checking it out
The auto racks kind of dwarf everything else, not sure what I was thinking when I ordered them
Great packaging, as usual.
