When the 2012 Signature catalog came out one loco I ordered was the Union Pacific conventional 0-4-0 "shifter" (6-11385). I picked it up at my LHS today.
WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY SPLENDID LITTLE LOCO!!!! This is perhaps the best $450 I have ever spent on a model loco. Yes that's a lot ot pay for a small - or at least, short (17 inches including tender) locomotive. But it's tall in the saddle, so to speak - scale or close to it - with a cab roof nearly 1/4 inch taller than my scale Atlantic's. And yes, it's conventional only, but wow! Nothing else I own - steam or diesel, will run slower, smoother, in conventional mode -- this little guy is better than the WBB Baldwin 10-wheelers which are fantastic in that regard. Sound is surprisingly good, too, rich with lots of "detail" - dpeth, complexity, whatever you call it, to the chuffing, and quite a lot of volume, too, particularly considering the tiny tender and its limited speaker room. Cast metal loco and tender, with good detail, although this is a simple, 4-wheeler loco so there is not a whole lot there to look at. But it has two figures and some cab detail, etc, (no window glass - easily fixed), very good paint and lettering, a real coal load, etc. What's not to love? I wanted a small, high quality loco, and got it!
Given the problems I had with my remote Thomi, I decided to run this in and it's been upstairs orbiting my big loop at a steady 13 volts -- maybe 40 mph scale -- which seems to be a nice sweet spot for it, pulling a half dozen cars for nearly three hours now. My infra red temp gun says the loco's body rose in temperature during the first hour and then stabilized at 5 degrees above ambient, while the tender rose by 7 deg F. Increases of 6 and 8, respectively, are about average for smaller locos in good order so this looks to be in fine condition (and yes, most locos, and least smaller ones with sound, have a tender that rises more in temp than the loco).
This is an example of what I like about having to wait for a pre-order: whatever one says about the wait and the occasional disappointment, the prospect that the next loco might be an absolute jewel, like this puppy, makes the whole process a lot of fun !
