just wanted to share my thoughts about this B&O engine.
after fours years of hunting for a nice steam engine to pull the k-line 6 car 15" heavyweight set, I was giving up and had them up for sale. then I was surfing youtube videos and came across lionels channel with mike showing off these new lionchief plus steam engines pulling long and heavy trains at any speed while climbing a grade.
the B&O engine has a nice paint scheme on it and thought it would look better then an all black steam engine. I took advantage of trainworlds fathers day sale and treated myself to a birthday/fathers day present.
I made it over to the train club today, and just had some fun with it. just like in the video from lionel, this pacific crawled around the layout at the same speed. uphill, downhill, through switches, forwards and backwards. no programming required, just install 3 AAA batteries in the remote and off you go.
here are some videos of today, the smoke output is just as good as any legacy or mth steam engine. I was using mega-steam coal fired steamer fluid and it filled the room.
as you can see in the last video, the "cruise control" is very smooth. this steam engine did not jerk when starting, the remote speed wheel has "step" control. I even turned it all the way up to full speed, it never derailed.
if your looking for a simple steam engine to run, you should give these a try. it has great sound chuff, great smoke output, rear operating remote coupler, a LED headlight too.