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Thanks for sharing pics.  A stunning locomotive!  I have strict rules about which road names I acquire so as to not buy more than can fit on the layout.   I'm beginning to regret that now with this loco.  It will be interesting to see how I react should I come across one for sale next week at York.  I was able to resist a Vision Line Big Boy last year...might be time to post about my current state of mind on Brother Yojimbo's confessional

-Greg

After lubricating mine, servicing the smoke units, and running for 30 minutes, here are a few observations:

Mine runs like a Swiss watch; under Legacy control, operation is much smoother than my Century Club version.

The blackened side-rods really step-up the "look' of this engine versus shiny rods (and they are individual rod links..).

The operating tender plate is strengthened appreciably over the Century Club design.

My sand-dome cover was somewhat stuck upon initial removal, likely due to new paint. There is a small notch on the forward split line you can get a fingernail in to help with its removal.

The instruction book makes several "bold" warning to NOT add more than 20 drops of smoke fluid upon the initial fill-up of each smoke unit. I observed this to a "T"; my stack smoke and pop-off smoke work well. On my tender smoke, I saw a small bubble in the fill port and should have taken that as a warning. The tender smoke fluid was stubborn getting it to go down the fill port, but did so when I slanted the nose of the tender upward. I presently have intermittent smoke on the tender, but all sounds work when smoke is requested. When the smoke on the tender does work, it belches volumes of smoke so I assume it is actually over-filled at this point and I will work with it to burn some fluid out/let some evaporate as well. My advice, try your tender smoke before adding any new fluid upon receipt to avoid my issue.

The three speakers really step-up the audio aspects of this Niagara; great bass and volume. The "Force Coupler" feature really does cut in and out during travels around the layout due to the pull required by the engine.

One other issue I noted was that during backing up a load of twelve cars, the drawbar vertical "stub" on the engine side can contact the center rail intermittently on my particular engine. This may be just my engine or something to check with yours as well. There is some downward slope to both halves of the wireless drawbar; there may be a way to shim both sides up somewhat to alleviate this issue. I'm running on Atlas"O", but the possibility should be evident on all three rail track....

All in all, I'm quite happy with what I've seen so far; good luck to all that purchased this engine and enjoy!

Randy_B posted:
Surefire posted:

Do any of the black models not have white walls or do they all?

I don't think so and it's a shame. I don't like the white walls at all. The images showed thinner ones and I was in wait and see mode. Beautiful locomotive though! Congrats to the happy new owners - a winner for sure.

I seem to recall the catalogue photos showing with and without those (blasted) whitewalls. I believe the later versions with the twin-beam headlight do not have them. They did exist at one time on at least a few Niagaras, but went away. Some roads used aluminum paint. Not sure about the Central.

Mine is the Pilot version, so the question is moot for me.

ezmike posted:

Spoke with Butch at Charles Ro about 45 minutes ago since I didn’t receive an e-mail but my cc was charged a couple of days ago. Seems I need to update my e-mail address with them.  Anyway, he confirmed that mine was delivered today. 

Oh boy!!!

Mike

I just pre-ordered a Lionel RS11 from Charles Ro and asked to receive an e-mail when the engine arrived in house and before my card would be charged. I got a reply in all capitals that said "SORRY,WE DON'T EMAIL BEFORE SHIPPING" .  

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