Today, I picked up my Menards Santa Fe F-7. Well, it is one fine locomotive. It does everything that some of the most renowned competition does for far less cost. I loaded three triple A batteries in the remote turned on the transformer and then the remote. The bell is a little tinny sounding and rings much too fast for my taste. The horn sound is just fine for a toy locomotive. The crew talk is clear and totally understandable. The locomotive sounds are just what you would expect from an F-7, and they do not overwhelm the room with excessive noise. There is a switch under the locomotive to turn the loco sounds off and on without interfering with the other sounds on the remote. The engine response to the remote POT is fine in both forward and reverse. No hesitation with good slow run ability onward up to full throttle. I specifically ran this on some track with an O-27 curve. Many of my smaller locos will balk and slow around the O-27. Not this one however. It kept up the speed all though the curve with no hesitation. In fact, it performed well, in fact better than some more, and higher priced locomotives on the entire layout.
I would rate this loco from Menards a total success. It looks great, it runs great, and sounds pretty good. I am not a rivet counter, and am not a stickler for precise reality. That said, this is a pretty fine example of a real locomotive from my point of view. The trucks are very shiny, like chrome, and that might be a put-off for some purists, but, for me, they look great!
I hope Menards produces some more locomotives, perhaps with some steamers in the future.
