I preordered a Rock Island Bicentennial E8 Locomotive, The Independence, It came in last last week and so, I lubed it up and i was off to try it out! The paint job was first rate very sharp, it fired up and the sounds clear as a bell. The lights are LED and are very clean looking,it was when I blew the horn that it knock my sock's OFF, it was a nathan P5 old cast horn. That was the horn that Rock Island used on there locomotive's. MTH really works hard to get it right!! Lionel builds some nice locomotives, the quality of there sounds are very good, but the prime mover sounds and horns are not so hot. Iam not knocking Lionel by no means, It is just that MTH works very hard to put the correct prime mover sounds to a locomotive. NOW this is my favorite loco! I well be downloading that sound file to many of my R.I. engines. Merry Christmas from the Burns Family
