Kato 126-0401

Recieved brand new in box as advertised but kept derailing at the corners

Been running my FEF-3 on a temporary Unitrack layout for a few weeks now. Just a great locomotive. Very smooth and quiet, and can crawl along very slowly with no stuttering or stalling. Detail and quality is up to the typical Kato high standard. A fine addition to my growing N Gauge collection.

Took me four tries to get this on the track correctly as there are five sets of wheels. It has a smooth motor and can run very slowly which is neat. It's running right now behind me using a Kato M2 track set just laying on a rug. I can only attach two cars without the third or fourth derailing, due to the rug I assume, but this train easily pulls all seven cars in the Kato UP excursion set. Reverse works perfectly. All is good. The front four wheels are held by a weak spring which is disconcerting but I'm not going to worry until a problem develops. SInce this is expensive, I should say Spark Deals shipped very quickly and it arrived in fine shape.

This locomotive is beautifully made. It rolls nicely even at low speeds and it's fun to watch with so many moving parts and details. There are some very small pieces and fine details so it needs to be handled very carefully. This locomotive is meant to be partnered with Kato's Union Pacific Water Tenders and 7 piece Excursion Car Set (both sold separately). This locomotive is long and requires a minimum 11" radius curve on flat track, and 15" radius on viaduct track. If you add the water tenders and 7pc car set, your train will be more than 8 feet long, so it's really best for a large, permanent layout. Recommended for serious hobbyists

Sold as new. Not sure it is. Packaging not sealed. Derails very easily on even the slightest imperfections. I could not get it to run reliably on my Kato left or right cross overs or the double crossover. Doesn’t like any kind of imperfections. I have the Kato Big Boy too and it runs perfectly on my layout. Maybe I got a bad one. Dunno…