The Brute made her first official appearance on the NTRAK layout at the Amherst Model Railroad Show in Springfield MA last week. From the reports I got she ran well all weekend.
She needs a few minor repairs (the fuel tank cover on the rear of the tank fell off and got lost and the snowplow came off of the pilot), but otherwise she is in a fine fettle. I will be doing the repairs next month at the show in New Bern NC.
UPDATE: Repairs were completed the first night in New Bern, not too difficult and since they were done on Friday night she was all ready for the show. She pulled her passenger train around for a bit but had some difficulties with the low-profile wheels on some of the cars coming off the tracks. Later on she pulled a lengthy freight train for a while. The only problems encountered were some dragging of her undercarriage on the joiner tracks, but otherwise she was in fine form.
I didn't get a picture of the freight, but I did get a short video of the passenger train. Enjoy!
