We got one in at the shop I work at. We had no pre-orders, so the owner ordered just one Clinchfield. It arrived missing one of the crank pins (short screw). Took Lionel
2 weeks to mail us a replacement.The engine runs smooth, didn't have the problem posted by Frank that Scott mentioned. The whistle sound is a sore point, we referred to it as a expiring elephant. It sounds like a garbled diesel horn. Lionel says it's authentic. The whistle sound is not a problem with the baffles, as Jon suggested, as the rest of the sounds are clear and sharp. It actually has a excellent bell sound.
Although far from being a expert, I do most of the repairs (we're an authorized service station for both Lionel and MTH). If job security were an issue, I would have no concern at all, as long as both Lionel and MTH stay in the business. As for Lionel's attitude mentioned by Howard, that's the typical response one gets from them.
Me, I'm glad that the O scale stuff holds no interest, and will stick to HO and N scales.
As for pulling power, we have several HO modelers who do a round robin type get together at each other's layouts. The have pulled 107 cars (level track) with the BLI's N&W class A.
Jim F.