I recieved my Crusader this past weekend. Without knowing any of these posts. The dealer told me the delay was con cor had his order listed as all no sound units. When it was the opposite. He had them send the sound dcc separate and installed them himself before calling all the purchasers. He did this because he was led to beleive they were special for this unit. He was disapointed to find the lowest sound unit that digitracks or sound tracks ( I forget ) makes. He had a lot of trouble setting the sound to the speed. In hind site it would have been better to put that money to a sunami board and put a better speaker in.
When I picked it up I was not impressed with the sound of the whistle it also seems to lurch and then as you increase the speed it finally starts out. The slow speed is not impressive. I intend to replace the sound board/ decoder and put in a better speaker.
Some one said it. Its really not that expensive when you consider its a whole train. Fully built reading passenger cars like the beth car works are in the range of $60.00 each. and they are not lighted. The body looks good. The coaches look right. The window arangement. and even the fluteing at the word reading co. which the IHC cars didn't have. Then there is the tender. No one else makes one like it. I have not been able to run it on more than a 12ft track. I don't know how it pulls all the cars, but if re-powering or putting a whole other under frame under it I will do it. Am I dissapointed? Yes at least with the sound & decoder. Thanks for all the input I will be sure to look for and make those corrections.
I always have FP-7s and a brass G-1 #119 to step in.

GHB informed me today that they shipped another replacement engine. Hopefully, this one will succeed.
We'll keep you posted.
GHB is certainly doing their best to rectify these problems.

As recently posted I could not get the loco to run properly with the Digitrax decoder. Digitrax tech support was not very helpful and admitted that there are issues with this generation of decoders. So I pulled the Digitrax decoder and installed a QSI Titan decoder. I chose this over the Soundtrax Tsunami because IMHO they have a better set of tools to fine tune a stuttering engine. Also there are 31 whistles and 17 bells on the decoder so there is usually something that sounds like the prototype. The Titan comes with an 8 pin plug so it is only necessary to solder the two wires to the speaker. The Titan uses an industry standard 8 ohm speaker not a 32 ohm speaker like the Digitrax decoder. There is a very good selection of quality speakers available in the proper size.
It took about 20 minutes to install the decoder and the speaker. The decoder fits nicely under the tender deck with double sided tape. I had already modified the speaker cap to produce a better sound by cutting a large hole in the cap so that the tender shell itself would provide a much larger enclosure. I have no idea why Con-Cor advocates using such a small enclosure.
After some fine tuning of the motor control CVs and getting the chuff cadence right I selected a nice 5 chime whistle and turned up the volume.
The engine now runs about as smoothly as a DCC converted brass model. It does not rematch the performance of latest generation Broadway Limited steamers, but IMHO they are the gold standard. The sound is full and quite satisfying. The chuffs now match the speed and acceleration of the locomotive. All in all I am now happy with the locomotive rate it a "B" on the A to F scale.
I will gladly share the CVs I used to tune the locomotive.

shocked to hear of all of these problems. Glad that GHB is trying to make right, as that is no small purchase. Also glad that they don't offer this in N, since I would have to save for several months to buy one. Although I'd much rather prefer to run it behind a pair of FP7s. I personally think the streamlined G3 and tender are hideous. Maybe back in the 30s this was quite futuristic styling, but I'm personally not a fan of any streamlined steamers from any road, and I think the reading made theirs just as gaudy as most railroads.

While streamlined steam was certainly unique in its appearance, some looking like inverted bathtubs, while some were tastefully done like New Haven's I-5 4-6-4s, the SP GS-4s, etc. In the book The Streamline Era, the author refers to the Crusader as "looking like a big tinplate toy train by Lionel."
Personally, I think for a homemade job done by the Reading Shops it looked attractive. Since I am not a big fan of Wooten Fireboxes (unless its a Camelback), the shrouding nicely conceals it!

I like the variety of the "Steamliners" as crafted in the shops of various railroads of the 1930's. They were a brave attempt to create a buzz that would bring passengers back with a large flourish of modern hipness. To me the Crusader represents the brave last stand of nearly bankrupt railroad enduring the Depression. A cheeky shot at the mighty Pennsy.
Besides, the streamlined locos remind me of the Flash Gordon who came on TV at 5:00 o'clock in the 1950's.