This Kato engine should have a rating of 5 but I had forgotten about the drawbar problem which the latest one I purchased had. I have 2 others that have run flawlessly for 20 years and are from the same batch (176-0100) the second run was (176-0200). So just be aware that there have been improvements to the Kato Mikado in subsequent releases. But after hearing of the drawbar problem I had bought 2 extra replacements, I’m down to only one now. It fixed the problem but that’s the reason for only 4 stars.
This steam loco is an out of production item that I happened to be able to buy from a sale for a recent widow by an eBay retailer. It has great detail and runs so smoothly right out of the box. I do not doubt that it will be very reliable coming from Kato. I am having someone apply the fine details and change the couplers over to Kato style couplers. I was very happy and very lucky to come across it but was saddened by the details surrounding its availability.