I have the Gold series and it is an awesome sounding great pulling and detailed engine.I think if you do buy one you won’t regret it.BTW [#welcome]to the forum.Good Luck Terry.
I have one. The mechanism is up to the usual fine Atlas standards - it coasts a LONG way! And the sound is awesome as well. Definitely worth the price. I look at it from the point of view that were you to install a DCC sound system in a locomotive, it would cost you over $100 for the decoder, speaker, and other parts, not to mention your install time. So subtract that fromt e loco cost and it becmes a no-brainer.