MTH Premier Pacific w/Steaming Whistle Long Term Review

The MTH Premier Pacifics, which shipped in mid 2022 were among MTH first releases post-down sizing. I posted my first review, the short-term review, of this model in October of 2022. As is standard for DynamO Scale reviews, this is the second review of this model, the long term review.
As this is my first long term review I’m posting, I wanted to establish my goals with the long term reviews. They are, usually, going to be shorter than their short-term counterparts, as there is, hopefully, less to go over with them. I don’t feel it’s fair to judge a model after a few days, weeks, or even months of ownership and testing, and so, now that I’ve had this model for a bit over a year and a half, I feel I’m truly able to give the final verdict, as it were…..so, let’s dive in.
My initial impressions with this model's looks have not changed, and as MTH used their usual high quality paints and detail parts, I have nothing ill to say about how well the engines looks have held up. As for operation, it’s not perfect. So, let’s talk about why not.