Make sure they are a proper fit, i.e. almost flush with the wheel/tire.  And, clean the rest of your drivers or pick up points.  I do not know how many pick up points MTH uses, but I have traction tires on every loco I own that will take them, and I do not have any continuity issues.

VGN and N&W in steam.

The successor to DuPont Powders is Alliant, not Alliance.
For a different take, I say if you posess mechanical knowledge and dexterity, I do not feel it is worthwhile to pay to have the linkages assembled.
I believe the Bowser locomotives are rock solid locomotives, really good mechanisms, but define quality.  Are we talking Chevrolet or Ferrari?
I feel the Bowser locos are decent deals with the superdetail kits, but you have relaced the "cheap" Oriental labor with you.
If they have the prototype you want, I say go for it as you will likely not get a better prototypical loco for the money.  As food for kitbash fodder, the kit arrangement may be an advantage, too.
I like them quite a bit in general, and have built 3 over the years, but I don't need any of those Pennsy fireboxes or generic offerings since N&W and VGN have been pretty well provided for in recent years, except for a few models, and Bowser has not filled any of those gaps either.

First, Baltic is a northern European sea, not an ocean.  A lot of the citizenry up in the Milwaukee area is supposedly of Scandanavian and/or Nordic heritage (I do not know, pure hearsay), so maybe that was why they chose Baltic.
In any even, current day students of fine steam locomotives know what a Baltic is.

P2K actually produced and released accurate renditions of the unique VGN Berkshires, for which I had waited about 30 years, and I will always be grateful.  A long time ago I bought a bunch of brass in the pursuit of prototypical fidelity, but I drew the line at what they were asking for the VGN Berks.  I was not willing to pay collector price for a model to be operated.  I am quite happy with the P2Ks, but if Bachmann does an ACCURATE VGN rendition, I may get one of those too.

I was not offended, and my response was meant to be completely lighthearted.  See the smiley.
I am sorry if you took it wrong.   I am beginning to think a lot of the opinions of Americans as arrogant are at least partially the result of our twisted sense of sarcasm.  And, I did not think relating money as our only apparent motivation was all that flattering.  Oh well.
But, I did not think that remark about Mallard's repairs was too much of a cheap shot, (even though I was implying I thought a couple of US steamers could have gone faster, even though they didn't).  If something gets broken in the attempt, I don't think it should count.  In Car and Driver's "Fastest of the Fast" shootout, two years in a row they gave it to the Dodge Viper, and yet both times it arrived at the test track on a trailer and HAD to leave that way, after problems.  I thought the Ferrari won fair and square, having been driven to the contest, and driven away.  But, I do not doubt Mallard could have duplicated the feat, and I do believe Mallard's record is valid over the German 05 (?) engine from everything I have seen.
I hope you will continue to express your opinions.  It is a model RRing message board, not the UN.  We do not have to agree to profit from the experience.

Trying to compare any "outside-the-USA" design of steam locomotive with the "inside-the-USA" designs is an exercise in comparing apples and watermelons.  The Beyer-Garratts appear to have been an excellent design for the loads they hauled and the the roads they ran on. 
It's like comparing Formula I with NASCAR or NHRA drags.  If the USA gets serious about something (usually tied to it's ability to generate MONEY), they can excel at it.  Formula I is not as well suited to huge crowds, advertising, and TV coverage in the USA, so it languishes here, while it is indisputably the top automobile racing series in the rest of the world.  Marching to different drummers as it were.  Not better; different.
However, I dare say none of the rest of the world's steam designs could have held a candle to a Y6b or a VGN 800 Class in drag service, or to a Big Boy or Allegheny/Blue Ridge or Class A in high horsepower fast freight service.  The USA roads were all geared to hauling huge tonnages compared to the others in the world.  I believe no other country ever employed any locomotives in the steam era that equalled or exceeded the axle loading of the C&O F-16s of about 1918, and they were FAR from the weightiest locos the USA would produce.  Look at the average weight of Class I US rail compared to anywhere else.
The US came from waaay back, and yet charged into the lead in production of industrialized goods of all types - pulled by those magnificent steam locomotives.
P.S.- I know Mallard holds the world steam speed record.  But if we could set up a race, my money would be on several other passenger steam designs.  And, I do not think they would require repairs afterwards. 

Glad your Dad wasn't on the 800 at Stewartsville that fateful night.  My Great grandfather helped build the VGN, and my Grandfather worked for the VGN and N&W.  They may have known each other.
As far as I know, each railroad only had one name for each class on their road.

Some 4-8-4s were called Dixies and I believe some others were labelled Confederations.  The original "legend" in re: the Big Boys is that when the first one was under construction someone wrote "Big Boy" on one of the front cylinder sets, and the name stuck.

It used to be a lot easier before the virtual steam locomotive web site went down.     Best thing to do now is measure the tender coal and water volumes and try for the closest match to the prototype known capacities.

Gene,
I had one of these and it turned out the rail was short height wise, but apparently made it through QC because the rivet had held it up.  I was able to shim my rail back up with monofilament line under the rail wrapped around the rivet.

Got to agree with Gene.  None of my sound engines had a working hard cam synchronization set up, but all of them have the wheels and cam in synch up past where one can accurately see the wheels whirling around.  Only one did not come that way from the factory, and it was easy to rectify.

Why? 
Get an articulated and have 4 cylinders - one better.

I replaced the light on mine with a golden white LED, and if I remember correctly is was very simple.  My memory is dim now, but I seem to remember it was a bluish LED from Bachmann.

Not that simple.  AC, DC, and DCC are all different.