With the knob in which would put the lever toward the rear and, with the OD not at speed so electrically the solenoid is not engaged, yes you can select reverse. As soon as you reach speed the relay and solenoid energizes and when you lift your foot briefly, the solenoid drives the pawl in to block the sun gear and engage OD. There is also linkage into the transmission that is blocked at the same time so as to prevent reverse being selected while car is in OD.
If you are unable to go into reverse and the solenoid is not electrically active then with it being a "new" unit I would wonder about the pawl status. If the solenoid has been improperly installed the end of the solenoid plunger may not be in the slot in the pawl. The length of the plunger would then be pushing against the end of the pawl rather than the slot and would force the pawl inward. Effectively that could be the same as having OD electrically engaged if the pawl went in far enough.
If you haven't already, you might download the BW OD training manual.
https://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/BW_OD.pdf There is a troubleshooting section where you can find some info on what could be happening. The solenoid is mentioned on page 10.
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