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I'm curious, does anyone make a slow starting, smooth running conventional steam loco?
Good question Woo, I've been waiting more than 20 yrs and haven't seen it yet. I would like to add "traditionally-sized" to your wish list. The K-Line 3000 series 4-6-2 (from the Marx mold) were ok for their time, but lacked a flywheel. Maury Klein was too stubborn to even consider a redesign. RailKing steam with PS2 might be another option. But compared to Lionel Postwar, IMO most aren't that artfully rendered, the "selective compression" just isn't as good. Also they have no more than two closely-spaced pickup rollers, and are quite sensitive to voltage drops, because the circuitry interprets the track voltage as a speed command. (There's a LOT of electronic gimmickry inside that can fail, and conventional transformer operation gives a distant "drive-by-wire" feel.)
At October York, Williams by Bachmann revealed a new 4-6-0 steamer that might be the most promising example yet. Smooth and slow, with modest gearing and no gimmicky electronics! Unfortunately it's a 19th-century prototype. I really, really hope Bachmann develops a new, similarly-geared chassis for the Berkshire and Hudson clones which have been part of their Golden Memories line for years. That would give us what we're asking for. C'mon Bachmann, 30:1 or bust!!
I've bought only scale trains since 1996, mostly hoping for the promise of better performance. Unfortunately, scale steam is about as housebroken as a pet dolphin! It looks totally out of place on a Plasticville layout with sharp curves. If you don't have 20 feet on a long wall, forget about building a layout. If someone builds a smooth starting, slow running postwar clone with a strong mechanical pedigree, my check is in the mail!!!
Heck, all someone would have to do is design a replacement mechanism for the 736 or 2046 chassis. There are plenty of die-cast shells out there, and tooling for the boiler shell is the most expensive part! With all the folks out of work, I guess there are no machinists willing to step up to our challenge?? Good question!