Well, this is America, so bigger is better. But I gotta say, there is a limit somewhere. Jim's comment, "Remember it is almost Buddy L gauge..." puts it in perspective. There was a reason Joshua never produced the Brute or these big cars.
I'm just getting my standard gauge layout up and running, and I have the Super 381 pulling the full 6 state cars, and let me tell ya, it's impressive, but at the same time it kind of overpowers everything else. A little on the big side, scale-wise, to everything else on the layout. To my eye the Ives and Flyer sets (Black Diamond, Presidential) are the best, big enough to be impressive but still graceful on the 84 and 72 curves.
MTH is just seeing how big they can push it. The laugh's on me: I bought a Brute too. But I won't be running it much, and I'm not getting the big cars. My layout isn't a Buddy-L or Keystone "Ride-on" set up.
Just my opinion. I thought I really wanted the big stuff, but I've lost interest, it's just cumbersome.
Now if I expanded the layout into the back barn, with some 60' straightaways, that might change my mind.
