Another major advantage of the small and medium-sized steamers, compared to the big ones, is affordability.
I'm not diminishing the big steamers in the slightest. They are magnificent and majestic running on large layouts with wide radius curves. However, they tend to be very expensive, often in excess of $1,000, which is not affordable for me and many others. If I had a substantially larger layout with wide curves, I would probably buy one big boy steamer with big sounds and smoke.
The reason I'm highlighting the small and medium-sized steamers is to share how much fun they are to run, and how affordable. And on a Postwar layout with 031 curves like mine, you can still experience big steam power with medium sized engines like the ones below.
Below is the classic Postwar Lionel 736 pulling a tender and 11 Postwar cars with ease. It is a very smooth and strong runner with Magnetraction. I paid about $400 for it at a train show about 15 years ago:
Below is the MTH NY Central Mohawk with traction tires pulling 5 Postwar extruded aluminum passenger cars. I paid about $300 for it in the mid-1990s:
Arnold
