I've been quite happy with my Weaver brass locomotives. There have been problems, but Weaver is very, very forthcoming in fixing things. Their recent Milwaukee Road F6a 4-6-4 is the most detailed 0 scale 3-rail locomotive I have ever seen - equal or superior to anything I've seen out of 3rd Rail. It had a traction problem, but Weaver service was super helpful in getting it sorted out.
Another thing about Weaver is that owner Joe Hayter is very responsive to input from customers about what to make and to specific suggestions to improve detail, etc.
Sunset/3rd Rail seems to have something against the Milwaukee Road. They have made Burlington, C&NW, Great Northern, NP, and SP&S steamers, but never Milwaukee Road. It's like they drew a circle around the Milwaukee and modeled all their competitors, but not the Milwaukee Road. The Milwaukee was the biggest purchaser of the USRA Heavy Mikado, which was the railroad's standard heavy freight locomotive until they bought the S-2 Northerns from Baldwin.
Originally Posted by rex desilets:
Southwest Hiawatha said
If you want a USRA heavy Mikado, and are a serious buyer, email Weaver.
My apologies to Weaver-I forgot about them; I don't own any of their recent offerings. However, Weaver does brass of "obscure" locos, the beautiful Lackawanna Pocono being one.
How do the Weaver locos perform compared to 3rd Rail?
