I've had pretty good luck with the Weaver brass, I have less issues getting them to run reliability than some other brands of older brass locomotives.
Here's a couple of the Weaver pieces I have, The Reading G2sa came with TMCC and I added cruise, fan driven smoke, and of course a Super-Chuffer.
This M1a is a more recent arrival, but it's going to get the same treatment.
Finally, the Weaver FEF, this is another really nice model, it steps in when the VL-BB is in the shop.