Lionel post war 1615 steam switcher with bell, pulling operating barrel car; such a classic; I had to have it when I saw one of these on a video of Phil Klopp's layout many years ago.
K Line Pennsylvania GG1 (Big Red) pulling 10 postwar boxcars and caboose on outer loop, while Lionel postwar 646 Hudson pulled 8 operating ore dump cars and caboose; The 646 has Magnetraction and plenty of power and is another Classic; K Line made some smooth and sweet running engines during the last 10 years of its existence and this is one of them.
For passenger service, Lionel postwar Brunswick Green 2340 GG1 with Magnetraction pulled 4 streamline aluminum passenger cars. For me, this engine and passenger cars are the best of the best.
I have a long and narrow layout that goes around 3 sides of 2 rooms in my basement. The rooms are the playroom and, to make the layout more interesting and for dramatic effect, I tunneled through the wall many years ago to have trains on two independent loops of track leave the room and go around 3 sides of the laundery room, and then come back through the tunnel to the playroom.. (Please don't have your trains run through the laundery room unless, like me, you have an understanding wife.)
The reason I'm describing my layout is because if you have long and narrow space and still want your trains to run continuously, like me, you will need to use 031 curves and trains that can navigate them. One of my favorite engines to run on a layout like mine, which I ran today, is the Lionel Postwar 6220 (or 623) ATSF NW2 Switcher with Magnetraction. It hugs the rails, and has plenty of heft which makes it a good puller. I ran it today and it pulled several operating log dump cars, several gondolas and a work caboose with search light.
