There are more 2-8-8-4's for Bachmann to consider.

[Doneldon]

261-

I understand your point and I share your frustration to a degree, but I'm also sensitive to the fact that the model railroad manufacturers are in business to make money. They do quite a good job, in my opinion, of producing diesel locomotives in a wide variety of heralds but not so great for the steamers of second tier railroads. I suppose we could just as easily rail (sorry, pun intended) at the railroads themselves. I mean, it wouldn't be hard to manufacture steam engines for every railroad if the railroads themselves hadn't insisted on customizing and modifying every loco that came out of the erection shops.

Just think about a few of the ways locomotives look: tapered boilers vs straight ones; bells on top or in front; lights on the front porch, smoke box door or top of the locomotive; Wooten, Bellpaire or conventional fireboxes; open vs all-weather cabs; number of sand domes; type and placement of whistles; Scullin, Box Pok or spoked drivers; valve gear design; paint; streamlining and how it's done; style of leading and trailing trucks, if any; welded vs riveted construction; placement of running boards; presence vs absence of roller bearings; sheet metal, boiler tube or other pilots; rod styles. You get the idea. I make at least 31,184 variations of just these factors, even while ignoring paint, running boards, streamlining, accessory trucks and whistles. And I haven't mentioned tenders, whether there are any or where the water is stored on tank types. There's no way all of those factors, or even a few, can be accommodated by manufacturers.

The mass producers have lettered locos with large numbers of railroads but then they are criticized for being unprototypical. Just as automobile model manufacturers cannot build every possible combination of car, optional equipment and color, model railroad manufacturers have to limit what they build. And it won't do anyone any good if what they build is obscure, at least when compared to the Central or the Santa Fe, because they'll soon be out of business and building nothing at all.
                                                                                                                                                                                   -- D

[ryeguyisme]

Which is why I'm thankful Brass, and thankful that eventually the brass market will plummet making said models more affordable for the average Joe such as myself

[barlojo1]

Usually the price of older brass plummets when a model comes out in plastic. Case in point, just saw an Alco Models C-430 custom painted NYS&W go for $99.00 on Ebay. Paint job was passable. There is another on Ebay for a second time with the price dropped from 135 to 125 and still no bidders. An Alco Models E-44 in pieces just sold for 200, but the E-33 for 100 was passed up. I buy older brass with issues to restore. Waited since 1972 for an EM-1, passed up many Akane EM's because of the price or condition, Thanks Bachmann, my pair with sound are fantastic.

John B