The original question in this post is like asking which tastes better - red M&Ms or green M&Ms?
Some people consider brass to be hand made works of art that one day will appreciate in value. I doubt we will see this happen in our lifetimes. I buy brass when there is no QUALITY plastic counterpart. Last year I purchased Overland’s Chessie B-30-7s and they are mechanically equal to or better than any of the Atlas Master series locos. In fact, they were Overland RTRs! Yes, they came with Kadee couplers and were ready to haul freight straight out of the box. They are a sweet set of locos.
It all depends on how accurate of a model you want. For some, the Bachmann B-23-7 will do them nicely. For me, I had to have the Overland B-30-7s.
And you can always get both red M&M’s and green M&M’s in the same package. In this case, red M&M’s are cheap and plentiful, and green M&M’s are expensive and rare. Which means that if you are modeling a green M&M candyroad, you may have to spend more.
I own several brass steam and diesel locomotives, and I will Never go back to plastic. Yes my roster is allot smaller now than before. However, who makes a SD38AC for the DM&IR? Right now no one does. Who makes an accurate Milwaukee Road SD40-2? No one but OMI. The selling of my plastic fleet helped to fund my purchases of Key 2-10-2 and PSC 2-8-8-4’s for the Missabe as well. There are some locomotives I wish I could buy but have to learn to control the budget and by only certain ones.
I have to say I’m in the pro-brass group, although I own far more plastic.
I model the New Haven, and for things like New Haven PA’s and FA’s, plastic P2K models are great. But if I want NH steam? I can only get good ones in brass. Sure, if I wanted nothing but R-1 Mountains and 0-8-0’s, I could fill up on Spectrum light 4-8-2’s and P2K 0-8-0’s. But the NH’s steam roster was so diverse that it would not be very realistic representation of their roster.
Streamlined I-5 Hudsons, detailed I-4 Pacifics with boiler-top airtanks, 3-cylinder R-3a Mountains, etc., would be impossible to find in plastic.
And diesels are like that as well, really. The NH had an electic collection of diesels, with FL9’s, DL109’s, etc. that really were only on the NH. And even their “off the shelf” designs had different details from anyone else (the NH GP9’s, for example, had extra water tanks on the running board behind the cab).
So, my collection is a mixture of both brass and plastic. I choose plastic over brass if I have a choice because of the the cost (I’d much rather have 10 plastic PA’s that are almost correct than one PA that’s 100% correct). If I don’t have a choice, I save up and buy brass.
There are just somethings you can’t or couldn’t get in plastic years ago.The same is true today I bought the majority of mine in the mid seventy’s to mid eighty’s …Mostley
PFM and some Korean, ; rule of thumb #1 see it run before you buy; rule of thumb #2 some early Korean was bad but they got their act together. That said now days I mainly buy plastic, it has come a long way baby ! I also refuse to pay $1000. up for an engine, unless I can’t live without it…But it’s surprising what my wife thinks I can live with out. All my diesel power is plastic, except I spied an old Halmark (?) H10-44 that was instant lust … OH well, I’ll see , birthday coming up, maybe “she who must be obeyed” may take pity on me. Ever hopeful.
Tom
I refuse to pay $1000 up for brass…heck, even $500. But if I find something that fits my obscure prototypes for $200 or less, heck, I’m not too worried about that.
And, of course, there are just some things you can’t get in plastic NOW, that they USED to make in brass…
But it’s not only about brass, it’s also a custom paint thing. Kato, gave me a ALCo RSC-2, in Seaboard Air Line, and Scott Chatfield, gave me the heritage, it deserved. The producer, given the requests, produced the affordible model. Ask, and it shall be given you!. ACJ.