Brass in Z-Scale/Good running? ... or?

[Kilroy]

If you bought some Z-scale brass locomotives, please tell what there performances are!
Make some comparisions, without getting too much negative on the bader material. - For example: Märklin F7 loco pulls ± 7 cars; Micro-Trains-Line F7 pulls ± 50 cars (without derailing!). - Are they worth their price for real use on a layout, or just beauties for some showcase?

[eric_a]

Most of the brass units are built
on Marklin hardware which means they
will run about the same as the Marklin
units they are based on. One execption
is the F.R. yard switcher which is custom
hardware. Ztrack reviewed this switcher
in the most recent issue and found it to
be superb. One thing about that switcher
that puzzles me is why it never has any couplers on it in any of the photos I've
seen?

[eric_a]

About those Marklin versus Micro-Trains
F7. Marklin uses a 3 pole motor in their
F7s which has good top end speed but lousy
torque. Micro-Trains uses a 5 pole motor
which sacrifices some speed for much better
torque, particularly at low RPM. Hence the
greater pulling power. I saw an article once
on replacing the armature in the Marklins with a 5 pole one, I think it was on the
Z220 site.


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