Machine Rail's Pere Marquette M-1

[AmericanSteam]

Work in progress: Pere Marquette M-1 class. This looks to be another excellent model from Machine Rail.
Link to webpage:
https://www.machine-rail.com/post/pere-marquette-n-1-class-under-build?postId=eba7afca-593f-429b-9429-c80067941814&utm_campaign=0d7451c7-c36e-4679-b309-55f6ee499748&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=2b1b150c-db4f-4d90-8801-82a18e30133f&cid=3debfc62-cb3c-4f42-bb65-2f83a70ec33

[RAILSOHIO]

I own about 2/3 of their locomotives. I am always impressed by the quality and features. The animated class flags on the Frisco engine is a good example. I would love to see a C&O K-4 version of this 2-8-4. And I know they have a B&O P7 on their to-do list. I really hope its a P7D.

[jalsina]

I own about 2/3 of their locomotives. I am always impressed by the quality and features. The animated class flags on the Frisco engine is a good example. I would love to see a C&O K-4 version of this 2-8-4. And I know they have a B&O P7 on their to-do list. I really hope its a P7D.

There is no doubt Machine Rail´s models and painting are superb.
My question is, how do you rate the sounds and specially the physics of the locos you have purchased?
I have recently acquired the IC Mikados and haven´t yet found the time to try them.

[RAILSOHIO]

I do not own the Mikado. I have all the early North American steam. Smokebox's steam locos still seem to be the gold standard,as far as physics,operation,etc. I want to state that 90 percent of my time is spent route building,or re-painting equipment. I have only glanced at the manuals for the MR locomotives. I observe that the top speed on the American Standard 4-4-0 is low,for a tall drivered engine. The 2-6-0 tops out about 35 MPH,that might be close. The Rogers 4-6-0 about 50. It may take some of Doc Brown's "special logs",to get the engine to run faster (88 mph) Again,the 4-6-0 is not a tall drivered engine. The narrow gauge Moguls,around 30,and that makes sense. I have purchased most of the Machine Rail engines when they were on sale. So I am not disappointed in their overall operation,for the price. I do not know if there is wheel slip with a train coupled to them. There seems to be none on the early steam. And the reverser does not seem as effective as it should be in slowing a locomotive. Also,you have to run the cut off VERY low,lower than other steam in this sim. I will say that the characteristic of the Frisco engine,are improved over their earlier releases.
I love that our neighbor to the south has become the top builder of American Steam. I did not really need the new depressed center flatcar,but bought it to support them. I am happy with the product they have released. You will notice that they are "retiring" some of their engines. Maybe the physic will be improved,and re-released down the road. Joe

[jalsina]

I do not own the Mikado. I have all the early North American steam. Smokebox's steam locos still seem to be the gold standard,as far as physics,operation,etc. I want to state that 90 percent of my time is spent route building,or re-painting equipment. I have only glanced at the manuals for the MR locomotives. I observe that the top speed on the American Standard 4-4-0 is low,for a tall drivered engine. The 2-6-0 tops out about 35 MPH,that might be close. The Rogers 4-6-0 about 50. It may take some of Doc Brown's "special logs",to get the engine to run faster (88 mph) Again,the 4-6-0 is not a tall drivered engine. The narrow gauge Moguls,around 30,and that makes sense. I have purchased most of the Machine Rail engines when they were on sale. So I am not disappointed in their overall operation,for the price. I do not know if there is wheel slip with a train coupled to them. There seems to be none on the early steam. And the reverser does not seem as effective as it should be in slowing a locomotive. Also,you have to run the cut off VERY low,lower than other steam in this sim. I will say that the characteristic of the Frisco engine,are improved over their earlier releases.
I love that our neighbor to the south has become the top builder of American Steam. I did not really need the new depressed center flatcar,but bought it to support them. I am happy with the product they have released. You will notice that they are "retiring" some of their engines. Maybe the physic will be improved,and re-released down the road. Joe

I appreciate your extensive analysis about MachineRail production.

I did not expect they would surpass Smokebox locos.
I have always wanted to have a good Mikado, so that is the reason this is the first MR loco I have acquired.

We have very few steam locos that are working pretty acceptable, when compared with Europe production. I enjoyed a lot the G-Trax Berkshire and the Northern 700, specially updated with the old work by dtrainBNSF1 (about 10 years ago). The K4 was pretty nice as well, but when working two on tandem, the Train Simulator crashed (out of water) after a while playing.
The old Big Boy never made it by DTG. It was always a disaster. But dtrainBNSF1 did a good job updating it and myself worked on it adding additional particle emissions borrowed by the Berkshire (I never released it because of legal stuff concerning these particles).

So, yes. It´s great to have Machine Rail doing a good job, at least with models and paint schemes.

For me, sounds and physics are more important than model and paint. Other prefer the second. This is why I enjoy so much the enhancement packs and JR Locos by Searchlight Simulations for the diesels, and this is why I loose so much time replacing the clumsy horns and enhancing of the DTG releases.