Yes, it would be.
Unfortunetly, the Bachmann 2-8-0 is really an IC prototype, so to start, it is not correct to a WM 2-8-0 by any means. Second, the WMSR #734 is really Lake Superior and Ishpeming #34 in disguise. So, the engine really isn't close to the 734, as they weren't trying to make a prototype 734 in the first place. Although incorrect, most tourists who have a small layout that they pull out now and then would buy one of these engines even though they don't look like it (Those people can't tell a F7 from a B23-7).
I agree that having a model of the engine or whole train you just rode behind would be a huge plus for the gift shop. I know that the Grand Canyon railroad sold custom painted Bachmann 2-8-0's (the old ones) and MDC Harriman cars at their gift shop, and they were always sold out when I visited there. Durango and Silverton has a IHC/Model Power train set that they sell. Yes, it might be HO scale, but how many little kids out there model HOn3?
Companies like Walthers or Proto make a engine, but never release it in the roadnumber of a surviving or operating model. Case in point, the P2K 2-8-4's and the P1K RSC-2. There are a few C&O 2-8-4's surviving, but they did not make a model in those roadnumbers. The NKP and PM 2-8-4's no.s 1225 and 765 were not released even though they are famous steam engines that run many excursions.
Walthers also released the P1K RSC-2 in Milwaukee Road paint. There is a (almost operating) survivor of the MILW RSC-2 fleet at Mid-Continent in North Freedom, WI, the 988. Walthers never made a Milwaukee Road RSC-2 in the 988 number. Kato also released a RSC-2 in the same (well, the colors on the actual 988 aren't prototype, but that's a long story) paint. They didn't make that roadnumber, but they did make a un-numbered version that had dry-transfers for the 988.
Bachmann is smart. They are making the 2-8-4s in their standard line, and sure enough, the 765 as well as the 1225 are being produced. A person like me who is not a modeler of those roads would be interiested in a model of one of the engines just to have on the layout to pull a special run-through excursion train. With Bachmann, that is made possible. So, P2K lost out on the market of those people.
Phil