How well does brass run in N scale?

[Anonymous]

I am contemplating getting a brass steamer in N scale. How well do they run? It is a key imports item. I dont want to drop 400 and have it be a dud.

Thanks

[orsonroy]

The only way to find out for sure is to test run it. I've only seen a few N scale brass engines run, and only one steamer, but they all ran pretty well.

Brass in general is a crapshoot. Sometimes they run like Swiss watches, sometimes they run like roadkill. And with steam in any scale, you pretty much have to be resigned to the fact that at some time, you're going to learn to work on it...