Interested to hear if anyone has any opinions on this topic. I've mainly used Victory Works' stuff so I'm interested to hear how people think BMG, JustTrains, etc. hold up compared to him.
I personally am a massive fan of BMG Steamers, in fact I rate them higher than the VW stuff. I cut my teeth on the BMG Royal Scot and considering I hadn't a scooby how to drive a Steam Loco full stop, I found the BMG auto fireman extremely useful. I started with it maxed out to level 5 (auto everything) and then dialled it back step by step as I learned the procedures till eventually I can now drive them with everything auto turned off and manually coal the fire and inject water, refill the boiler etc. It took a while but OMG how rewarding is it when you start to master one of these beauties. I went on to add the entire BMG catalogue to my collection.
I agree BMG are up there with the best and can be used as a great learning tool. I have since gone on to have massive enjoyment with a load of steamers from Caledonia Works, Digital Traction & Steam Sounds Supreme + enjoying the VW offerings as now I know how I am supposed to drive these beasts. So much more challenging than the one handle throttle / brake modern units of today.
What I also love about Steam Loco driving, Victory Works, BMG, SSS, DT, CW etc., is every time you drive them in a scenario it is always different. If you play a scenario multiple times with a modern EMU it is always the same, you see the same Ai at the same place all the time as you just quickly get to line speed and hold it using cruise control., with steam locos it all depends on boiler management so if you manage it efficiently you can arrive at the top of a climb at x O'clock if you don't manage the boiler properly you have no choice than to arrive at the top of the climb 10 minutes late so all the Ai passes appear at different places and times.
Not sure that I would go for an overall best. I tend to be task & mood driven. Looking for a proper challenge has to be a loaded up BMG loco ( Stanier Mogul is I think the hardest ). A real challenge is 4 coaches out from Dumfries to Stranraer behind the Michael Whiteley J50 - one of the most difficult locos I know for rapidly loosing boiler pressure if you don't keep a very careful eye on the brake usage. For a happy potter along a branchline then Mr Whiteley's 3F is still one of the most immersive cab experiences I know. Victory Works 14XX comes a close second but their J21 is my go to for longer trips or for a bit more relaxed scenery watching. Caladonia works provide lots of the sort of step in and go that I use for those quick runs, testing stuff, or when I am just in the mood for something lovely to look at , easy to drive, stable, predictable and relaxing. Best - thats a hard call. Especially as I have never driven a steam loco.
