funny you should hilite those italian shunting tractors, Doug.....especially as I bought, quite a while ago, the remains of an unpowered brass kit which I DISCOVERED TO BE SIMILAR TO ONE IN A MUSEUM....WHY am I shouting?
I have a smallish plastic pot...which USED to contain Lion brand Arrowroot cooking stuff.....in this pot I have an HO diesel [or gas/mechanical?] boxcab loco by Grandt Line.
I bough, and built this lil loco probably 15 or 20 years ago....certainly when I was 'in' to US stuff, anyway.........couod be had in HOn3 as well.
very small vertical motor, reduction geared to one axle, then gear drive to the other.....quite heavy too.
What amazed me at the time, and still does, was the incredibly fine plastic casting from Grandt Line.........almost to scale thickness.
Although HO, it has very small Kadee couplers which, incredibly, couple nicely to Kadee #5's....even tho' about half their size?
to give folk an idea of its size, this boxcab loco will fit, exactly, on the small length of track that Peco small radius points have, beyond the crossing vee.
gosh, those plastic steps are as fine as hair.