I am surprised but I guess it’s a very personal thing. In my time, I have ridden steel bikes by Mercian, Condor, Woodrup, Arthur Caygill, Colnago, Dave Yates* and Shand. All have been, and some still are, a pleasure to ride. All but the Shand are horizontal top tube, lugged brazed frames, the Shand has a sloping top tube and is TIG welded.
* actually built by me on Dave Yates’ framebuilding course.