The mods section is a good source of released mods, as not all get uploaded to EMP. The best mods available now are probably Welfordshire, Portuguese Modification and Montana mod, although the Montana mod is not available for download.
I believe it was taken down for copyright reasons, and it'd be a breach of rules to upload it. That said, I haven't kept up with the Mayberry Mod drama for a while.
Yep. Only exception to this is Kent Mod, which, regardless of RTB commands, is fun to play. Limited water is a big factor for me too, even though it's only a recent addition to EM4 modding I love it already.