Perhaps this is one of those stupid questions, but who’s buying all these Big Boys, Challengers, and other large articulated locomotives, and, more importantly, where the heck are they running them? My layout is a medium-size steam era operation with a 30" minimum radius, and while I like the appearance of some of these locos, I can’t imagine that they’d look that great operating through such tight curves. And I know that they’ll take an even smaller radius, so what’s the story? Are there that many of us out there with big layouts with broad curves, or are they being operated mainly on club layouts? Or, are the majority of the buyers just so taken with these big beasts that they don’t worry too much about how they look on a 24" radius? This is not meant to be a criticism of anybody’s operating philosophy: my layout has plenty of its own idiosyncrasies. I’m just curious.
Wayne
ME!
I’m keeping away from the x-8-8-x arrangemnts as they do tend to get tripped up on those tight turns.
Saying that the 2-6-6-6 and 4-6-6-4 's don’t look too bad on a 24" super elevated curve.
Wayne if you have 30" curves your dreaming! As far as prototypical that ain’t going to happen as this is Trains Condensed into an art form that we are forced to accept the challenges and realities.
Fergie
Me too. - well not the Big Boys since they are UP only.
Run them… people have time between buying stuff to actually run it?
Actually though besides the club layout, we have a rotating operating group where minimum radius on the layouts is 36" more often 40".
You have a dream layout compared to most people who struggle to fit 22".
I have 22 inch minimum curves on my main line, N scale. So far I don’t have any big seam but that is my goal.
What’s up Doc (sorry),
No Big Boys here, but I do have an Allegheny. I also have 30" radius curves and it looks
okay going around them. And why is it such a surprise that people buy these “big” locomotives??
Dave
Bukwrm, you can run anything! With my layout, I’m going to shoot for 19" radii in N scale. I have a 2-8-8-2 Y6B that I’m running on 12" right now. It looks kind of funny, but hey, I love running it still. But then again…the track looks funny on the carpet too…[:p]
But I can’t afford it!! Someday though.
Wayne, only two months ago, I had no interest in the articulated locos. I’ve never seen one, well except for a Bayer-Garratt many moons ago in the Peruvian Alps…er, Andes…, so they held no appeal to me. Then, the word got out that UP 3985 was going to be in Portland in September, and my wife and I agreed to go see what all the fuss was about. Things fell through, but mostly because I began to look on the web and fell in love with the machine. I mean, it’s a hunk-a-hunk-a burnin’ luuuuuuv for me. Then, I got to reasoning, for the same cost as going to see it, I could get one on my layout and run it around my (cough) 22" curves.
Yes, it looks goofy, much goofier than my Hudson does. But, what’re ya gonna do? In a couple of years, maybe even for next fall, I’ll rebuild and include the 30" curves I swore would be my minimum from now on. Even at that, it would limit the Challenger to maybe 8mph in scale.
So, the summarize, they have gut-wrenching appeal, they’re essentially affordable, and the manufactures swear they’ll run on 18" curves. What’s not to like?
Big! I like BIG! 4-6-6-4’s, 2-8-8-2’s, 2-10-0’s 2-10-2’s, 4-8-8-4’s. All BIG! I love this stuff!
Just because my 2-8-8-2’s look REALLY funny running on my layout is NO reason to NOT have them!! The Big Boy won’t even MAKE it around my layout, and I want ANOTHER one!! Go figure!
But “The Dream Layout” is in planning, and it will take the LARGEST locos I can find. I might even kitbash some of those 2-10-0’s into 2-10-10-2’s, just because I’ll be able to run them! Maybe even a 4-8-8-8-4. BECAUSE!!!
There is no denying the appeal of a big steam locomotive running on a mainline, wheels turning, siderods pumping. Gets your juices flowing! Just wish I had seen the REAL ones when they were in their prime. Oh, well!
Darrell, largely quiet…for now
Add me to thr BIG STEAM, Big Boy, Cab Forward, Y6b, found a challenger. I have a min radius of 28" but put in a 48" “SHOW CURVE” so tha at leat once the boiler overhang looked good.
The appeal is the workmanship of the modeiing companies. After seeing most of these in person you just gottas have one. Like my wife’s and my car collection we bothe want a Duesenberg so bad we can taste it but it is insane to think we could spend $2.4 million on a car SO we bought a $10.00 model. Can not drive it but at least we can look at it.
Same with the big steam, at least you can enjoy watching it work.
Take Care
George P.
In my case, both my wife and I am into “Big Steam” and I run my HO Big Boy & Challengers on 22 and even 18 inch radius, because that’s all the layout space I have. I realize that they are very non-prototypical on such tight curves, but I like them anyway. I hope to add a SP Cab Forward and a 2-8-8-2 mallet in the future along with more 4-8-4’s etc.
My wife has 3 Big Boys & a 2-8-8-2 Proto 2000 Mallet and a 4-8-4 in N scale and runs 12" radius. That’s the nice thing about this hobby, you can run what you want, even if it isn’t exactly to real-life scale!
Not everybody can run the 44 inch radius that would be prototypical for an exact minimum HO scale Big Boy curve, in reality the curves were considerably broader than this! This is not to mention the turnout requirements, which would have to be #12 or larger in HO.
So, yeah, I feel fine running big steam on 22 inch radius and #4 turnouts… Now if I had more room…
Not me. I build mine. I am so angry with Union Pacific right now I buy my big boys and challengers from Bowser. When I get time to build them I will detail them and letter them with components from Monogram/Con-Cor/Revell Big Boy kit. When I get to decal lettering that can’t be covered by these two sources I will resort to buying the microscale “UP Steam Locomotive” set.
In this fashion I can get me Big Boy for about $150. VS $300.00 for the Good Rivorossi, Lionel or Athearn Versions. Plus I can;t put them together so that kind of sours it for me.
By the way. All my stuff has to negotioate a 22" Radius curve. I have one curve on my mainline that i compromised with that radious to gain an extra 25 feet of mainline run. Seems like a good trade off in my opinion. (And the Bowser Big Boy will take an 18" Radious.)
James
I hope no one got the impression that I don’t like the big locomotives. I’m as impressed as any of you and the models of them are impressive too. I knew that people were buying them and, obviously the manufacturers knew that there was a market for them. I was merely curious to learn if the majority of those purchasing these behemoths was using them on a 4’ x 8’ or if everybody had club-size layouts at home.
I said that my layout was a medium size one with minimum 30" radius curves. The design is point-to-point around the walls, with one peninsula and a soon-to-be-added second level over about half of the current layout. Staging yards at both ends, plus interchange from separate staging at two other points. Total room size is about 800 square feet in a very odd shaped room. Operation is a single track secondary mainline, set in the 1930’s in southern Ontario. Aside from the fact that there was never much articulated power in my neck of the woods, it wouldn’t fit into the theme of the layout anyway. And not that I couldn’t use some big power: I have a 2.5% grade on an “S” curve and a 45’ long 2.8% laid out on a pair of horseshoe curves. It’s just that big is relative: I’m considering a pair of the soon-to-be-released USRA 2-10-2’s from Bachmann. My two main concerns are: will they look okay on the trackage where I need them and, will they do the job for which they’re being considered. Maybe my question grew out of the fact that I’m pretty much past the stage where I buy stuff just 'cause I like it. I look at a locomotive as a tool to do a job. Thats where I derive my model railroading enjoyment: I certainly don’t expect everyone to feel this way. As the man said, to paraphrase, “if you got 'em, run 'em”.
Wayne
Wayne,
Big steam locomotives love 2.8% grades!! [;)]
I got my Allegheny as a Christmas present a couple of years ago and although
it doesn’t exactly fit in to grand scheme of things, it get’s to run like everything
else I own. I guess I boils down to personal preference. I like it and it pulls
like a mule. Enjoy, Dave
I buy the BIG BOYS, CHALLENGERS,ALLEGHENYS, CAB FORWARDS,Y6b’s,etc because I love to watch them run!! My layout (floor) consists of 22 inch curves and I run them fast!!! I haven’t had a derailment yet (fortune favours the foolish-I guess). Watching a steam engine running is like watching a pretty women in summer in a dress walking down the street, there’s always something interesting to see! I enjoy watching my diesel locos too but the steamers are more fascinating to see.
Ya gotta love this man’s logic!
Wayne if the look of the engine looks really bad you can do two things
- cover the curve with a tunnel (not recommended)
- put lots of trees around the curve to hide or detract from the engine.
In my mind I have 22" curves and the engines don’t look that bad coming into them.
If you have the room ease into the curves with good transitions as this will make a world of difference (nothing worse than a Loco being flung into a curve).
Fergie
doc wayne: must agree with your philosophy on Big Boys, they must sell more of these locos than any other type, does everyone have one?? so it seems. I believe this loco would have been a rarity when it was operational as it was fairly regional, I would think not everyone in the U.S. ever saw one, I would have liked the experience of actually standing by the tracks (not too close) when one of these monsters roared by .
I love my new Rivorossi Y6B 2-8-8-2 it runs good,pulls good and can handle3% grades,and yes looks funny on my 19" curves(felx track),but runs fine.[^][^][^][:D]
JIM
Well, I have stood by the tracks, camera in hand, when the 4-6-6-4 3985 roared by and it is/was sweet. I used to live in the Nebraska Panhandle about 40 miles North of the UP main. UP shops 3985 and 844 at Cheyenne, Wyoming-not so far from Nebraska-and our local hobby shop owner back then had a buddy who was a UP trainmaster so we always knew when either of the steamers was comin’ through!
I compare the big locos to the guys that buy the big 4x4’s and hummers. Don’t need it but, well ??? I’ve had four 4x4 vehicles in the last 20 years. Did I “need” them? Not really. Did I want them? Oh yeah. If I ever have an opportunity to get a Y6 or similar will I get it? Oh yeah! You know what they say about boys and their toys.
Chuck
[yeah][^][:D][yeah]