After decades of diesels, I was smitten by a steamy beauty.
My solution was to double-era my layout. Besides, I got to acquire more steam engines and even vehicles from older eras.
“Era creep”
Happened to me.
I love steam. I love double stacks.
I finally was able to put a stop to it by having a “backwards date” of my birth year. 1945. You get a very decent steam selection that way. The “forward date” is always “today”.
Yes, I do have a lot of equipment.
Yes, I am happy with that.
No, I don’t have enough storage.
Ed
I have cheated as often as anyone here, but I later sold the engines that do not belong. I am Santa Fe with a couple SP visitors, including the experimental paint scheme SD40R and a Kodachrome SD45T-2, painted for the railroad that should have been, SPSF. All my other engines were active during the late '70’s and into the 80’s.
I just did not change my name…
John
I have done this quite a few times. Some examples are:
Many years ago I happened on some Bachmann early (1830’s) railroad sets in Tuesday Morning at a good price, so I bought one of each of the 3 different kinds thay had.
More recently, I bought the Bachmann HO locomotives for the Maryland & Pennsylvania even though they are HO and I’m into S.
Along those lines I bought 2 Atlas O scale Santa Fe F9’s that were made in the 1970’s.
I have a 5’4" x 12’ train table that I use for temporary set ups to run all of these from time to time.
Paul
Yup, bought lotsa engines without real continuity to a specific layout theme. I’ve never sold any, but I’d slaughtered quite a few trying to make them better. Then in '97, had a shed fire relieve me of most of the junkers and parts left, but the few better locos I had were not out there.
Since then, purchases were more focused. Everything I have now can be justified to my movable timeline and fixed locale.
My weakness? GE 44 tonners. Bachmanns have disposable drives and are too light. I’m working on a home made drive for them, and weight, but in the meantime…
TEMPTATION: I’ve picked up 3 Keystone 44 tonner kits since August. Not cheap but given the quality that is there, I am quite glad I did. Dan
And your thoughts on the W&R 44 tonners? Besides that they cost a lot?
I did finally give in and get a couple of brass 70 tonners. Really quite nice.
Ed
My absolute-favorite-without-a-doubt steam locomotives are the 18 jaw-dropping 2-8-8-4’s that Baldwin built for the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range railroad before and during WWII. Many consider them to be even more powerful than the much-touted UP “Big Boy’s”. Okay, I love them.
Now, the conundrum. I model Rio Grande standard guage steam. 85% of my locos are Rio Grande (with Espee and Burlington mixed in).
Solution: The layout is set during WWII, and the Rio Grande was faced with both overpowering rail traffic and a shortage of motive power. The Missabe was frozen over during winter and those beautiful Yellowstones had nothing to do. Loan them to some other roads. Rio Grande bit, and soon those big 2-8-8-4’s were charging up and down the Rockies like crazy.
Now, it’s my railroad, and I can do whatever I want with it, right? So by this time I’d acquired 3 Akane Missabe Yellowstones (new motors and drives, ran smooth as silk, could haul an actual house) and I just decided, what the heck, they will become my Rio Grande 3900 series. Everybody’s happy, especially those cattle, coal and refrigerator trains.
It’s fun being your own Railroad Magnate.
Tom[:)]
I see this topic a lot in various hobbies. It’s human nature to collect and accumulate stuff you don’t necessarily need, or can use, but just because it appeals to you. I say if you can afford it, buy whatever appeals to you. As long as it doesn’t harm you there is nothing wrong with collecting.
Call me boring, but I only plant to get N&W (my home line) DCC-ready locos. The plan is for about 4-5 locos and a switcher. That should suffice on my laout. Anything more is excessive. At $100 each, I much prefer to put very limited funds elsewhere.
I’ve been very good about staying focused on locomotives that are plausible for my late 40’s/early 50’s NYC layout. However, once I think I have basically what I need to fill out my roster, a C&O Allegheny will be mine![}:)]
I model something of a timeline. My earliest engine is a NYC Alco 2-6-0 (Bachmann Sound Value for $99, who could resist?). Newest would probably be my CR SD45-2 (although I did just buy an F59PHI from a friend). So I have lots of NYC, PC, CR, plus Amtrak from rainbow era to Phase 3. Happily, I’m not much interested in anything newer.
Incidentally, my 2-6-0 can’t pull much on my club’s 2%, so it (along with my 45-tonner) runs the “museum train” with 3 cars max (including my homemade “excursion car”, see below). So in a way, it’s running one of my most modern trains.
Electrics? Yep, I’ve got a GG-1 (PC), an E33 (NH), and an E60CH (Phase 2). How do we run 'em? Third rail!
Actually, since a single electric can’t get a big passenger train over our 2% Western region, we run the electrics on the east end, then switch over to diesels. When doing that, I think of our Midway Yard as Croton-on-Hudson (the NYC modelers will understand).
Life’s too short not to buy the trains you want. 
Nice model!
And during the week, when the tourist train’s not running, you can pull the seats and use it as a tie car. Probably want to unbolt the handrails, too.
Ed
Speaking of PRR, New Haven, NYC electrics — I sure would have loved to witness the movements on April 15, 1945, of the Franklin D. Roosevelt funeral train as it traversed the trackage from Pennsylvania Station where the train was brought in by a pair of GG1s that were then replaced by a New Haven EP-4 that pulled the train as far as New Rochelle, where the New Haven Electrics ran around the train and pulled it backward to Mott Haven Junction where New York Central motors then pulled it, now forward again, to Harmon where Hudson 5283 carried the seventeen-car train (west) to Hyde Park. There was also a second train, called the “Congressional Train” for press and other dignitaries that followed close behind. Then after the proceedings at Hyde Park the whole process was reversed for the return trips.
I have always wanted to replicate parts of this special train on my layout. I have some of the equipment and locomotives. I have the Ferdinand Magellan and enough stand-ins for the other heavyweight cars, mostly 6-3s and some 7-2s.
I don’t have the New Haven EP-4 but maybe I could sneak by with the Rapido EP-5s when they are available[:-^]
That’s the fun of Model Railroading
Regards, Ed
My locomotives temptation would be an HO Scale 4-6-4 NYC 20th Century Limited Dreyfuss in 1938.
Get an Athearn N Scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy in 4004. Waiting for them to make that number. I saw this locomotive in Cheyenne, Wy.
Edit: Athearn announced this June, that their making my locomotive number on the Big Boy.
If by W&R you mean the Keystone models, my thoughts:
These are kits. The bodies are etched brass and soft metal castings, all high quality. The frame with the running boards are etched brass, and come partially assembled already. One of my 3 was not real flat, but the other 2 were fine. There is a lot of work in assembling one of these, but the fit of the parts is good.
As for the drives, the news gets even better. according to the instructions, the Delrin gear towers were made by Grandt Line, the steel worm and brass spur gears by NWSL. No plastic gears here! All are top quality presision pieces.
2 of my 44 tonners came with Sagami twin shaft can motors. One came with a Tanika, runs just as well. The silicon tubing meant for coupling the motors to the gear towers is the weak point of the set up. It won’t work. It causes derailments and extreme vibration. Replacing that with NWSL 2mm U joints cured that perfectly. The motor shafts have to be shortened a little to do that. Then these run smooth and quiet. They don’t come with flywheels, but there’s room. I turned some on a Sherline lathe for even s moother operation.
The drives also come with 2 power pickups already attached to the trucks and motor, but 2 more are provided to make the models all 8 wheel pick-up. There are little plastic clips that are supposed to keep the axles in the truck frames, but these are all broken, a flaw in the casting process. But the axles stay in place without those, and I’ll probably make some out of flat brass or something.
I bought 3 of these things, and at an average price
Dan,
Very interesting talk about the Keystone. They sound like neat kits.
However, I wasn’t talking about them. I meant these:
I believe they did all the various phases.
You can see some more pictures here:
Ed
My vice is the wish to have an HO scale model of the foreign road engines I saw or photographed on the SP here in Texas between 1978 and 1986:
*=model(s) on hand.
ATSF 1 GP39-2, 2 SD40-2, 2 SD45, 1 SD45-2*, 2 B36-7, 2 C30-7
B&O 2 GP40, 2 GP40-2*
BN 4 SD40-2*, 1 U30C*, 1 B30-7A, 2 C30-7
CN 1 GP40
C&O 1 SD40
C&IM 2 SD38-2
CNW 1 GP50
CR 1 SD40-2, 2 C30-7, 1 C30-7A
D&RGW 2 GP30, 1 GP35*, 2 GP40, 2 GP40-2 *1, 4 SD40T-2 *2, 1 SD50
GRR 1 GP38-2 (Ex NW, Exx ITC)
GM&O 1 GP35*, 1 GP38-2*
GTW 1 GP40
IC 1 SD40A, 1 GP38AC,
ICG 1 GP38-2
L&N 1 GP30, 1 GP35, 1 GP38, 1 GP38AC, 2 GP38-2, 1 GP40, 1 SD40-2, 3 U23B
1 U30C
MILW 2 GP40 *1, 1 SD40-2
MKT 1 GP38-2 *, 1 GP39-2 *, 1 GP40, SD40-2 *
MP 1 GP38, 3 GP38-2 2, 1 SD40, 5 SD40-2 *3
NW 2 SD40-2, 1 SD45
NS 1 SD40-2
SBD 1 U30C*
SCL 1 GP40, 2 U36B*
SOU 1 GP38, 3 GP38-2 1, 2 GP50, 1 SD45*, 2 U23B*, 2 B23-7*, 1 B36-7
WP 1 GP40-2
In addition to the foreign power, there are 28 SP/SSW units I intend to add to the 56 I currently possess, as soon as they become available. Each unit is numbered and, if possible weathered according to its prototype.
NHTX, You don’t ask for much, huh?[:D]
Ed: Yes, now I know what those are. I’ve seen 'em on the bay, sellers always demanding real high prices. Very nice looking, and looks like it probably has a good drive. But, a bit outside what I can justify for a locomotive. Dan
So getting back to the topic title, here is an angle on it. Say you have a model of an engine already, maybe mulitples. Then a company comes out with a better, higher fidelity version? Thats a type of temptation isn’t it?
Case in point, I have a bunch of RTRAthearn SD40T-2’s. By any standard 20 + years ago, it might have been compared with brass; they certainly have a good amount of detail and some key prototypical parts. Then along comes a new company who is offering their higher fidelity version - Scale Trains. I noticed ALL of the pre-orders are listed as “sold out”. I did pre-order one each of the D&RGW - I gave in to temptation.
Well for me, that depends. If the roster could really use a few more of that loco type, then sure, I would likely get a few of the newer, better model.
BUT, I am not one to “replace” models I have already deemed “acceptable”.
I did purge a small fleet of much older motive power about 25 years ago. Today, every one of the 140 +/- locos I own is above my minimum standards, so they will not be replaced unless they stop running and cannot be repaired.
And, I am at the point where there are very few holes remaining in my ideal roster, so it would take some very specific offerings to sell me too many more locos.
Working on completing the freight car roster now, need about 200 more.
Sheldon