I am starting DCC layout of the 50’s & 60’s from Illinois to Michigan. This is my childhood years. My question is: What steam engines, (if any) can I use in that era? {I still have a love for steam engines from my old logging DC layout}, but have purchased some Atlas DCC Alco LS&I for my mining & freight in Michigan. I like both need help on this. Before adding a decoder to the steam I already have.
Homer
Railroads started buying diesels after WWII, call it 1946. Most of them had retired their last steamers by the late 1950’s. For instance the Boston & Maine’s last revenue runs under steam happened in 1957. By 1958 everything was diesel. Details varied from road to road, I am not familiar with the history of the Illinois and Michegan area, but I imagine it was somewhat different from New England. You need to find history books of railroads in your area to pin things down more firmly, date wise.
As to which steamers operated in the transition era, the answer is probably all of them. In New England the larger and newer steamers were scrapped before some of the older, smaller, and humbler steamers. For instance on the B&M the lovely 1935 P-4 Pacifics were gone while the ancient B-15 Moguls soldiered on to the bitter end.
As a practical matter, any steamer than ran on the road in question before WWII, undoubtably ran after WWII until it was scrapped. I would feel perfectly OK about running just about any steamer in the transition era. Only the most expert (and obnoxious) of rivet counters will be able to argue that class so-and-so was scrapped out by say 1953 and shouldn’t be seen on a 1957 layout. One answer to such a rivet counter is simply that the layout is set in 1953.
So, go and run the steamer of your choice and feel good about it.
I can’t answer you directly, but if you have some idea of short lines or Class 1 railroads that were present in the location, and go to www.rr-fallenflags.org you can locate what they have for archived images and information and see for yourself.
Generally, Consolidations, Mikados, Hudsons, Berkshires, Mother Hubbards, Moguls…any of these, depending on what your modelling interest is. There would be tons of 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 switchers, plus tank engines.
-Crandell
The GTW was running steam out of Chicago to Michigan as late as 1958 on passenger trains. They were the last to run steam in the Northern area of Illinois, but the IC ran their last miles with steam in February of 1960 in So. Illinois and Kentucky. We still had 2-8-0’s and 2-8-2’s on branch lines in Illinois until late 58 and 59. The IC used the older engines until their shop time ran out on some of the branch lines and switching power plants. With a little modeler’s license, you could run some2-8-2’s and 4-8-2’s and smaller power up until 1960 with no problem and with a big modeler’s license, you could run steam forevery.
We traveled on vacation to Ontario Canada in August of 1958 via Detroit and saw a lot of steam on the GTW and viewed mostly steam in Canada at that time at London Ontario.
You could always fake an oil shortage and use coal burning leased steam from the North on you layout.
CZ
You’ve had a couple of good suggestions so I’ll simply share how I address the same question. I model Texas BEFORE 1960, focusing on existing Class 1 roads. Setting an end date allows a great deal of flexability on which locomotives I can have in service. At anytime, I can decide it is, say, January, 1949 and the Texas & Pacific GP9s in Eagle colors go off system and out come Texas Speccial E7s and a surviving SP/T&NO P-14 in Sunbeam paint. When I go back to the late '50s, most of the steam is history except for the 3 truck Shay on my ficticious logging short-line in East Texas and a FW&D 2-8-2 that made a daily turn between Dallas and Ft. Worth until the very early 60s.
I have three rules:
Avoid if at all possible operating two locomotives that would never have been seen together (or in proximity) in real time.
Pay careful attention to build dates on rolling stock and use books or on-line references to determine time-period correct models for cabooses.
Disregard rules 1 and 2 if so motivated.
Have fun.
Dieselization began in the 1930’s but was put on hold during world war II. During this time many railroads made do with what they had, in some cases having to bring out retired steamers. After the war inflation increased labor costs, therefore making it more expensive to keep steam locomotives in operation. Diesels were cheaper and cost less to operate and one man could operate several locomotives at once. This made the bottom line look attractive. Most steamers were out of service by the mid 50’s with the exception of the Norfolk & Western and some small branch line railroads. By 1965 a steam locomotive in operation on a major line was a rare sight and still is today. If you can find a road or roads that were still operating steam in your era you may be able to find out what type(s) of locomotives they used. Other than that, guess. It’s your railroad, do what you want, not what someone else expects you to do.[:)]
If you find that you can’t reconcile Universe 3, Neil Armstrong (aka, ‘The real world’) facts with your own desires, just move over to one of the alternate universes.
In Universe 1 (Cyrano de Bergerac) EMD went bankrupt before WWII, the idle plants were put into production by government fiat (to build engines for destroyer escorts and LSTs) and then liquidated when peace (?!) returned. Steam locomotives built after 1950 incorporated the improvements developed by Andre Chapelon et al. In 2009, Powder River coal is moved by doubleheaded, totally computerized Withuhn-Garratt 4-10-4+4-10-4 coalburning steam locomotives…[8D]
In Universe 2 (Leslie LaCroix) Germany and Japan met along the Mississippi…[:O][xx(]
In Universe 13 (Alfred E. Neumann) coal was discovered among the volcanic peaks of the Central Japan Alps…[(-D]
If none of the above appeal, just create a different one that incorporates what you want. Just as a prototype note, Wabash kept its two oldest 2-6-0 locomotives in steam after every other steamer had departed the property - one weak bridge held final dieselization at bay until it was strengthened…[:-^]
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in Universe 13)