I love Steamers but i have a spot for Diesel as well (anything BN, Santa Fe, etc etc etc)
Jay
We have 2 mainline certified Steamers over here owned by Ian Riley based on the East Lancs Railway http://www.east-lancs-rly.co.uk/index2.php , these two are a Black five No 45407 and Standard 4 No 76079, they cover thousands of main line miles a year without any major faults, they are more reliable than most main line diesels, and they smell better[:P] Don’t forget the Niagara’s of the NYC they were the top dogs between New York and Chicago and ran more trouble free miles a month than most other classes
Yea, I got caught up in the diesel craze with all the new and big locos of today. But the more research I did, the more I became impressed with steam. All the people it took to build and maintain them. The power of modern steam. The complexity of the valve gear. Once you have been next to a live steam locomotive…well you’ll know.
In HO scale I’m primarily a diesel guy. The main reason, is that I could never afford to model the Great Northern Railway in steam (almost exclusively brass, VERY little avalable in plastic).
For my steam fix, I also model in Sn3. That way I only need a few locomotives, more economicaly viable. i.e. Take HO scale loco’s and convert to Sn3.
I love steam locomotives, no doubt. But when it came down to it I grew up under diesel railroading–never eve saw a steam locomotive in commercial service outsite of excursions. I model what I have personal experience with–that is diesel.
I’m one of the older guys. I own plenty of steam locomotives but I prefer the deisels because of modelinng and prototype running. I’m a SP enthusiast so they had many varities of diesels to model from, albeit, many steam locos too. But in modeling, other than the fancy new sound systems and some Sleuth smokers, the steam engines never actually sound or look like the real thing. Now the diesels aren’t perfect but they run on electric motor power. For standing still steam is King but for operations diesels rule.
I got started in the hobby in N scale as a kid and accumulated a hodgepodge of stuff over the years, both steam and diesel. When I switched to HO as an adult in the 80’s I wanted to try for a more cohesive theme. I grew up in California around the Southern Pacific and to a lesser extent the Santa Fe, so I have mostly modeled those two railroads. When I started in HO I was modeling the present day since I figured it would be easier to research things that were still around. Also, all the nice reliable modern plastic steamers weren’t around quite yet, and I generally could not afford brass. Diesels were affordable and ran well, and I like detailing and painting them.
I do like steam engines, though. Excursion engines are a great excuse to run steam. I have a model of UP 844 and one of the BLI ATSF 3751 models. I also have an SP Mt-4 4-8-2 (my one brass loco) which doesn’t fit my era at all, but I just really like them (it’s too bad none of those were preserved, so far as I know).
I model diesel because that is what I grew up with. I do like steam, and will try to incorporate steam in my modern layout. Something like an excursion or tourist train.
I started with Diesel mostly due to cost and size of steam engines. The color of the different diesel engines and the equipment were also a factor. At some point I will add a steam engine as a restored rail fan type of train. I had not thought about the soot and grim associated with steam that would have been another factor in my choice. I enjoy watching any type of train model or real life.
My first HO locomotive was a Bachmann Spectrum UP 4-8-2. Since then I’ve aquired many more steam locomotives. I have a few diesels, and don’t get me wrong, diesels are awesome, but they just can’t hold a candle to steam.
BTW, I was born in 1990, obviously not a steam era. Guess I’m just different. [:)]
Ah the nostalgia…
the pollution, the grime, the social unrest of a society facing hitherto unimagined technological bounds, unbridled robber barons exploiting freemarket capitalism to its fullest, corrupt politicians cashing in on and manipulating the construction boom, labour unions growing out of the desperate need of workers to assert their rights in the face of police guns and hired thugs…
That’s why we chose steam! [}:)][:I][}:)]
That and for the early steam period, the equipment is really short and you can model a lot more in a small space. And its cute. [:X][:X][:X]
When I was very young, I fell in love with the sight, sound, and smell of the N&W and VGN steam engines. I model with them as a way to keep a little bit of that long ago time alive. As I got older I came to appreciate the N&W’s magnificent machinery even more. How the men in little old Roanoke could have had three main locomotive types, and every one of them was right at the top in performance characteristics with similar engines from all over the land, and regardless of the builder.
My great grandaddy helped build the Virginian, so I have a nostalgic attraction there.
I do have six diesels, 2 VGN Trainmasters, 2 VGN H16-44’s, and 2 C&O cab units. I didn’t have any and figured maybe I was missing something, so I got them. I like them, but they just don’t stir my soul like steam engines.
I can just look at a model of an N&W ‘J’ and close my eyes, and hear it just coming into range on a warm summer’s eve. Pounding towards Norfolk on the racetrack at 80 per, that faint rapid stacatto of exhaust fading in and out, and that booming whistle, rendered soft by distance. More than the pounding Y’s with towering exhaust in the Shennandoah, or the downright dramatic assault on Blue Ridge by a Y6b heading a Class A, or a streamlined K coming down from Richmond in quite a hurry, that one vision will ever be the strongest. Those indeed were the days for anyone who loves trains.
The late '60’s were the time for car lovers. There was nothing like the moan of three dueces at full throttle on a warm spring evening; the siren song of the Goat. Oh yeah!
Like the theme seems to be going, I grew up at the tail end of steam, and gsetter, above, said it well. If you’ve ever stood trackside while any steam engine powered past, your heart was in your mouth…big time. Who needed a summer midway?
I like the hisses and clanks, and the valve gear is art in motion; I like propellar-driven aircraft for the same reason- I like to see and hear metal in motion. Jets and diesels seem to lack the ‘golly’ factor, but I can certainly appreciate that, if chugging, throbbing diesels is what you grew up with, that is what gets your heart all a flutter. And, I can understand that steam models are more expensive and harder to keep running…er, just like the real thing!
I was born after the last of the fires dropped,but I combo model.Modern deisels don’t have the same sole or rugged good looks of the first generation machines I love.I also model electric traction equipment which by it’s time frame one has to be a transition era modeller. As most of the street railways had gone by the mid fifties.This allows me the best of all wolds first gen diesels which I love. Some last hold out steam finishing out their time ,and some street railway equipment to feed the passenger trains and switch some of the downtown industries. Isn’t mrring grand? Rob
I’ve had 2 layouts. The first was operated with diesels because they were less expensive and more reliable than the steamers back then. My layout was also powered with DC blocks, lots of wiring and control panels and plug-ins.
Then I had a house fire in 2001. Fortunately, the fire didn’t get into the train room, but the soot/smoke/heat did. Lots of melted plastic and soot on everything. I was able to save the benchwork which I painted with Kilz to cover the smoke smell.
When I thought about rebuilding the layout, I couldn’t face all the wiring again so that meant DCC. Then I thought about trying to shoehorn converters and speakers into narrow diesel bodies - oh no! I don’t have the patience.
So that led me to steam, which I always liked anyway and now the steamers are much more detailed and run much better.
I like steam, wheels, rods, huffing and chuffing and DCC/sound is much easier. Remember, steam engines have a tender behind.
-Steam locomotives seem very much like animals, which I love.
-Steam locomotives have lovely exterior action to watch.
-Steam locomotives have their own individual personalities.
-Steam locomotives breath fire.
-Steam locomotives just plain out class diesels in spirit and carisma.
I have no need to ramble on. I keeps it short. [:p]
Hats off, Maureen, what a GREAT answer!!! You remind me of another Maureen, a favorite of mine, a redhead from Ireland that could act the pants off of almost any other screen star in Hollywood.
[bow][bow][bow]
Tom
Did you know that Maureen O’hara had a cousin, who, when she came over, used to hang around the back of the house a lot? They used to call her Patti O’furniture. [(-D][(-D][(-D]
(Hmmm. Did I just hear the irrelevency alarm go off?)
I am into STEAM as well–I am 62 so I guess that puts me in the Old enough class.
I may also include some War Bonnet Diesels because I like the look of them as well. But what I really likwe is the look of a powerful Steam driven locamotive pulling a lnog string of either passenger cars or freight cars.
preferably, going into or coming out of a tunnel
[:D]