Now seeings how you all have talked me into getting a real yard and maybe a turntable, I’m going to need a locomotive to move those spare cars around. Not that I’m going to jump out and buy one right now, but it doesn’t hurt to plan.
You’ve got your choice of three:
Roundhouse 0-6-0, which is a 1900 or so SP engine (but which can be backdated)
Bachmann Spectrum 0-6-0 tank engine, which is again, a 1900 but backdatable engine.
Model Power 0-8-0, which is an 1880s Baldwin.
Of the three, the Roundhouse engine is the most correct. Add a taller stack (straight, not balloon) and maybe a wood cab, and you’re set. The Bachmann engine is the best runner of the three, but a tank engine isn’t usually a yard switcher. The MP engine is actually an 1870s-era mainline mountain drag engine, and not a yard goat. It’s also out of production (but available on Ebay).
There are a few other steam switchers out there that look like they’d be OK for your time period, but I’d stay away from them as they’re all toy train set engines. You don’t want to be switching a yard at warp five!
My own recommendation would be the Bowker 2-4-0 from Rivarossi. Runs better than any of the three mentioned above and visually more in keeping with the 1880’s - bearing in mind that back then, few railroads used purpose-built engines for yard duties. I believe it is still currently availble through IHC. It is also very regularly available on E-Bay. You will also see it sold under the old AHM label which was the original importer of these engines in the 60s and 70s.
One warning: these engines were molded in a very unrealistic color and MUST be re-painted.
The “Bowker” is a great little engine–the real one has a built-in water pump for firefighting jobs!
Unfortunately IHC doesn’t list it on their website…
But here’s one on eBay!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19129&item=5946932405&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
And another!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19129&item=5948011348&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
And one more!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19129&item=5948443836&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
For a compact but fun yard switcher, one could always get an 0-4-0 “Dockside” switcher–it’s not really a Western engine (it’s based on a B&O prototype) but it is a vague approximation of the sort of saddle-tank Porter 0-4-0’s that were used by the hatful up on the Northcoast.
Unless you are modeling a class 1 railroad of the period, it is unlikely the railroad would be running a new 1880’s switcher in the 1880’s. More likely would be the situation that some small branchline engine, perhaps an earlier 2-6-0 Mogul cast-off, would be used minus its lead truck (becoming an 0-6-0). A small slope-back tender would usually replace the original one. Another reasonable choice for a heavy switcher would be MP’s old-time 2-8-0 Consolidation less its lead truck (making it an 0-8-0) plus a slope-back tender.
If I had to choose an existing loco without any alterations, I’d tend to favor rails5’s suggestion of the 2-4-0 Bowker.
CNJ831