How do you choose your Engines?

[Anonymous]

My father bought us the MTH McDonalds set for our first set. We then added Norfolk and Western steam. The Monon is the Hoosier line and we were able to get an excellent buy($106 conventional) on a Lionel Alco C-420. Everything else purchased has been a mixture of items at a good price.

We always ride the Indiana Transportation museum fair train to the State Fair several times during the Fair. They were donated a Nickel Plate GP-9 and that was a common Indiana road name so I purchased another Lionel C-420 in Nickel Plate, this time used with Railsounds and TMCC.

We have been railfanning a lot lately and typically see CSX, Norfolk and Southern, and Conrail. I was able to find an MTH Rugged Rails CSX F40PH for $147. This is a Protosound 2.0.

I am now looking for a Norfolk and Western modern diesel and a Conrail diesel.

I do wish I had planned a little more carefully and bought only TMCC Lionel engines. All our MTH are Protosound 2.0. I could have purchased the Monon in TMCC for only $40 more and should have done so.

I purchased TMCC and will probably purchase DCS in the future.

My 8-year old son likes them all, regardless whether they are command or conventional. I guess the moral is to purchase what you like if you can find a good price and it will sort itself out eventually. You cannot always plan ahead until you have some experience and figure out what you like.

[Anonymous]

I started out with AT&SF, then got into GN, then broadened out to other Hill Roads (NP and CB&Q) and then into roads that ran into Chicago, which is where I am now, except for the European items I pick up from time to time.[:)]

[jkerklo]

I am a "Toy" train operator, so don't particularly care about road names, perfect scale, or proper consists. I just like to watch the trains run.

I mostly collect Lionel postwar. I started collecting the engines in the 1950's catalogs I lusted over as a kid. I think I have them all, now. Most get run. I am, however, still open to further acquisitions: variants or good buys.

If I run an era/location, it is Lionelville.

My favorite engines are the 736 Berkshire and 671 Etc. turbines. I had them as a kid. I think I have all variants of the turbine. The 681's and 682's run best. I remember my father telling my brother and I about the real turbine the Christmas morning we discovered it on the layout. He said it went "woosh" as it went by and was so heavy it had spread rails when it first went into service.

I also have a couple of pre-war 203 0-6-0's that came with postwar couplers. These engines are very well made, with bronze bearings and a large steel worm drive gear. They can run a two day show without service. Running these at a show always get questions. Are they factory issue, dealer converted, or owner converted. I have never been able to resolve the issue.

I also have an MTH 3985 Challenger. I like it because I have travelled behind the real one. The last time I put it on the track, however, it wouldn't do anything. This has turned me off any new engines with electronics. I am an electronics designer and programmer by trade, and I know that the only reason for such problems is p*** poor design.

I also have a Williams FM Trainmaster, which runs well.

As for rolling stock, I have a good collection of postwar Lionel. I also have nice consists of Lionel "alcohol" and "tobacco" cars and a lot of MTH's Pittsburgh cars. I grew up near Pittsburgh and well remember roadnames, Isleys, KDKA,
Iron City, etc.

John Kerklo
TCA 94-38455
www.Three-Rail.com

[GPJ68]

Generally, but not always:
- Motive power in Western Maryland and PRR, also drooling over the K-Line C&O Alleghany
- O27 compatible or likely
- affordable and, for now, no command - so that pretty much limits me to Williams and PW Lionel
- rolling stock as above and B&O, MA&PA, @ PW Lionel, along with some billboard (Shiner Bock, White House, Maryland themes)

[Anonymous]

I select equipment, engines included, that I have had some personal contact. My first passenger train ride was on the Phoebe Snow- I have a set of Williams and the Lionel set from a couple of years ago. My dad and I used to patch the PRR south of Newark so I have a couple of GG-1's. I have transferred several times and this has given me the opportunity to have a pretty eclectic collection, from the above to Burlington Northern, Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and others. I just moved to the Kansas City area and spent a day in February chasing the Union Pacific Challenger traveling across the prarie. Great sight and I am trying to buy one of these engines. Bob

[dk99358]

I had been purchasing whatever struck my fancy but now I've decided to try and limit it to roads that ran in Pa. in the last 50 years or so. That very broad rule is not set in stone tho [:)]

If you need it, here's a way to justify other roadnames. I saw a news story once about a sawmill that had a locomotive parked on a siding. They were using it to generate electricity to run the mill. You can add a tank car as an auxillary fuel tender and interchange with your regular road.

Dale

[Anonymous]

East of the Missisip... Gotta draw the line somewhere

[guilfordrr]

Pennsylvania Railroad
1940-1955
Steam, Diesel, Electric



Don't I sound like a phonebook?[swg]

[Anonymous]

By roadname only. Clinchfield, N&W and Southern with an occasional undecorated black steamer to be lettered/numbered for Southern subsidiaries.

[Anonymous]

PRR; NYC; UP; Milwaukee Road...
Also just about every Streamlined MTH RailKing engine

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[Anonymous]

I tend to favor the Santa Fe, but I actually will buy anything that looks cool to me and runs on 027 track. One think that I have noticed; I like colors and don't own anything that is all black except my old Lionel 2026 steamer.

[alton6]

I prefer equipment which is generally size-compatible with a particular "scale" so it will flow nicely through a loop. One of my pet peeves is how difficult it is to find diesel locos that don't look monsterously bigger than 0-27 rolling stock. This isn't a problem with full scale trains, of course.

In "toy scale" I am drawn to the CB&Q, though I live in California. In full scale it's the Southern Pacific and Cotton Belt.

[Anonymous]

How do I choose my engines?

1.) Affordability
2.) Manufacturer (I try for one of the majors)
3.) Quality (Will it last?)
4.) Compatability (I run Pre and Post War, but would like some newer if it is good)
5.) Road Names (I grew up in B&O, WM, and PRR territory)

Sometimes I have to make sacrifices, usually based on #1, #3,or #4. If an engine
is a good deal, but not the exact road name I'm looking for, I will usually get anyway.
Since my "railroad empire" is the land of Lionelville and the end of the line is in
Plasticville, I can afford to be lenient on my choices of road names.

[FJ and G]

1. Has to be Santa Fe
2. Has to be from 1939 to 1969
3. Has to be DCS compatible, thusly MTH, or,
4. Very very inexpensive conventional like Williams
5. I've got about a dozen and I don't really want or need any more at this time. I'm loco'd out.

[Anonymous]

I have gotten a couple of nice Lionel engines at flea markets. I'm not too particular about road names or eras because my layout is more like the old department store toy displays that were around in my parents time.

[superwarp1]

NYC or New England road names. Other engines need not apply. TMCC and cruise is all I need.

Gary

[RI Jim]

It's Boston and Maine or Maine Central for me. I like the features of an MTH PS2 equipped engine, but TMCC and cruise work for me too.

[Anonymous]

1. Has to be either MTH or Williams. ( I run conventional control and TMCC equipped engines just don't run well in that mode.)

2. Has to be either Atlantic Coast Line or Seaboard

3. 1940's-mid 60's era.

John Harding