I am wanting to get a steam loco to pull a small tourist train on my N scale layout but do not know much about steam locos What I would like to have is a 4-8-4 or something along that line, the 8 drivers are mainly what I would like to have, the front and rear wheels are not that important. Do steam loco's come with plug and play decoders like my diesels do? Remove the DC board and plug in a DCC board or do they need more complicated installation process? My eyes are not very good any more and I do not think I could see all those little wires. Also what are some good affordable steam locos on the market? Some day I would like to have a big boy with DCC and sound but for now I Do not need that much power to pull 4-6 old time passenger cars. I do have a Bauchman 4-8-4 that really looks good pulling 3 old time passenger cars around but it is noisy and it likes to short out on my Peco turnouts if it is not going fast enough to get past them, I am thinking the wheels are not in gauge and I wouldn't think it would be worth installing a decoder in.
What are your thoughts on a steam loco for what I am wanting? Thanks for the help. Mike