Steam or diesel

[trainfan1221]

Hi everyone!
Perhaps you can all help me out. I have two friends who just loooove to throw in my face how much they think steam is great. Now don`t get me wrong, I do love steam. But I lean towards diesels largely on the grounds that this what you are going to see out there. I would like some input from whoever would like to discuss this issue. Some nice input. After all people, we`re all friends here so lets not argue. I`d just like to have some views and from what I`ve seen on the time I`ve been going to these sites we seem to have a pretty good group of people. So I know we can have a little fun with this one.

[EL PARRo]

I like both steam and diesel, and it's really hard for me to say which one I personally like more.

[Anonymous]

Diesel is way way better than steam, stronger and easier to maintain. steam is just a big sliggish exspensive piece of junk in my mind. i can get 2 diesels for the price of 1 steam engine. and the diesels pull way more!

[Jacktal]

Both diesels and steamers are great,and there's no such regulation in this great railroad modeling world that says you can't have both.OK let's say you want to model a specific era and be "true to scale" as some might say,then you'd be somewhat limited to the transition years where both were in service,and even then you'd have to own only the latest steamers and the first generation diesels.This is what you want,then great.

But let's say you love the big modern diesels,then the "true to scale" philosophy says "no room for steamers".On the other hand,you like these 1920's smokers then you couldn't have any diesel at all.........

I presently own 14 locos,a few brand new and others that I purchased "used" and had a good deal on.Within that bunch I have UP,SP,ATSF,Conrail,CP,GN and others.They range from a 4-8-4,0-6-0,SD-9,SD-45 and 50,E-6,E-8,GP-38,F-7A and others.They all have two common points...they run fine...and I love them.Will I run them on my layout?You bet I will!!

What I mean is that the important point is to enjoy yourself,own whatever you please and don't worry about what whoever coud say.Simply put....have fun.And if you feel you'd like some justification for your mixed roster,then do as I'm planning to do...build a railroad museum on your layout,so that you can display them all,all the time.

[Anonymous]

I personally love steam, but I've been trying to learn a lot about diesels lately. Both have benefits. Some steamers had more horse power than diesels, some steamers didn't. Diesels are easier to maintain, steam engines aren't. So in the end both are great, and if model the transition era (like me) you can have both.

[AltonFan]

QUOTE: OK let's say you want to model a specific era and be "true to scale" as some might say,then you'd be somewhat limited to the transition years where both were in service,and even then you'd have to own only the latest steamers and the first generation diesels.

Not so.

Steam locomotives often had a service life of fifty years or more. A lot of 2-8-0s, 4-6-0s, 4-6-2s, and 2-8-2s that were built between 1895 and 1920 continued to serve to almost the very end of the steam era, while 2-8-4s, 4-8-2s, 4-8-4s, and 2-10-4s built from 1937 to 1949 were often retired early because their very modernity made them so specialized, that they could not be downgraded to way freight, switching, and commuter service.

Admittedly, a wood-burning 4-4-0 or 4-6-0 with a wagon-top boiler and balloon stack would have been a museum piece by 1940. (Most of the surviving engines of that era were scrapped during the Depression, with few notable exceptions.)

[CP5415]

Who says you have to model the "transition era" to have steam & diesel together?
Most of my diesels are SD40-2's. I also own an AC4400 & a C44-9W. I do however, own several steam engines.[:)]
Two of them will be very active on my layout as excursion trains. Both have matching passenger cars for just such a purpose. One is my CPR 4-6-2, of course, the other is my Virginia & Truckee 4-4-0 "Reno". [:)]
Last time I checked, there were a couple of class 1's that have active steam locomotives.
Who says you can't use diesels along with steam. I sure don't.

Gordon

[Hawks05]

i know steam engines shaped what we have today but i can't stand steam. i'd rather model something that i can go out and take pictures of or look at that is actually operating and doing a job. steam engines now days are used for tours primarily around here. from what i've seen anyways.

diesel just seems so much cooler to look at. i mean there are tons and tons of different paint schemes in the world. steam engines are what black with white lettering usually. that just isn't that cool to look at.

i guess it all depends on the person. if they like steam fine if they like diesel fine.

[dharmon]

DEEESIL!!!!

[Anonymous]

I model the modern age, late 80s to mid 90s or so. That being said, I have primarily diesel electric locos. Heck, I wasn't even born until the late 70s well past the era of steam, but I still don't see it as a question of "steam or diesel." I have both.

For me, diesel electrics represent modern efficient power. They are fairly easy to maintain and operate, easy to lash up to create as much power as is necessary, have flashy paint schemes and modern shapes that to me are pleasing to the eye, and they represent all that I have ever seen as a real freight or people mover on the rails.

That being said, steam to me represents a certain romance. A nostalgia for how things used to be. They have an elegance about them. Each has a personality to a much greater extent than a diesel electric. Steam almost seems alive. Like a monster that belches smoke and fire and lives to go screaming down the rails at night carrying people and goods at breakneck speads.

There is one primary reason that Railroads switched to dieslel electric and that was operating/maintenance costs. But, since that factor doesn't exist to me on my model railroad, I can totally ignore it and run both...and I do. [:D]

To each his own.

Warren

[IRONROOSTER]

It's really a matter of preference like scale. Do what you prefer. While the steam to diesel transition occurred in the 40s and 50s here, other parts of the world ran steam well past that. They may be still running it in Cuba.

If historial accuracy is important you could pick buildings, bridges, etc that existed from steam into the diesel age, Then you could have two (or more) sets of locomotives and rolling stock that you switch between the steam era and the diesel era. You could even switch a few buildings as well say Joe's Hot Dogs abd MacDonalds.

You could add a tourist line to your modern layout and run some steam and passenger cars.

Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

TF:

Smiling here.

You answered your own question and missed it. For those of us who prefer steam, I model the 1900-1915 era, it is PRECISELY BECAUSE you don't see steamers at work every day that we are interested in them.

An individual model and a layout are not down sized reality, they are distillations of imagined reality. Seeing a steamer "at work" with its propelling parts in motion promotes the illusion. Seeing a plastic box moving other plastic boxes doesn't.

Randy

[Anonymous]

TO UP9899...Depends on who manufactures the steam engine....i own several steam engines ALL BRASS and they will outpull one of my plastic diesels anyday HANDS DOWN. And im sure this will get a whole nother ball rolling....but WHY ON GODS GREAN EARTH would anyone spend the outrageous amount of money that LLP2K Heritage, Broadway VERY Limited, Lionel (even tho the boiler is metal), and Athearn Genocide are charging for a steam locomotive that wont pull ANYTHING. when you could spend the same amount of money OR EVEN LESS and get it in brass. Try ebay, and compare the prices some older brass steam (and no if you get an older brass steam from a reputable company it does not always sound like a coffee grinder and they run great) to the prices of new plastic steam. ON TOP OF THAT...your paying $600, $700, $800 for something that will do nothing but depriciate. Brass on the other hand will only get more and more valuable. I have purchased many brass steamers over EBay for $300 $400 $500 that you cant even TOUCH at a brass show for less than $1000. It just all depends on if the guy knows what he has or not, and who wants it. For example i picked up a Custom Brass Pennsy S2 6-8-6 Steam Turbine for $375...my dad who is a brass collector HARDCORE and used to be a brass dealer almost crapped his pants...he said at a show that would have fetched $950. So its all timing....and brass steam PULLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Nuttin' Looks better than Steam pullin' Diesel early in the mornin'

or was that Diesel pushin' Steam early in the mornin'
Hmmmm... can't remember...