My dream layout, do you think it can be done?

[pmsteamman]

My dream layout is a copy of the Midwest Railroad Modelers HO layout. The layout can be built no problem, but can a realistic roster be made from the comerical steam locos available today ( no brass ). Let me know what you think.

[nfmisso]

PM;

With the cost of building such a layout, the price of brass steam locomotives is not a very big percentage.

Combining offerings from BLI and Bowser, a very good representation of PRR can be done in the time period of WWI to the end of steam.

N&W is fairly well covered too.

[Anonymous]

u can do it

[Anonymous]

I think it can be done. But then again, Your talking to the grandmaster of making the impossible happen.

James.

[orsonroy]

If you're planning a LARGE layout populated with high-quality steamers, you're going to have to look att ALL the options: inexpensive plastic, state of the art plastic, metal kits, AND brass. Inexpensive plastic from IHC actually runs pretty well, and are easily superdetailed. Using SOTA plastic will get your layout up and running the fastest, especially if you're planning to use DCC. Metal kits are still the way to assemble a fleet of Pennsy steam, but only figure on producing 3-6 a year, IF you spend a lot of time building engines (and not the layout!). BLI is cranking out plastic PRR steamers as fast as they can (seemingly) but you'll still need to use Bowser for many classes, especially the H-8/9/10 2-8-0s. And believe it or not, brass isn't all that expensive these days. If you take the average price of an H-9 on Ebay and compare it to the time and money invested in a Bowser kit to bring it to the same level of detailing and performance, it's about a wash (in fact, the Bowser engines regularly come out as more expensive!).

Do you have a link or reference to the layout you're referring to? I think I know what you're talking about, but I could use a refresher. One of the first things you have to ask yourself is what sort of traffic you want on the layout, which will determine your motive power needs. Once you know what sort of engines you need, you can start looking into specific models to figure out if you can physically populate your dream roster.