Which Steam Engine

[milkman]

  Just a little note ont the spectrum 2-8-0,, it is the first steam that I have puchased so far and I am totally satisfied  with its perfoprmance and details  , I cant say anything  about the Kato as I hope to get one soon as I have heard nothing but good news about them.  I also want to get a Con-Cor Hudson In the near future but have not heard much about them,, maybe they are good runners too?  Maybe someone who has one could give you a little more info,  Yours in railroading   STEVE,   TH&B still lives here

[R. T. POTEET]

If-it-absolutely-positively-has-to-be-there-overnight and your (current) plans are for only one steam loke I would run myself down a Kato Mike with one of their traction packages underneath. This loke itself will negotiate - AND LOOK GOOD - on 13 inch radius curves.

I might add this: if you are planning on 24 inch shelves for your platform you can go with 18 inch radius curves and that Mike will handle just about any length car you might wish to put behind it.

[fwright]

  What size steam engine would look right on a around the wall layout in a small bedroom, about a 10 x 14. In N scale. I wasn't sure if a light mountain or a mike would be too big for the layout.

                Gary

Ain't nothing purtier than a balloon stack 4-4-0 with 3-4 open platform passenger cars behind her.  Especially on a nice-sized N layout with some fine scenery.  Well, maybe a Shay with a string of disconnected log buggies could be its equal.

The Atlas Shay apparently runs pretty well.  The Bachmann 4-4-0s are probably going to need a little tuning to run like you would want one to.  However, the Roundhouse 2-6-0 could be a good substitute.

Unfortunately, you insist on modeling the wrong era.    Step up to modeling the golden age, where the dreams were huge, but the locomotives and cars were small.

Fred W

....modeling foggy coastal Oregon, where it's always 1900.... 

[dad1218]

 Actually, I wish the Con-Cor 2-10-2 came in Southern green.

              Gary

[pcarrell]

The Bachmann 4-8-2 light mountain in N scale is a decent engine.  A decoder install is a piece of cake too.  I wouldn't pay hard earned money for an install this easy, but thats just me.  You can view install instructions about halfway down this page: http://www.trainweb.org/nrmrc/dcc/conversions.html

The light mountain does have one fault though.  It's not a great puller out of the box.  It's easy to fix though.  Pull the axle with the traction tire out of the frame and rotate the axle blocks 90 degrees and reinstall.  Now it'll pull decent.  Just make sure you drop the axle on the same tooth of the gear it came from so you don't mess up the timing and knock it out of quarter.  It's not s hard as it sounds if you take your time with it.

Other then that, great loco!  I have four of them!

[dad1218]

 That is what I was kind of leaning toward. Planning on going to the Winston-Salem,NC show in Jan. to see what I can get there before I order one.

  Anyone has any experience with Tony's Trains locos and decoder installs? I bought my Powercab and a few other things there, if I found something I was considering sending it up there. Wondering mostly about backlog time.

               Gary

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

I'm no expert on N scale, but I did search Walthers and see a Southern 4-8-2 (Mountain Type) by Bachmann Spectrum. That may be a good dual purpose engine and it may be close to looking real. Southern did not have four wheel trailing trucks under the cab from what I recall.

Hopefully some Southern fans will respond. An also some N scalers. My HO Bachmann 4-8-2 is a very good engine in my opinion.

[dad1218]

  The road is Southern, loose transitional period(not too worried about a certain year). Use will be mainline with some siding switching. Mostly freight, might be some passenger. Have thought about getting the Con-Cor 4-6-4(class J I guess) and making it a dual purpose. Still in planning and seeing what is available. Also will be DCC.

        Gary

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Do you have a preferance of a certain railroad?  Passenger, freight, or both? Era? Location?

Yard service or main line?

 

 

[Virginian]

That is not a small N scale layout in my eyes.  If you are only going to have one steam locomotive, I would make it a VERY good one.  An N&W J, NYC Niagara, SP Daylight, C&O Greenbrier, Milwaukee F7 Baltic, UP 800 Class, SF 2900 would all fill the bill, and a Van Sweringen Berk, a Challenger, an Allegheny, or N&W Class A would not really be that out of place.  Are you looking to simulate a visiting road/consist, an excursion, or just want to run one every now and then?

One of the crack steam era passenger consists, or the same recreated in an excursion simulation, is a rather impressive deviation from the norm in current day railroading I think.

[tomikawaTT]

  What size steam engine would look right on a around the wall layout in a small bedroom, about a 10 x 14. In N scale. I wasn't sure if a light mountain or a mike would be too big for the layout.

                Gary

Speaking only of wheel arrangements and designs, a lot would be determined by what prototype you follow.  Steam locomotives, unlike diesels, were custom designed for a single railroad, a single division or even a single operating situation.  (The PRR, which sprawled all over the Rust Belt, owned steamers which never left the Madison Grade!)

That said, the last survivors on more than a few roads were USRA or similar 2-8-2s.  IIRC, only the IC was big into 4-8-2s at the end, and their appearance was (to put it mildly) distinctive.

An 0-8-0 is an unlikely choice for 'only steam locomotive.'  Switching assignments were among the first to be dieselized on most railroads.  (Chessie sold 30 gently-used USRA design 0-8-0s to N&W - the only locos N&W acquired after WWII that weren't Roanoke built.  Then Roanoke built 45 more to the same design.  But there were still lots of other steam locos on the N&W roster at the time.)

In N scale, I'd say go with the Kato Mikado - but, I'm biased.  I own a fair stable of 2-8-2's [JNR D50 and D51 class, in twice-N scale (1:80, aka HOj.)]

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[pcarrell]

Honestly, if this is to be your only steam engine, I'd go with the Kato Mikado with the traction tire upgrade.  It's really the gold standard for N steam.  If I didn't go that way I'd probably go for the Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0.  It's close in quality.  Since you're only having one (or maybe a couple in the future), why not get the best and forget the rest?

[tstage]

Gary, 

If you are going to stick with N-scale, how about a Proto 2000 2-8-4 Berkshire?

Click picture to enlarge

Now THAT would look nice going around anyone's layout.  It should come in Nickle Plate (NKP), Pere Marquette, and Chessepeake & Ohio (C&O) road names.

Their 0-8-0 switcher would be another sweetie and look good in a yard somewhere:

Click picture to enlarge

There's a number of road names for this one.  Check the Walthers web site for details.

Tom 

[dad1218]

   Thanks for the answers so quick. I don't know if I want an articulated, this will probably be my only steam engine. I was planning on a small engine facility, not a roundhouse and a turntable is still in the air.

   I was hoping for at least 1 penisula, as there will be other things in the room like the computer desk.

           Gary

[New Haven I-5]

 The new Bachmann Berkshire(2-8-4) could work. It only costs $160.00 with dcc. It also has a dual mode decoder so it will work on dc. I would buy two of them because their not the strongest pullers.Very nice locomotive. That's what I suggest.

[mls1621]

Either of those would look good.  With that much space, you could go bigger, an articulated with a fair string of cars in trail, and still look good.

My layout is an L, meassuring 10' X 14' X 3', and My head end power is mid 60's turbines with 40 plus cars in the train.

I'm assuming you're talking about a shelf layout.  What you're suggesting would be appropriate with room for more.

 

[dad1218]

  What size steam engine would look right on a around the wall layout in a small bedroom, about a 10 x 14. In N scale. I wasn't sure if a light mountain or a mike would be too big for the layout.

                Gary