Like so many others have said, I grew up with diesels as the AC&Y went through my back yard in Akron. But I am old enough that I SHOULD remember some steam, but I don't. Selective memory? Maybe but the sounds that I remember are what I want to recapture in my HO layout.
shayfan84325 wrote:I am grateful for what I've gained via this conversation and I will certainly look at diesels with greater appreciation than I did in the past.
I am grateful for what I've gained via this conversation and I will certainly look at diesels with greater appreciation than I did in the past.
Ask a friend who models diesels.
It's hard to explain on here exactly why one chooses one over the other. I like both. I've seen both. While I do have a preference I won't exclude diesels from my interest simply because I prefer steam. Trains are trains and they are all facininating.
As the original poster, I started this thread with a genuine interest as to the reason such a large percentage of model railroaders choose to model diesels - the steam/diesel percentages seem to be about 180 degrees from what they were 35 years ago. I was curious and I learned a few things that have broadened my perspective:
Years ago, I modeled diesels because I was modeling in N scale and diesels were much less expensive than steam locos (I did splurge once and bought an Aurora 0-6-0; I loved that little engine). All the while, I promised myself an HO steam era layout as soon as finances and space would allow it. That's how I arrived at the faction of model railroading where I am.
I feel bad that some of the postings in this thread became a little argumentative - that was not my intent. I urge anyone who feels that modeling either a steam or diesel era is somehow inherently better than the other, to just let it go. The fact that someone else does something different or makes other choices does not diminish our own work.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
I've been following this thread and when it comes down to it, it really doesn't matter WHAT you model, as long as you model it with dedication and concentration. So it really doesn't help anyone at all--least of all yourself--if you decide to slam the other guy's choice. That's what makes this hobby so inclusive.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
I grew up during the transation era on the Southern Pacific, the first generation to second generation diesel that is. When I became fed up with this hobby and departed for over 20 years, my return was marked by my first exposure to S scale. Since it requires so much effort to model in this scale, model what you want, SP branch operation set in 1927, not a diesel to be had. But if HO should ever come calling again, I know what i'll be modeling, and there won't be a steamer in sight. I do think your early exposure plays a role in ones modeling. Heck, if we get more variety in S scale RTR diesels who can say?
Dave
Modeling the mighty SP in S
Texas Zepher wrote:Has anyone else noticed that when children "play trains" they still call them "choo choo's". They always make the choo choo choo chuffing sound, and Woooowoooo whistle sound. I can't think of a time I've heard child make a hrumm rumm hurrrrummm engine sound or BLATT BLATT horn sound while playing train? Am I just not around the children that do this? Am I just not noticing?
My youngest son does that whenever he comes to town and sees the layout. And, he is 37 years old...... Of course he does that just to annoy his father!
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Paul3 wrote:Link and pin couplers were a fact of life in the 1800's. Doing that era without them seems rather counter to the idea of 1800's modeling. Paul A. Cutler III************Weather Or No Go New Haven************
Link and pin couplers were a fact of life in the 1800's. Doing that era without them seems rather counter to the idea of 1800's modeling.
Paul A. Cutler III************Weather Or No Go New Haven************
Link and Pin were obsolete 1870 and 1885. In 1887, the Master Car Builders Association selected the Janney Automatic Coupler, invented by Eli H. Janney in 1873, over 40 other designs as a standard design for the railroad industry.
That said, if your doing the civil war era , your using link and pin. By 1875 catalog steam engines began to be the norm. While each road added custom fittings to them , this is no different than what each road does to it's diesels with the exception of the last 10 or 15 years. How many roads had Gyrolight fitted tunnel motors? not to many. ANd how many of those were the same. Not to many. Each had gone through various changes and upgrades, some had different paintschemes to the point you could see 3 different ones on the same train in the late 80's and early 90's.
howmus wrote:a Reading T-1, roared through Waverly, NY. My family (My boys were 10 and 7 at the time) was standing on Broad St. and had a great view. While she didn't stop for a photo shoot, the engineer laid on the whistle all the way through town. What a site. No diesel could begin to match that show. My son's remember that day very well.
aloco wrote: Today, rock 'n' roll and model railroading are my main hobbies.
Today, rock 'n' roll and model railroading are my main hobbies.
Umm...yeah...
Are you sure you're not me?
shayfan84325 wrote:I wonder how many of us have actually tried modeling the other era/technology before we settled on the era/technology that we chose. In other words, how many diesel guys have tried steam and how many steam guys have modeled an exclusively diesel era? This is not a "walk a mile in the other man's shoes" piece, rather, I'm wondering if we've really given that much thought to it or just defaulted to what we know, or what we are willing to study.Here's the way I ended up modeling the early 20th century: I think shays are fascinating locomotives and if they had a heyday, that was it. What I've discovered is that period, like any period, was very interesting in its own right (even without trains). The things that went on in the early 20th century included conversions to indoor plumbing, figuring out a lot of the things that could be done with electricity, mass production of all kinds of goods that were never mass produced before, the Cubs won the World Series (1908), Babe Ruth was the winning pitcher in 2 of the four Red Sox wins over the Cubs in the 1918 World Series, piston valves were the new thing on steam engines, World War 1 happened, Prohibition was fun, figuring out what to do with airplanes was going on, and so on. Ships and trains were the way folks got around and the way they transported stuff. It was an interesting time.By the same token, right now is an interesting time, 1995 was interesting, even 1977 was interesting (insert disco joke here). I hypothesize that we choose our subjects to model based on something specific, and that leads us to select an era. Someone who has passion for cabooses would find right now a little unsatisfying, but a layout set in 1967 would include a lot of possibilities (groovy!).I can't bring myself to accept the "those were the trains of my childhood" selection process as the most common selection method. I think it's more likely to be something like " I got a cab ride in a RS-3 and I've loved diesels ever since." Or something similar.Your thoughts?
I wonder how many of us have actually tried modeling the other era/technology before we settled on the era/technology that we chose. In other words, how many diesel guys have tried steam and how many steam guys have modeled an exclusively diesel era? This is not a "walk a mile in the other man's shoes" piece, rather, I'm wondering if we've really given that much thought to it or just defaulted to what we know, or what we are willing to study.
Here's the way I ended up modeling the early 20th century: I think shays are fascinating locomotives and if they had a heyday, that was it. What I've discovered is that period, like any period, was very interesting in its own right (even without trains). The things that went on in the early 20th century included conversions to indoor plumbing, figuring out a lot of the things that could be done with electricity, mass production of all kinds of goods that were never mass produced before, the Cubs won the World Series (1908), Babe Ruth was the winning pitcher in 2 of the four Red Sox wins over the Cubs in the 1918 World Series, piston valves were the new thing on steam engines, World War 1 happened, Prohibition was fun, figuring out what to do with airplanes was going on, and so on. Ships and trains were the way folks got around and the way they transported stuff. It was an interesting time.
By the same token, right now is an interesting time, 1995 was interesting, even 1977 was interesting (insert disco joke here). I hypothesize that we choose our subjects to model based on something specific, and that leads us to select an era. Someone who has passion for cabooses would find right now a little unsatisfying, but a layout set in 1967 would include a lot of possibilities (groovy!).
I can't bring myself to accept the "those were the trains of my childhood" selection process as the most common selection method. I think it's more likely to be something like " I got a cab ride in a RS-3 and I've loved diesels ever since." Or something similar.
Your thoughts?
I agree that the "those were the trains of my childhood" is not the most commen.
Very few of my friends model the trains of their childhood. I have had quite a few cab rides in diesels and only 2 in steamers. Still prefer steam engines . They just seem more alive, have more individual character. Diesels become more interesting when you find the small little gems that are not part of peet's **** poor fleet . Or any standardized fleet but that's just my taste.
As to modeling other eras, I have. My first train set as a kid was a diesel set. My best friend modeled the SP dunsmuir area in 1985 and I did a lot of modeling on that layout. Kitbashed quite a bit to get the right diesel and the right frieght cars. Another friend remembers mostly the late transition era and early diesel area but models the early transtion era. Another friend's father was a porter and saw a little of the transition era but mostly the early diesel era. He models the PNW late steam era. In the end railroading is railroading. You find what makes you excited and model it . I personally am planning on building a free lance line in 1939, 30 years before I was born. Why? because of a lot of interesting coincedences . My grandparents were married that year, My first vehicle was made that year, first color films that year ( I work in the film industry).
bladeslinger wrote:I sold my trains and got into music for the later part of my teens and early 20's. A few years later while camera shopping up near Marietta, GA I saw a hobby shop and stopped in and found an Athearn SD9 painted in Union Pacific.
This story looks too familiar. I got my first train set when I was twelve, I played with it for about a year, and during that time I added a couple extra locos, some more freight cars, and some extra track. After I had my fill I shoved all that stuff into an old leather briefcase and hid it way in the back of the closet in my bedroom.
The electric guitar put me under its spell when I turned fourteen, and for seven years I ground away in bands and dreamt of becoming a rock star. I gave up on the pursuit of rock stardom in 1982 and returned to model railroading.
The same thing happened to me... I saw a neat looking loco in a store and just had to buy it. But once I bought it I was hooked, and I was a model railroader once again.
I bought a camera too, but I never made a hobby of photography.
I returned to playing rock 'n' roll in 1987, but without stars in my eyes.
I guess Jay Lenogot it been right in an article in Popular Mechanics. Some old timer apparently was lamenting that younger folk don't 'appreciate' the old classics any more. Leno's response was that people tend to remember most fondly what they got to see and handle in their youth. A 57 Chevy is the greatest car ever was to a lot of people my age, while others might think the same of a 62 Buick Wildcat. Or anything else. So, a lot of us senior citizens, maybe like me who grew up three blocks from active yards boiling over with steamers, may prefer steam while a lot of people maybe 50 or younger who never saw active steam prefer diesel.
Of course, there are some of us who like to be different. My first car was a 57 Chevy 150, 6 cylinder, manual. Wouldn't have another. Most undependable car I ever had. Learned to drive and got my DL on the 62 Buick wildcat. Would love to have one, except at today's gas prices. Wish my wife would give me the Pontiac Vibe and take my Grand Am. Much better and reliable vehicles than the old classics, even though that's what they'll been in 20 or 30 years. But I still like steam and electric. Prefer steam to diesel. But, diesel is much better than no railroading at all
dirtyd79 wrote:Mostly because it's what I got interested in as a kid. When I was a kid I would spend my whole summer vacation watching trains at my aunt and uncle's house. Which also accounts for CONRAIL being the roadname I model. Maybe if I was a kid in the `40s and `50s I would probably be modelling Pennsy steam engines. But I was a kid in the `80s and `90s instead.
I used to spend a week each year at my aunt and uncles house. My uncle had a auto junk yard and a car repair shop and wrecker service on his property. They were up on a hill just a 1/4 mile or so from the Southern railway mainline (actually an old Central of Georgia mainline) that ran right through Carrollton, Ga. I'd hear the trains off in the distance and I'd run down the hill to the railroad crossing to watch them go by. It was mostly coal trains and a couple of locals. I can remember those high short hoods and tuxedo paint schemes quite vividly. Always 3 or 4 locos on the point and usually about that many in the middle along with 99 SOUTHERN big reds and that one oddball "box" car in the middle next to the 2nd set of engines that I later found out what was (radio car). I also remember sitting at railroad crossing with my parents and watching those SOUTHERN trains go by. I was already crazy about trains, but this is what made me a Southern fan!
As a not of interest. Sony music offered my Uncle a bunch of money for his land, so he relocated his wrecker service, got out of the junk yard business, and his old property was levelled off and a Sony music plant was built there, with a spur track from Southern to deliver covered hoppers of plastic pellets for the manufacture of cassette and CD cases. I also later on worked at a fiber optic plant on the other side of that same mainline. Just before I left there they'd installed a track and had received their first car of rubber pellets (to be used to make fiber optic jacketing), but they hadn't unloaded it yet, the material people were still being trained how to handle rail cars.
The interesting part is when I left there, it was because I got hired by Norfolk Southern as a conductor. I am now an Engineer. I don't run that route though. I'm on a different division.
shayfan84325 wrote:<> <>For me, diesels represent technological advancement and efficiency - similar to modern automobiles. They also look so similar to each other it takes a keen eye to tell them apart (also similar to today's cars). With all due respect to diesel fans, diesels just don't interest me very much. What is it about diesels that interests you?
<>For me, diesels represent technological advancement and efficiency - similar to modern automobiles. They also look so similar to each other it takes a keen eye to tell them apart (also similar to today's cars). With all due respect to diesel fans, diesels just don't interest me very much. What is it about diesels that interests you?
Well, to me, Steam Locomotives all have a similar look. I guess it's just a difference of opinions.
I've been into model trains since I was about 2 or 3 years old, and always got a trainset for every Xmas or birthday. When I was in my early teens I built my first layout. I did all the work myself, it was a 4x6 sheet of playwood with a double oval and one stub end track. I also had a track running at the outer edge to represent a foreign line railroad. It wasn't the best looking layout, as I "painted" my grass, water, and streets. I had a dozen or so trees glued down here and there, and about 10 or 12 building kits scattered about on it.
All my locos were diesels, mostly F9's, as that was what a lot of trainsets came with, and most of them were Santa Fe, but I had I think one in UP. I also had a pair of AHM diesels (they were EMD's, but I don't know what model, but it might have been an SD45 as they were painted in NW's bicentennial scheme). I also had an Alco630 decorated in some railroads bicentennial scheme. I was a Model Railroader and RMC subscriber and I remember drooling over Athearn and Atlas diesels, but at that time in my life I didn't have the money for those engines, because they usually cost about 20 dollars a piece, which I thought was a lot of money. Whole trainsets cost less than than that then. As a child I was always fascinated with Southern Railway trains, because that's what ran through the area where I lived, Carroll County in Georgia. I can't count how many Southern coal trains I'd seen, usually with 3 SD40's on the point, and 2 or 3 in the middle, or sometimes they'd use 4 GP38's on the point and 4 GP38's in the middle, and all those Southern coal hoppers with the big word "SOUTHERN" proudly painted on the panels. Then there were the various Southern locals. I always loved that paint scheme, but never saw anything in the model world painted for it.
I sold my trains and got into music for the later part of my teens and early 20's. A few years later while camera shopping up near Marietta, GA I saw a hobby shop and stopped in and found an Athearn SD9 painted in Union Pacific. I'd always liked their paint scheme, so I broke down and bought it... about 25 dollars if memory serves. I resubscribed to Model Railroader for another year, and thought about getting back into the hobby, but at that time I didn't. I was heavily into music and in a band, and also into photography, so I didn't have time for the trains. But I did like to go out and photograph trains and railroad scenes. I was fortunate to get to see a lot of Southern painted locomotives before they got brutalized with the NS paint scheme (I just wish I knew what I did with all those old photos...I'm guessing they were tossed out during a move at some point).
Nearly my later 20's, I was up in Chamblee, GA on other business, and I'd sometimes go over and watch the NS trains switch at the chamblee Depot. By this point, Southern paint schemes were pretty much gone, except for on the side of freight cars, and there were a lot of them around. Down the street from the depot in a building now occupied by ReMax was a hobby shop called SouthEastern Hobby Depot. I stopped in just for the hell of it and they had not one but two different numbers (2504 and 2519) for Southern SD24's in HO, Con-Cor releases of the old Atlas model. I bought 2504 that day and later went back for 2519. I found a couple of Southern SD9's that were painted by Bev-Bel on Athearn bodies.
<>After getting a few car kits in Southern and other road names I decided to try my hand at some custom painting. I used standard Athearn GP9 and SD9 shells with no modifications and did some Southern locos. I also acquired an undec GP38 which was marked by Con-Cor on the old Atlas mold with a mistake (missing windows), but it was a high hood, so I made a Southern out of it. I also found some Front Range high short noses, and kitbashed two Athearn SD45's into Southern. Later I found a RTR Proto1000 GP18 in Southern. I had a few Southern locos, mostly 1st Generation, and quite a few cars in Southern and other roads. I also had done some custom painting on Southern Boxcars (using photos I'd recently taken), tried my hand at kitbashing a sand hopper for Southern (it's out of scale too long though but looks pretty decent). I also renumbered Southern coal hoppers (MDC 5 bay ortners), and now had a 50 car unit coal train with 50 different numbers, all legit and every number I changed was an actual car I saw.
I began building my 2nd layout, this time it was an 8 x 10.5. It was a stand alone layout that you could walk around (I couldn't do it attached to the walls because we were renting), but it had a center pit so you would be operating from inside and couldn't see the entire mainline loop at any one time. It was single track, with one passing siding, a 7 track stub end yard, 2 tracks for engines and a cab track, and there were I think 5 industrial sidings. I had done all the benchwork, laid all the cork roadbed and track, had all my peco switches motorized with the wires hanging down and all my power feeders attached every few feet on the layout. I had all my insulated joints in and had even drawn up my plans to build the block panels and had done the schematic for the matrix for the switch panels, not to mention buying all the resistors and such to make it work. I weathered my rail and cross ties with two different custom paint mixes using both brush on paints and air brush...and was getting ready to pour my ballast...and I found out my 1st wife was pregnant, and had to stop production and prepare to disassemble all this to make room for a child. I jury-rigged it temporarily so I could run trains for awhile before I did, and finally took it all down.
<>All the trains went in the closet to keep the building kits I'd been collecting company. There they stayed through another move, birth of a second child, a divorce from 1st wife, a couple more moves, a marriage to 2nd wife, and yet another move. During this time, I didn't forget trains altogether though...I went to work for NS, first as a conductor/brakeman, but most recently as an Engineer. So I get to see first hand how operations work and it has given me a much better perspective on railroading as a whole.
<>Several Christmases back, my youngest son asked for some more HO trains to go with a trainset he'd been given a prior year. Upon researching prices online I found out that Athearn had a model of the Southern GP40X just released. Well I HAD to have that. I got both numbers offered at the time 7000 and 7002. I also found out that Atlas had 3 numbers in DC for Southern SD35's. I got those (I didn't buy the other 3 numbers in DCC because I still to this day haven't decided if I'd go DCC, not to mention they were double the price). I also was able to find 4 numbers in Atlas GP38's in Southern and two painted Southern with no number. I also found an older release of Atlas SD35's in Southern 215 and Central of Georgia 217. I have one P2K B23-7 and one Atlas MP15DC, both in Southern. I also got the Athearn SD40-2's in Southern when they came out.
<>My local hobby shop agreed to let me trade those two GP40X's back in on the upcoming re-release with corrected short hood length (I had not even broken the original tape on the boxes so they gave me full credit). And while I was at it also ordered the 3 number that will be released as well. I also have 3 SD45's (Athearn) for Southern on order, as well as the MP15DC's that are about to come out from Atlas. And if they're ever actually produced I have BLI's SD40-2's on order. I just found out that Athearn is doing SW1500's and I will probably get all 3 numbers on them as well.
<>I gave my youngest son a lot of my custom painted locos, and I even sold and traded a few at a swap meet awhile back. I've decided to get out of the 1st generation diesels and stick with the 2nd generation diesels. I gave my son my old 40 and 50 foot box cars with roofwalks, and have "modernized" my freight car fleet more.
While collecting all these newer engines, I've also been collecting cars as well, a few kits, but mostly RTR's. Don't ask how many...but let's say the shelf in the closet is almost full! Not to mention I have a couple dozen freight cars on order and a few not on order that I plan to buy when they come out as well.
I don't have a basement, out building or spare room in my current house, but one day I will, and I am collecting stuff to build a layout when I do. I have a lot of building kits that I've added to the stack that I previously had. Plus I've been collecting automobiles, trucks, and heavy equipment as well as other scenic items.
I'm still debating DC vs. DCC, but several of my locos came with decoders already in them, and I've visited a club layout or two that has DCC and I do like the idea of it. Just not sure if I could afford the expense of outfitting every loco with it. But knowing me, I probably would in the end. I have a much better vision of what I want to build in a layout after working for the railroad for 9 years. I have some definite industry ideas that must be modelled, and buy my freight cars a lot more selectively than I once did, although you wouldn't think so by looking at the top shelf of the closet (and that's just the newest cars...the rest are packed in boxes).
But to answer your question...why Diesel? Because that's what I grew up with. Why 2nd Generation? Same answer. If I'd been born 20 or 30 years sooner I might well be modelling steam or 1st generation diesel, who knows?
My favourite diesel locomotives are those that were designed from the mid-1930s on up to the end of the 1950s. The cabs, hoods, and carbodies were a lot more stylish than the low nose diesels that emerged in the mid-1960s (i.e. beginning with the GP35).
Most of my locos are models of diesels designed in the 1940s and 1950s (mostly high hood road switchers and end cab yard switchers). I have very few low nose diesels in my fleet.
I was born in 1943 and you'd think I'd like diesels best, but the thing is I like them both. I was never lucky enough to live close to the rail lines, except one short 2 years when I was about 5 and 6 years old. I can barely remember the steam engines that went by and that would have been in about '48 and '49. It was only after I retired that I started my first layout and I'm still having a devil of a time trying to figure out exactly what era to model. Therefore my 'earliest' steamer is a 4-4-0 American, right up through a 2-6-6-4 Norfolk and Western. My earliest diesel is an H16-44 Fairbanks Morse and the latests would be a Norfolk Southern D8.
The main reason I like diesels is it's what I see on the roads now. I also love the diesel sound. SO! I guess I'm modeling from 1890 to present day.
What a mess! :)
Jarrell
Seen a lot of steam, seen a lot of diesel in my lifetime. Diesels are sometimes impressive in their own right, but steam, especially larger steam, somehow just seems alive, what with the sounds associated with power stokers, injectors, periodic releases of steam from automatic relief valves, traces of smoke. And a steamer in operation is a sight to see, with the visible motion of the rods and valve gear, the streamer of steam exhaust mixed with the smoke from the stack.
Of course, crosskitting to come up with something different in HO is usually much easier with plastic diesels than it is with brass or other steam. Only easy steam I ever did was to switch the boiler from a 70s Tyco 2-6-2 with the boiler from an older Mantua Big Six 0-6-0. Just remove the boiler held on by a single screw in each and switch to the other running gear, giving me a road engine with a single sand box and a switcher with 2. Closest thing on a diesel was to cut the steam boiler detail from an Athearn GP-9 and install it onto the short end of an Atlas SD-24. Or to cut the long end of a Rivarrosi Alco RS-2 and replace it with the long hood from the Athean Geep. Atheran GP-9B was easy, a few others, but my current effort to build an FL-9A from a couple Athearn Super Power F-7As approaches some of the more involved brass steam loco conversions I've read about or tried.
Like em both, have em both, (79 Diesel, 42 Steam) still visually prefer to watch steam in operation.
NittanyLion wrote:Let's just suppose the average model railroader is 45. In 1970, a 45 year old was born in 1925 and grew up with steam. In 2008, he was born in 1963 and never saw steam outside of a museum. If my theory of "what you grew up with" generally holds true (and it seems to. the best cars are the ones from when you were 16-20, the best athletes are the ones from when you were trading their baseball cards or whatever, and so on), its just a natural part of technological progress.
Not true. I was born in the the early "60's" and today I can remember a Southern Pacific branch line behind my house that had a 0-8-0 switcher that ran down the line. I love steam and miss it. Every time UP runs there 4-8-4 or 4-6-6-4 out here I've got to chase it down. I see all diesel's all the time with UP mainline not to far from my house now. Now for trading cards most of them are Hallafamers now
4x8 are fun too!!! RussellRail
challenger3980 wrote: Anyone know if the 4449 went all the way to New Jersey?, I believe that there was a Reading T-1? that also did some AFT duty as well as the 4449. Doug
Anyone know if the 4449 went all the way to New Jersey?, I believe that there was a Reading T-1? that also did some AFT duty as well as the 4449.
Doug
Sure was a Reading T-1, #2101 roared through Waverly, NY on June 16, 1976. She was running about 2 hours late and didn't do the scheduled stop in Waverly on her way to Binghamton, NY. My family (My boys were 10 and 7 at the time) was standing behind Clark's Busy Market on Broad St. and had a great view. While she didn't stop for a photo shoot, the engineer laid on the whistle all the way through town. What a site (not to mention sound and the smell of coal smoke). No diesel could begin to match that show. My son's remember that day very well and my oldest son's wife happened to find a photo a few years ago of her roaring through Waverly that day. It became a Christmas present to me that year.
Fast forward 25 years and my son and I went down to Scranton, PA to ride a Fall Foliage excursion behing their 1917 Mikado. We got off the train at Tobyhanna Junction, PA to tour a working Ice House. When we got back to the train they were moving the Mike to the other end of the train. She couples on and gives the customary WWWHHHOOOOOT! to say she is stopped. We then hear the Nichol Plate Road diesel lumbering up the track to help on the way back (No coal or water available at that end). She rumbles up and couples on, then goes BLAT! My son starts to laugh and looks at me. "Just isn't the same, is it Dad?"
For me, nothing comes close to steam. That said, from a 21st. century standpoint, I would not like to see steam brought back even if it was possible. Diesels are far more efficient, powerful, and economical for today. BTW, I love riding on and working with antique "diseasals" too!
Well, I like both so I model transition steam and diesel - no local childhood memories either as I model the SAL located in Gulf coast Florida - a place that I have never visited. Personally I respond to things visually as a predominant sense so the Citrus color schemes of early SAL diesels in a tropical setting were a wonderful reason to model something distinctive. And then, how can a guy born in 1947 resist a high steepin' Pacific on straight track.
Bruce
If that 4-8-4 was the 4449 pulling the American Freedom Train, the time fits, did the 4449 go all the way to NJ? Then it would be class GS-4 which stood for Golden State, then during WW2, SP wanting more of them, had to tell the War Production Board that "GS" stood for "General Service" because passenger power was not allowed to be built during the war, but freight power was.
I live in Portland, OR where the 4449 is kept and maintained, she is a Beautiful Locomotive. I am occasionally Fortunate enough to see her when she is on the loose, and that whistle is something that will stay with you for a long time.
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
The first train that I remember was in Trenton(?) New Jersey in 1976/77. On point was a hulking 4-8-4 G4. I have seen diesels since, one can't help but see them, but since that G4 no diesels have ever captured my imagination like that steam engine. Of course no whistle has ever made me jump my own height either.
Saw steam as a kid, once you've seen it, you don't forget, I model diesels to make my layout time frame accurate, they were there so they're included. As a kid they were very unpopular as they drove my beloved steamers into retirement, wanted to be a steam locomotive engineer, when I was 10 that possibility went away, pretty much stopped going to the train station too. Yes, diesels are necessary, less polution, guess today I am glad we have them but to me they are in the words of a CN steam fan a "motorized boxcar."
CVBOB
As I stated in my previous post, I am a fan of what I personally saw (and heard, and smelled...) so I have a mix of steam (ranging from 0-4-0 to 2-8-2,) diesel (3 classes) and electric (7 classes); plus DMU and EMU.
I have been reading with fascination the, "Little old locomotives can't run," part of this debate. Among my steamers are two 2-6-0s with rigid-frame 6 wheel tenders. They don't have any power pickup issues. One of my 0-4-0s is a lead block with a wheel at each corner, picks up just fine and will pull the layout room door open if you rig a string to the knob. The other is a very light loco - Koppel 1912 prototype - that won't move much but has no power pickup problems. Just as an aside - these are not new technology. All of them were assembled from kits in the 1960s.
The pre-WWI era has been described as, "Light locomotives, short cars, short trains, low speeds." I have the same, while modeling what I actually saw in the 1950s and 60s. It's just a matter of picking the right prototype.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
macjet wrote:Well, as a modern day diesel guy I think I've found a way to incorporate both into my layout.I'm going to take my protolance modern day Rock Island and run a line through Durango. There I can cross right of ways with the D&RGW scenic railroad.What can be better then seeing an operational K-27 sitting next to an AC4400?
Well, as a modern day diesel guy I think I've found a way to incorporate both into my layout.
I'm going to take my protolance modern day Rock Island and run a line through Durango. There I can cross right of ways with the D&RGW scenic railroad.
What can be better then seeing an operational K-27 sitting next to an AC4400?