SeeYou190 ATLANTIC CENTRAL Well that explains it. You don't need to see a Big Boy operate to get the effect, a simple Consolidation, Mikado or Decopod will do nicely. Even a Prarie or Mogal can your heart pounding..... Yes, that is completely true. However, I was bitten by the model steam bug back in the late 1990s, and I never started going to excursion steam runs until about 10 years ago. So, while I love to see operating steam, that is not what infected me with the love for steam locomotive models. Someday, I will post my story of my experience with 611, but that will wait, literally to protect the innocent. I do not want to get anyone in trouble. It was a real one-in-a-million experience that was perfect for me. That day with 611 a couple of years ago forever has cemented my attraction to steam. No pictures of me and 611, but I love being close to real steam. -Kevin
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Well that explains it. You don't need to see a Big Boy operate to get the effect, a simple Consolidation, Mikado or Decopod will do nicely. Even a Prarie or Mogal can your heart pounding.....
Yes, that is completely true.
However, I was bitten by the model steam bug back in the late 1990s, and I never started going to excursion steam runs until about 10 years ago.
So, while I love to see operating steam, that is not what infected me with the love for steam locomotive models.
Someday, I will post my story of my experience with 611, but that will wait, literally to protect the innocent. I do not want to get anyone in trouble. It was a real one-in-a-million experience that was perfect for me.
That day with 611 a couple of years ago forever has cemented my attraction to steam.
No pictures of me and 611, but I love being close to real steam.
-Kevin
The 611 was the first real steamer I ever rode behind. This was sometime in the early 1980s. I believe we went up to Bucyrus and back from Columbus, OH. We rode in an open window coach and I had on a pair of goggles for eye protection. Every so often I would stick my head out the window and I'd feel the cinders on my face. At the end of the day, I had a raccoon face.
BRAKIE ATLANTIC CENTRAL But once you see N&W 611, or NKP 765 or 759, or UP 844, you will really understand. My fondest memory is the watching the 765 and 1225 doubleheading out of Huntington W.Va in '91. I drove 100 miles to see that
ATLANTIC CENTRAL But once you see N&W 611, or NKP 765 or 759, or UP 844, you will really understand.
My fondest memory is the watching the 765 and 1225 doubleheading out of Huntington W.Va in '91. I drove 100 miles to see that
I think I was on that train, Brakie. If I knew you were there I would have waved to you.
Sheldon, When I started railfaning in Columbus around '56 PRR and N&W was still running main line steam and 65 years later I can still smell the hot steam, hot grease and coal smoke from passing steam locomotives. I saw the "General" when it was on display at the Columbus Union Station.
I chased the 614,765,611 and 1218 when they was nearby.
My fondest memory is the watching the 765 and 1225 doubleheading out of Huntington W.Va in '91. I drove 100 miles to see that.
Still I modeled 100% diesels except for a Shay powered short line and my Detroit Connecting which was steam and diesel powered.
At 72 there's a very good chance of me modeling a Santa Fe steam powered branch.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
When I was just an inch above being a toddler, my dad used to take my older brother and me to the train station on weekends, so we were out of the way for the weekly house cleaning. I remember one day when he lifted me up into the cab. When the fireman opened the fire door, I jumped straight back and landed on a bed of coal. I was more impressed than terrified. It must have been that moment my love as well as my respect for steam engines began.
Needless to say that my mom had a few choice words when she saw me upon my return from this adventure!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
My GranPa Roy introduced me to steam in 1946. He was the yard master for the Missouri Pacific in Brownsville, reciently retired, and he took me from Brownsville to McAllen Texas in the cab of a 2-8-0. It was hot, noisey, moved around a lot, and I loved it. During the next three years we made that trip several times.
Watching the operation of the engine with all of it's moving parts was truly somthing to behold. This started my love affair with steam power in all of it's forms. Nothing speaks to raw power like the application of steam.
While I have bucu diesels for the layout, my favorites are all of my steamers.
herrinchoker
ATLANTIC CENTRALWell that explains it. You don't need to see a Big Boy operate to get the effect, a simple Consolidation, Mikado or Decopod will do nicely. Even a Prarie or Mogal can your heart pounding.....
Living the dream.
mbinsewiI have to admit Sheldon, I've never been next to a working steam locomotive.
You need to revise your bucket list.
The last CEO of the B&O claims that the President Washington will be leading the 200th aniversary of the B&O. That would be 2027. You shouldn't wait that long.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
mbinsewi ATLANTIC CENTRAL So Mike, I have to ask, have you seen any/much steam operate in person? I have to admit Sheldon, I've never been next to a working steam locomotive. I have been next to the Big Boy that is at the National Train Museum in Green Bay, WI., but that is just a static display, although the size of that giant is very impressive. It's in a building, so it's hard to get a good overall view. I have pictures, but they don't do it justice. Mike.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL So Mike, I have to ask, have you seen any/much steam operate in person?
I have to admit Sheldon, I've never been next to a working steam locomotive. I have been next to the Big Boy that is at the National Train Museum in Green Bay, WI., but that is just a static display, although the size of that giant is very impressive. It's in a building, so it's hard to get a good overall view. I have pictures, but they don't do it justice.
Mike.
Well that explains it. You don't need to see a Big Boy operate to get the effect, a simple Consolidation, Mikado or Decopod will do nicely. Even a Prarie or Mogal can get your heart pounding.......
But once you see N&W 611, or NKP 765 or 759, or UP 844, you will really understand.
When the virus is over, come visit me and we can go steam watching........
I can't wait for C&O 1309 to be completed, she is just a "little" articulated loco, and still a monster.
Sheldon
For me steam locomotives just seem to have personality and diesels don't.
When I was 10 (1957) my father was stationed in Germany and behind our house there was railroad on which ran a steam engine. It must have been a branch or spur line because trains only ran once or twice a day as I remember - but it was always a small steam locomotive.
Also while in Germany I and my brothers each got a Fleischmann train set - all steam.
So steam has always appealed to me.
I still have that Fleischmann set and it still runs. Occaisionally I'll set up a loop of HO track and just run it remembering days of long ago.
Paul
When I grow up and get rich, I am going to have a gauge 1 layout with steam engines from KM1, just like in the following video, which I have posted a number of times, but do not get tired watching! It´s the closest to the real thing you can get in a model!
ATLANTIC CENTRALSo Mike, I have to ask, have you seen any/much steam operate in person?
My You Tube
Post-hog
We'll look at that, I got it after all didn't I
I guess I'm having one of those nights where I can't sleep and somehow managed to stay up too late.
And all for what? I thought the Bear was just starting his day at this hour?
(Edit) Went through my pictures of Steamers and tried to post one but imager wasn't working. Oh well, I best better be going back to hitting the rack. If I make it now to 7:30 sleepwise, I will have 5 z's
Perfect!
TF
Tim
Lance and I spent a day at Knott's Berry Farm amusement park with the two girls that were our dates at the time in about 1983.
Lance and I lived in Canoga Park California for a short time. A little over a year before we got sick of the fast-paced life and came back to Minnesota with our tails between our legs
I remember the one ride we all went on called Montezuma's Revenge. I never did like Wicked amusement park rides and stopped going on them well over 15 years ago.
Knott's Berry Farm has some really good worldwide recognized jams, jellies, preserves and syrups I seem to remember. I think I may look those up on the internet tomorrow and maybe bring back some old memories.
Late to the model railroad party but playing catch-up.....
While I am too young (34) to have seen steam in regular service, I have been blessed to see excursions and passenger trips. EBT, Knox & Kane, 765, a couple of small tank steamers, and some other museum queens, I have had a bunch of steam exposure. (One museum near me has a operational fireless steam locomotive. Talk about a queen!!!)
So I do love me a hard working (and good looking) steam locomotive.
While my layout theme is way closer to present day than regular steam operations, nothing prevents me from having a special excursion steamer or two, plus I have a old Revell HO-scale 4-8-8-4 static model for a museum queen once the layout is together. (After all, model railroading is FUN!)
For me, really anything trains is cool, be it steam, diesel, or electric. But between Alco's and Steamers, there is just something about old (compared to me) locomotives that I like!
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
Trainman440The complexity a steam engine shows, the pipes, moving parts, and various odd shapes, gives a feeling of wonder and mystery. That is contrasted to the diesel, in which everything is covered up.
Yeah, but I have had large Detroit Diesels and EMD engines all the way down to the bare blocks. Even though my F7s are "covered up", I know what is going on beneath the rocker covers.
Seeing just two connecting rods and no crankshaft is actually pretty boring when the comparisson is made.
gmpullmanIn addition to all the positive responses above, having steam on my layout gives me the opportunity to have a roundhouse and turntable, ash pit, water plugs and tanks, fire cleaning tools and coaling facilities.
Oh boy... I am dedicating 6 linear feet of layout to steam service facilities... more than 10% of layout space will be for steam locomotive display.
The diesel facilities will be 12 inches along the backdrop.
Well, ... Neanderthal and Caveman used fire to cook food.
Steamer tamed it and put it to loco motion... and served that same food in dining cars.
Now people could finally eat moving along in a steel framed wooden enclosure at 50 miles an hour.
Much better than sitting around a campfire waiting for the Bears to smell it and possibly coming around to eat you
Let's face it , the steam locomotive was the "space shuttle" of the 1830s thru the 1900s. Once the Automobile came along, the "marvel and adventure " of traveling long distances became common for the every day man.
For me, there's just something about watching all that animated HEAVY machinery moving that I find fascinating. (Its like observing the inner workings of a pocket watch.)
But, I also enjoy the diesels too.
Rust...... It's a good thing !
mbinsewi I've never been seduced by a steam locomotive. Maybe somewhat amazed by all of the moving parts, but never seduced. Mike.
I've never been seduced by a steam locomotive.
Maybe somewhat amazed by all of the moving parts, but never seduced.
So Mike, I have to ask, have you seen any/much steam operate in person?
Even small or mid sized locos like those typically used on many tourist lines are pretty impressive to stand next to.
Last year the grandson and I saw N&W 611 at Strasburg, pretty awesome.
Virus shutdown excluded, operation at Strasburg is like getting in a time machine and going back to the turn of the century. During the busiest seasons, trains leave the station every half hour, all pulled by steam. And trains actually pass each other out on the line.
Their biggest loco is a 1924 2-10-0, not big, but big enough.......
Image from Photography On The Net.
Digital Photography Forums
Challenger, My favorite Steamer!
I have always loved trains. My earliest memories include dad's O trains and Uncle Bill's S layouts at Christmas. And the little diesel that pulled the slag cars at the Phoenix Steel plant. I loved it when we got stopped at a railroad crossing. Trains have always been a part of my life. I was born in 1964 so as many of us, steam was gone, other than excursion trains. But there is something about a steam locomotive. As stated above, diesels are machines (and pretty cool ones at that), but steam locomotives are living breathing machines. They just excite the imagination. When I started in HO I had a diesel and an electric loco. Couldnt wait to get a steamer. My first was a Tyco Chatanooga Choo Choo. Yeah, a pretty crappy model, but it was steam and it counted.
Nice thread Kevin. I like, I like it
I don't know if steam engines ever seduced me. Fascinated and Mesmerized me is more of the wording I would have to state. I did seduce a dragon once in Dungeons & Dragons that gave me a great honor and a better standing & position in the game.
I grew up with a childhood of Burlington Northern after the merger. We had a sanctuary we all hung out at that was a Railroad Tom Sawyer land. Green machine has always been my calling as a kid and back now as I re-entered the model railroading hobby again.
I had no steam in my model railroading as a kid other than a Baltimore and Ohio Dockside Switcher. But after seeing them for years on old westerns, in other movies and then seeing them in real life through my life, I had to take Burlington Northern back a little farther to Great Northern so I can mix steam engines amongst diesels in my hobby now. I chose the Transitional Era of course.
When I witnessed Union Pacific Challenger 3985 in Shakopee Minnesota about 7, 8 years ago and chased it down with my brother to Jamestown Minnesota, I knew I would have steam in my next model railroad for sure.
I make it a point to go see Steam now whenever they are around I remember standing right next to Challenger that day in Shakopee. It was like the thing was alive, I could hear her breathe.
Maybe Steam Locomotives do seduce me! All I know is Steamers make me go like this Yes I do like them
Kevin, Today as I was running my United Models Santa Fe 2-8-0 on my test track I realize I was watching the "monkey motion" of the side rods,pistons and crossheads and marveled at all that movement just to turn the drivers and apply horse power to the rail.
At any rate I fully believe I'm a step closer to modeling the steam era. I have a buyer for my 94/95 cars and locomotives(exception being the Ohio Central GP7,Summerset Ry SW1500 and SCR SW8.)
BTW. That's a mighty find looking collection of steam lokies ya got there.
I must admit that I will have an affection for my diesels as well. Those F7s, GP-9s and particularly my Alco RSC-3 will always still be my favorites. I started with a GP-9 as a young teen for my first HO train, and never left.
The behemoths we see now won't even fit on the narrow curves of my layout. I guess I'll just stay in the past it was a nice place, anyway.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I was born in 1986 and the early 90s the only steam trains I saw was Thomas. After watching those stories I was fascinated with steam locomotives. The first real locomotives came from books like the Hudson, Mountain, Northern, American and many more. Including fallen flags railroads I thought we're still around.
When it comes model railroading I chose diesels because it's easier to handle into your hand then a steam engine. But I have a few steam locomotives a SP GS4, 2-8-0 consolidation, and a NYC 4-8-4 Drefuss Hudson but no coaches for it.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Like Mark P. said, it was by steam that machine first replaced muscle power, be it human or animal.
And the fact that long after internal combustion mastered other smaller forms of transport, trains and ships still relied on steam.
I'm too young, there was no working steam left for me to see here in the Baltimore area, and very little anywhere else by the time I was old enough.
BUT, I grew up near Baltimore, birthplace of American railroading, where before such things were common, we had a great railroad museum.
And less that two hours away, a steam tourist line that for 60 plus years has ran a regular schedule everyday, all day, most of the year, almost always steam powered.
I'm 63 years old, I bet I have been to the Strasburg Rail Road at least 63 times, likely more.
So I have watched steam in action all my life.
It took nearly 30 years of developement for the diesel electric locomotive to be "better" than steam........
And for me, I'm a history guy, always interested in how we got to where we are now.
So the ATLANTIC CENTRAL is set in 1954, and steam and diesel power all four railroads I model.
In addition to all the positive responses above, having steam on my layout gives me the opportunity to have a roundhouse and turntable, ash pit, water plugs and tanks, fire cleaning tools and coaling facilities.
Roundhouse_pane by Edmund, on Flickr
Q_on_TT by Edmund, on Flickr
I was born in '56 but, fortunately, my dad took me along on many main-line steam fan trips many of them on the Grand Trunk Western and Canadian National. These trips were run pretty much the same way big steam was run late in their careers with fast, heavy passenger trains.
6218_Chatham-curve by Edmund, on Flickr
6218_Chatham-cab by Edmund, on Flickr
I also had an opportunity to fire and sometimes run this GTW USRA Mikado in my late teen and early 20s.
GTW_3734_2 by Edmund, on Flickr
(3734 was renumbered to 4070 in '56 or so)
4070_RD_w-RW by Edmund, on Flickr
So, I certainly enjoy having a collection of various steam locomotives on my layout. Some represent locomotives I'm familiar with first-hand, others are ones I wish I had!
Yes! The sights, sounds and smells are seductive. I've spent hours on "fire-watch" throughout the night on several locomotives. They become your friends. Running one opens up a whole new world of awe and discovery.
Color me seduced.
Cheers, Ed
Steam engines have personality to them, they feel alive. Steam engines come in far more variations than diesels do. As a mechnical engineer, I feel steam engines are symbolic of my field.
The complexity a steam engine shows, the pipes, moving parts, and various odd shapes, gives a feeling of wonder and mystery. That is contrasted to the diesel, in which everything is covered up.
Oh and I love looking at the valve gear and rods :D
The steam engine vs diesel to me is like warship vs cruise ship. Warships have so many things to look at, the main guns, aa, radar, range finder, float planes, torpedos, etc, versus a giant white rectangle floating on water.
Charles
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Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
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