Diesel Popularity?

[fiatfan]

My earliest memory of watching trains was watching the IC passenger train leave Waterloo, Iowa headed east pulled by an early covered wagon.  The main line was about 300 yards from our kitchen window.  I would be eating breakfast and wondering where it was headed, who was on it, what were they going to do, what wonderous sights would they see.  That was in about '54 or '55 and I've never recovered from that.  I don't ever recall seeing a steam engine in operation.

 

Tom 

[corsair7]

My model railroading career has a 20-year gap in it:  I was a dedicated model railroader in the '70s, then pressed the pause button until about 2000, at which time I made a comeback.  Of course there were lots of changes in the hobby over the 20 years I was away, but one really puzzles me:  It appears that the majority of modelers are real fans of diesels; it's something of a reversal from 30+ years ago.  I'd like to understad why.

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?

Please, let's keep this respectful.

I was out of the hobby for 21 years (1987-2008) until I came back a few months ago. I've noticed the change too. But I don't see it as bad. In fact since I've always liked diesels better than steam I think it's a change for the better.

Years ago steam was more popular since more modellers were familiar with it froim their youth's. Not many can say that today since most of the younger modellers grew up with the diesel. In fact to many of us steam is but an artifact which is encountered briefly if at all. WE don't see a plum of black smoke shooting up from a coal fired steam locomotive as anything but pollution of the air that necesitates washing one's person and clothing not to mention the smell of burning coal.

The manufacturers also seem to be selling much more deisel equipment these days as well. While some of it may be because of demand, but some of it also seems to have to do with the amount of information that is available today on diesel rather than steam locomotives.

Now that doesn't mean that I don't like reading about the past history of American railroading because I do. It's just that it is easier and less expensive to model deisels than it is to model steam both in terms of money and layout space. Steam requires lots of servicing and steam facilities require more space on the layout than do comparable diesel service facilities.

Irv

[macjet]

Born in 1975 my idea of a "classic" locomotive is a GP38-2 or an SD40-2. I've never seen an operating steam locomotive outside of the Durango-Silverton line.

Steam was gone twenty years before I was even born and thirty years before I was able to lay track on my own. Like anything else I go with what I know/remember.

As a side note I think this is a problem with a lot of club layouts. Too many old guys (the ones with the most amount of knowledge) get stuck in this transition mindset and won't allow you to run anything except steam/E/F/GP7 types.  This puts off the younger ones (with less knowledge and the future of this hobby) who have never seen this type of equipment outside of a museum.

 

Just my $.02

[wjstix]

One reason I can think of off the top of my head is cost.

It seems like you can get a quality diesel locomotive for quite a bit less money than the same quality steam loco.

I know, the top of the line diesels with dcc and sound can be pretty pricey but the largest fully featured steam engines make them look cheap by comparison.(unless I've been frequenting the wrong hobby shops)

just my 2cents.

YMMV

Eric

DING! DING! DING!  We have a winner!

Transistion era: lots of models available, diesels are cheaper than steam locos, I think as more people choose "1953 early diesels" because they are cheaper and more models for that era available, then that will just cause that era to become more and more dominant.

Honestly, I would like to model 1920's but I am simply afraid that the locos will be too expensive and there will not be enough rolling stock available. Hell, I'd like to model the 1850's but I simply know it would be a headache to find anything.

So I guess I am a diesel person by default.

 

Well it's true if you want a BLI sound equipped mallet it will run you $3-400, but if you shop around, very good running and nicely detailed Bachmann Spectrum steam engines are available at a good price. At Micro-Mark the Spectrum 2-10-0 goes for I think $159 with sound, the 2-8-0 goes for about $10 less. Both those engines can be bought "DCC ready" (run on DC, but easily converted to DCC) for under $100 (more like $60-70 range). Life-Like makes some very nice engines, a little more expensive but still very reasonable overall.

There are also a fair number of easy plastic kits available for 1920's era freight and passenger cars, and some very advanced kits too that make what in the 1970's would be "contest quality" models. So there's really no reason you couldn't model the '20's.

Back to engines, for many years steam lagged behind diesel. The smooth running - moderately priced diesels from Atlas for example really had no match in the steam engine models of the 1980's, many of which were holdovers from the 1950's. I think a lot of people moved into the diesel era because of that. Plus decoration improved greatly in the nineties, so you could buy say an Athearn engine and didn't have to choose between painting and lettering it yourself, or settling for a second-rate paint job. But now as noted earlier we have a number of really nice looking and great running steam engines around, which aren't all that expensive really.  

BTW steam lasted a little longer than the early fifties; many large railroads ran steam thru 1957-58, even to 1960...but each year the number of engines were declining rapidly, it is true you'd be much less likely to see steam in 1957 than in 1952, even on a road still using steam.

 

[WaxonWaxov]

One reason I can think of off the top of my head is cost.

It seems like you can get a quality diesel locomotive for quite a bit less money than the same quality steam loco.

I know, the top of the line diesels with dcc and sound can be pretty pricey but the largest fully featured steam engines make them look cheap by comparison.(unless I've been frequenting the wrong hobby shops)

just my 2cents.

YMMV

Eric

DING! DING! DING!  We have a winner!

Transistion era: lots of models available, diesels are cheaper than steam locos, I think as more people choose "1953 early diesels" because they are cheaper and more models for that era available, then that will just cause that era to become more and more dominant.

Honestly, I would like to model 1920's but I am simply afraid that the locos will be too expensive and there will not be enough rolling stock available. Hell, I'd like to model the 1850's but I simply know it would be a headache to find anything.

So I guess I am a diesel person by default.

 

[dehusman]

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.

Steam ended in the early 50's.  Yes I know there were pockets of steam here and there.  But real steam operations ended about 1952-1954.  On average by 1955, if you saw a train go by, it was pulled by diesels, steam was the exception by then.  To remember anything more than a memory, to have any understanding of what "steam operation" was you have to be somewhere between about 8-12 years old.  So that means that in order to "remember steam" you have to be born before about 1947.  Anybody younger than that, their "steam memories" are basically fan trips and museum runs.

There are more steam engines produced today in more variety than anytime before.  And they sell.  So if you run what you remember that means the vast majority of the people buying steam engines are 60+ years old. 

I don't think so.  The popularity of the 1950's era is because it offers a variety of power unlike any other era, not because people distinctly remember it.

The first F units I can remember seeing in service were when I  was 18 years old in the mid 1970's.  I never saw a steamer other than in a museum or fan trip.  But I model the 1900-1905 era.  So maybe some pick something they remember but I don't think it is a hard and fast rule.

Dave H.

[mechanic]

One reason I can think of off the top of my head is cost.

It seems like you can get a quality diesel locomotive for quite a bit less money than the same quality steam loco.

I know, the top of the line diesels with dcc and sound can be pretty pricey but the largest fully featured steam engines make them look cheap by comparison.(unless I've been frequenting the wrong hobby shops)

just my 2cents.

YMMV

Eric

[MisterBeasley]

I was born in 1947, and I've seen very few steam engines in action.  The pride of my childhood Lionel layout was a GG-1, still one of my favorite engines, and that's neither diesel nor steam.  My HO layout which came along in my teenage years was mostly diesel, but I did have a couple of yard-sale steamers, too.

I planned my current layout to be diesel-only, with the possible exception of an "excursion train" to be pulled by steam.  But then, I was at my LHS and he was demoing a Proto 0-6-0 with sound, and, well, it was love at first toot.  Now, I've made my layout dual-era so that I can run either diesels or steamers.  Gotta love them all.

[Medina1128]

As has been stated a few times here, I think it comes down to what one's familiar with. Me? I was born in the cusp of what most call the transitional period. My father was in the Air Force and we went to Europe, so I have vague memories of steam power. I grew up mostly with diesels. My first layout was strictly Santa Fe and Southern Pacific, as we had both in Phoenix. There were both a Santa Fe yard and an SP one. My fictional short line is owned by an eccentric gentleman who grew up riding steam powered trains, but he's also a businessman who know that, while they are nice, steam powered trains don't generate the kind of income necessary to keep his steam fleet afloat. With that being said, he has stocked his RR with mostly diesel, and being a shrewd businessman, he keeps an eye out for leased equipment, hence, the many color schemes on his RR. But, on occasion, he likes to put together a steam consist for railfanning and excursions. The nice thing about this, is that I live in an older midwestern town, complete with its older buildings, so it doesn't take to explain the Santa Fe #3751 sitting at the passenger depot while a Union Pacific consist headed up by GP38-2s. And mostly... I don't care.. I'm having a good time "playing with trains".

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I grew up around diesels and every train I've riden on (with the exception of tourist lines) was pulled by diesels. My first electric trains were all diesels. I've had some steamers over the years but the extra maintenance and care for small detail parts did them in. I run all diesel now with the exception of a tourist train that's pulled by a Mehano 2-10-2, and that runs only a few times a year. My other steamers (4-6-0 Hall Class, 0-6-0 USRA, 4-6-2 K4) are all display queens. My favorite diesels are the E and F units and I have an assortment of geeps that I run regardless of era. It's not unusual to see an E6 and GP38-2 running together on my layout. As I told one of my neighbors, if you expect to see prototype practice here you're in the wrong place. One of my lashups is a F7 leading a GP50. How off the wall is that?

[BRAKIE]

May I quote my Grand pap?

"Any dang fool that likes a steam locomotive never had to fire one of those sons of guns.

I didn't use his "colorful" words.Oh how he hated a steam locomotive.. My other Grand pap loved them-go figure.Both started their long railroad careers as firemen and both ended up in the right hand seat before retirement.

 

I can vividly recall the last of main line steam in the Columbus(Oh) area in the 50s still I would rather model diesels.

[Anonymous]

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.

[aloco]

In part, I think it's the paint schemes.  Let's be honest, steam engines are almost 100% black

That is the first reason why I like diesels.  The paint schemes.

Second reason, I was born during the diesel era.  There were no prototype steam locos to watch when I was inspired to take up modeling.

Third reason.  Steam 'snobs'.  I don't hate steam locos and I don't dis steam locos, but if I hear/read about a steam fan dissing diesels (i.e. 'diseasels') I dig in my heels further and remain a die-hard diesel modeler.  

By the way, I have only one steam loco in my entire fleet of HO locos.   I run it once in a blue moon.  

[Paul3]

In part, I think it's the paint schemes.  Let's be honest, steam engines are almost 100% black (yes, there are exceptions).  A roundhouse full of steam engines can look pretty drab compared to a diesel house full of bright yellow, orange, red, etc. painted diesels.

The other major factor to me is the accuracy that's come into vogue.  Diesels were produced in batches by EMD, GE, ALCO, et al.  One RR's RS-1 looks pretty much like any other road's RS-1, meaning that manufacturers can make accurate diesels for a lot of different RR's.  Steam isn't that fortunate, other than the USRA types (yes, there are exceptions).  IOW, folks these days want accurate models for their RR's.  It's a lot easier to accurately model the diesel era than to accurately model the steam era.

Don't get me wrong, I love steam, and have been fortunate to ride behind steam in various museums.  But I love my diesels, too.

Paul A. Cutler III
************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
************

[NittanyLion]

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.

[WCfan]

They also look so similar to each other it takes a keen eye to tell them apart (also similar to today's cars).   What is it about diesels that interests you?

 

Actually, I could tell you the difference between every EMD from GP7-SD70ACe (The F units are Harder to tell the difference from, but it is possible). There are easy differences to spot in each locomotive car body except for the SD50, and SD60, and some new AC/DC versions. If you would like to know in Depth PM me...

What is it about diesels that interests you?

I grew up around Diesels, so I have a tie in there. I just love hearing the Primes movers (Especially in EMDs) reving up. The biggest thing I like is the sound in the older locomotives; SD45s would have to be my favorite. The SD45 is also the easiest locomotive to spot too...

...I just love those flares. I suppose that it's not just about the looks, but about the sound too. This video I took of 2 SD40-2, and an SD40 rebuild reving up from notch 1-notch 8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wO1xxAt9gc

I also have many more vids of SD40-2 at notch 8.

[shayfan84325]

My model railroading career has a 20-year gap in it:  I was a dedicated model railroader in the '70s, then pressed the pause button until about 2000, at which time I made a comeback.  Of course there were lots of changes in the hobby over the 20 years I was away, but one really puzzles me:  It appears that the majority of modelers are real fans of diesels; it's something of a reversal from 30+ years ago.  I'd like to understad why.

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?

Please, let's keep this respectful.