Would like to see a 1880s Ten wheeler offered to encourage wild west modeling.

[climaxpwr]

I would love to see a manufacture redo the old Tyco/Mantua 4-6-0 Dixie Belle ten wheeler, actualy based off Sierra Railroads #3 that has starred in several Western movies and the Back to the Future movie.  The late Wild West era is majorly igniored by today manufactures that you would think no railroads exhisted pre 1920 if you went by whats mostly made today.  The late 19th century is almost a model railroaders paradise, small equipment, gunslingers and stage coaches and colorfull engines that engineers actualy took pride in and kept squeaky clean most of the time.  Track was laid right on the dirt with little to no ballest.. In todays tight economy, mid size to huge layouts isnt what I have been seeing folks building, But more the smaller, almost back to the 4x8 layout size that was so popular for many years.  This smaller equipment lends itself to the tight curves that a small layout almost requires if you want continious running.  Tyco's old Dixie Belle and Mastadon were overscale to fit the motors available at the time(closer to 1:76th, OO scale), same with AHM's old time rolling stock and engines.  Some of those engines ran well, some were total pigs depending on how healthy the old open frame motor is.  Bachmann's 4-4-0's are still not the best, really need a pager motor drive inside the locomotive with the whole engine made of Diecast metal for traction.  Brass 4-4-0's are hard to find and expensive.  I really feel, looking at how Bachmann basicly created their own market with On30, that if a manufacture offered up a good running, late 1880's steam engine, heck even if model power brought back the two that Tyco/Mantua did but with can motors and sound/dcc ablities.  That we would see an increase in modelers modeling this time period.  The engines would also appeal to logging and other modelers of early shortlines where these engines ended their careers before getting scrapped or turned into museum/movie stars.   Depression era modeling/steam to diesel transistion might be one of the most popular eras, along with modern era, but thats either depressing to me or borring as every engine is a wide body on class 1 lines today.  But go back in time to the wild west, where most everybody wore a six shooter or a pair of them,  Horses, stage coaches ruled the trails and wood or early coal burning steam engines, with polished brass everywhere, traveled along light weight rail from town to town, getting held up by robbers.   Think of the scenes that could be staged, gun fights in town square, hangings if need be, trains being held up or the gang waiting just off the track for the approaching train.  This whole period set the stage for the railroads we model today, but is largely ignoired in the modeling community as a whole.  Which is a real shame.  Mike 

[wjstix]

A true-scale HO model of Sierra No.3 would be neat. It's an engine that's still around, and is "generic" enough that it could be used to represent engines from a number of other railroads.

I would say your view of the "old west" is maybe more influenced by Hollywood movie than accurate history books and such, but that's true for most of us I suspect.

[richg1998]

That era is not popular enough, anymore. Today, that is a niche market.

Athearn/Roundhouse tries with their HO, 4-4-0, 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 with Tsunami sound. I have all three but they are not 1880's. The air pumps are on the wrong side of the loco if you look up a lot of locos of the 1880's. I have a few dozen photos of locos of that era and very few have an air pump on the fireman's side of the loco.

Rich

[richg1998]

Bachmann has a HO, 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 with Tsunami sound but those are about 1915 era.

Rich

[galaxy]

I, too, would love to do a small "cowboy and Western" layout. I have some Ho sacle stuff more appropriate to that century and would love to buy some scale out houses just for kicks on the Happy Trail out back o'' the saloon with  the horse troughs out front!

The 1800's stuff is kinda gone by the way side. You either have to take "newer older stuff" that is not quite right, or scratch build your own.

*alas* someday I may have the space and time and energy to devote to an older "Western" themed layout! Now If only I can find some HO scale spitoons....

KY yie yie tippy eiy yie yay!

[ndbprr]

No

[IRONROOSTER]

I'd like to see the period from 1895-1905, maybe a couple more years on each end.

But I agree that there probably is not enough interest for that or the 1880's.

Paul

[tomikawaTT]

Back when I was a youngster going to the Saturday kiddy matinees, everything was cowboys, cowboys and more cowboys.  If the feature didn't star Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, then it probably featured an up-and-comer named Marion Morrison - better known as John Wayne.

Fast forward a couple of decades.  The heroes were running around in tanks or dropping bombs from all-metal planes.  John Wayne was fighting oil fires and leading Green Berets in combat.

Some of the last cowboy movies were some of John Wayne's last, and those `Spaghetti Westerns' that featured unlikely Italian and Spanish trains (and extras who had no idea of how a Stetson was supposed to look.)  The former were sad, but the latter caused the genre to be laughed to death.

People pass on, and the line of interest moves inexorably forward.  Some time in the future people will point to a display case of 2000-era rolling stock, laugh behind their hands and then go out to board their magical, computer-controlled, crashproof people mover.  If enough of the latter are all going in the same direction, they will hook themselves together and switch onto a dedicated lane - just like a train...

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - when not writing science fiction)

[gmcrail]

galaxy

*alas* someday I may have the space and time and energy to devote to an older "Western" themed layout! Now If only I can find some HO scale spitoons....

Well, SS Ltd. had some HO scale spittoons, IIRC.