I see I'm in fine company. Many have spoke of early influences......I was a lucky kid. I had two uncles who ran steam....Ike on the Erie, and Ed on the PRSL. I was fortuante to ride with both on several occasions during the late 40's. After college and military, I become a professional airplane driver...and I can honestly say that hanging on for dear life in a PRR K4 doing over 70 knots was far more exciting than anything I experienced in my 18 years of flying. Had railroads today used steam, I would have most definitely gone into engine service.
In 1950, Dad and I were at the Allendale, NJ depot waiting for Uncle Ike's new surprise..........it was a new RS2 and Ike and his fireman were wearing white shirts and ties...I guess as a gesture of things new and modern. We climbed aboard for our short run to Jersey City. A few miles down the pike, I was bored as was Dad. Apparently so was Uncle Ike as he retired the next year mourning the loss of his beloved K1 4-6-2.
Also my dad was an incurable trainaholic and then some. I had nowhere to go, but into the basement and play with my trains.
Seeds????
HZ
Who is modeling steam era today.
nw2I was born in the early 60s, I model conrail in the 80s. The earliest era I considered was the late 60s to late 70s PC -conrail period. Have no real interest in steam, although I do like the 0-4-0 dockside steamer.
I just got through reading the 29 posts posted in this thread, as of this moment in time. All, except the above post, are from people of all ages who are interested in steam! Each post was written by a different person. Of course this is too small a number of people, to give a clear cross-section of the model railroading public; but, I think it very interesting that an interest in steam can come from such diversified ages.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Jim, in his earlier post, noted he switched to diesel in the last century as the MR steamers of the 70's and 80's were not all good runners, but has now obtained 7 steamers that run great.
I will echo that except I never went diesel beyond getting a few Atlas RS-1's (kato drives) in the 80's. The smoothness and low speed characteristics of those impressed me mightily.
Still, I adored steam. In the 90's I dropped model railroading for a period of over 12 years, a bit disappointed that even expensve brass steamers that I purchased were not slick runners.
I was dragged back into HOn3 by Blackstone's offerings with sound and DCC coupled with a slow speed operation that rivaled the finest diesels. I did leave the HO standard gauge behind, but stayed in the HO scale.
My love for the narrow gauge actually simmered over many years and was an unrequited love until 2009 when I decided to leap back in. Steam, for me, is a joy and little steam is a great place to hang my free-lancing hat.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
narrow gauge nuclear Jim, in his earlier post, noted he switched to diesel in the last century as the MR steamers of the 70's and 80's were not all good runners, but has now obtained 7 steamers that run great. I will echo that except I never went diesel beyond getting a few Atlas SW-1's (kato drives) in the 80's. The smoothness and low speed characteristics of those impressed me mightily.
I will echo that except I never went diesel beyond getting a few Atlas SW-1's (kato drives) in the 80's. The smoothness and low speed characteristics of those impressed me mightily.
I don't know that I agree with the opinion that there were no good running steam engines back-in-the-day. I had many Mantua, Rivarossi and MDC-Roundhouse steam locos that ran just fine.
Excepting the Rivarossi locos, they were built from kits with additional care to enhance their operating abilities.
I'm 30 and I model the transition-era Pennsy, no easy task in N Scale with its lack of steam. I've always loved the Pennsy since I went to Horseshoe Curve with my dad. I've also thought steam engines are just more interesting to watch with the side rod action. Not to mention the fact they have a lot more character.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
GP-9_Man11786 I'm 30 and I model the transition-era Pennsy, no easy task in N Scale with its lack of steam. I've always loved the Pennsy since I went to Horseshoe Curve with my dad. I've also thought steam engines are just more interesting to watch with the side rod action. Not to mention the fact they have a lot more character.
In three weeks I will be 75.
I learned about steam from an Uncle that joined the MO PAC during WW2. When I was a kid I would watch from our home about a half mile from the tracks that ran through the valley below us. I can still hear the whistle as he greeted us.
I agree with GP9, and the men that designed and built steam should get more credit than I think they get. In my opinion, in the time period the Challengers and Bigboys were designed and built the complexity would compare to that of the space shuttle.
Just saying.
Lee
I used to have a strong interest in steam........but after being a member of Pennsylvania Live Steamers for 14 years and spending 9 months in the backshop of Strasburg RR.......I now have no interest what-so-ever in steam..........I think they should all be scrapped.
I model October 1974 on my layout........all first and second generation DIESEL`s.
Dennis Blank Jr.
CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad
I was born in 1953. And I am modeling the transition era in the 1950's. I have not purchased any diesels yet and may never do so. I do have 14 various steamers. Most of the 2-8-0's and a few articulated monsters.
Howard ZaneOld codgers like me........
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I was born in 1962 and my layout is set in the 1920s. Growing up my only exposure to real steam locomotives was the Strasburg railroad. At 12 years old it was just a fun choo-choo to ride. When I went to college, I rode the Chessie steam special in the New River Gorge. From then on I was hooked on steam. I had no interest in diesels or electrics anymore. As an adult I have visited the Strasburg, Western Maryland Scenic and Steamtown many times because it's a treat to watch the steam locomotives in operation. I collect old postcards of the B&O in the golden years of railroading, and I have to say this excites me more than any other era. I wish some whiz kid would invent the holodeck so I can experience railroad in it's heyday.
Born in the 1990s, and model a protolanced 2014 Wheeling &Lake Erie+freelanced a short line. With a museum planned for my eventual layout, I can and will be running Pennsylvania RR steamers on "fan appreication trips" and "mainline steam". I switched to the wheeling, because very few model it, and it is the closest non class one to me. I do PRR steam, but the price of steamers got me out of that era. Ive been around steam for most of my life, mostly Narrow gauge steamers, and saw my first mainline steam in 2013-NKP 765 at the Galitizin tunnels
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
I'm definitely a steam guy, modeling the 1910s--about 60 years before my time.
Later,
K
rdgk1se3019 I used to have a strong interest in steam........but after being a member of Pennsylvania Live Steamers for 14 years and spending 9 months in the backshop of Strasburg RR.......I now have no interest what-so-ever in steam..........I think they should all be scrapped. I model October 1974 on my layout........all first and second generation DIESEL`s.
I grew up in the '50s and was up close and personal with C&NW and IC steamers. They are the epitome of "power", and will imprint a kid's brain for life!
My layouts have always been a mix of steam/diesel circa the '50s. On this last layout I thought of just having first generation diesels, but I just couldn't do it.
For a layout having steam, a "must have" is the service facilities, which are often the centerpiece of a layout. Diesel facilities are just of little comparison.
Model steamers are truly impressive, especially with the sounds and sights of the moving valve / side rods, but they are also (typically) much more finicky than diesels.
Of course most all steamers come in black and are naturally "dirty", while diesels come in a rainbow of colors, and tend to be better maintained (cosmetically).
All that being said, I believe that model railroaders who never were around steamers just don't have the inertia to model them. They will tend to model what they grew up with or have been around in recent times.
Ha, I suspect in another 50 years or less, modeling the "steam era" will be about as popular as modeling the trains of the 1860s is today.
Just my thoughts/opinions - take them or leave them.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I was born in 1957, last of the baby boom, never saw a steam loco in regular service - except Strasburg. I live near there and my parents took us there regularly growing up, still go there several times a year.
I model the early 50's, freelanced, large east coast double track class I, with a good 50-50 mix of steam and diesel.
Sheldon
Excellent video Kevin. A great way to enjoy the first cup of the day.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Well...I was not going to say anything, but....I was born Chicago 1942 and have experienced many steamers, streetcars, interburbans, elevated, even subways. When I was younger, I modeled mostly steam and built and still have a lot of steamers, that I do run sometimes. I like smokey dirty RS's and have quite a few of them and other Zebra stripe Diesels. I do what I feel at any moment in time. The layout is set up so 30's to 80's equipment will look at home, by just changing vehicles/rail equipment and that is the way I like it....nothing is fixed in stone, so to speak. I do WHAT I feel. To me, that is what a hobby is. Diversity.
Take Care!
Frank
I have one Steam locomotive, it may stay that way unless Kato decides doing SP&S #700 as their next big N scale steamer. I have a GS4 because my brother and I wore out an old VHS tape of 4449 going from Portland to California with a full daylight consist, it was an excursion train but it's been so long since I've watched the video.
Diesels are the norm, and I'm modeling something way before I was born. So the modeling of "what one grew up with" is not an excuse I can fall back on. modern units and cars are nice to see in real life but, I want to model something exotic. what better way to do that than with streamlined F's(and one E) units, rounded RS units, and the new on the scene angular EMD's.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
kstrongI'm definitely a steam guy, modeling the 1910s--about 60 years before my time.
Very nicely done!
Wayne
Howard,I can remember the last of main line steam between '54-58 in Columbus,Ohio and I recall the railroad filth of that era.
I have model steam from time to time but,I perfer diesels any day and any era..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I was born in 68 and never even remember the Mighty PRR but my grandfather worked for the PRR and I model the transition era for it. I model the E & P branch from Mahoningtown PA (Lawrence Jct) to Erie. He worked as a track walker based in Mahoningtown. Boy do I miss his stories of the mighty PRR. :-(
I was born in 1968, and much of my modeling has been in the diesel era. However, as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate steam power more and more. No, I was not there and cannot remember steam, but I no longer buy any diesels (my son still has two on the layout). I do cheat with some 1960's freight cars because I like the bright color schemes, but on "my" railroad, the steam engines lasted a few years longer than they did in real life. That said, I don't have any piggyback operations, 89' flat cars or long autoracks, and there's no 100 ton open hoppers or hi-cube boxcars. So I guess you could say that I'm "modeling" things as they might have been had diesels come later and the steamers lasted about one decade longer to 1967.
John
I was....until Broadway Limited 400+ dollar locomotives became the only PRR option on the market,. I switched to modern Wheeling and Lake Erie.
I came at the very end of steam and missed all of the fun ! I LOVE steam ! I model the N&W in the transition era or whatever steam engine or early diesal that strikes my fance (freelance ) and it is HO for me. Although I do have a an O gauge set and a little N oval for the grand kids.
Later
YGW
Won't tell my age, but my wife and I recently celebrated our 55th anniversary.
Still remember my consternation about a locomotive seen at a grade crossing near Norfolk in 1941 - I was SURE there were two locos approaching (I could see 2 sets of drivers) but only one boiler steamed past. Years later I figured out that I had seen one of N&Ws ubiquitous Ys.
Actually, I don't 'model steam.' I model what was (or might have been) present at one specific place at one specific time - the Upper Kiso Valley in September, 1964. That means catenary motors (1500VDC) and EMU, coal-burning steam, a few brand-new diesel-hydraulics and DMU on the JNR, while the connecting TTT soldiers on with a motley collection of ancient teakettle tank locos and homebuilt (from other people's scrap) articulateds. The two narrow gauge lines run electric mini-locos and 'critters,' the latter having recently replaced wood-burning steam in the highly flammable woods.
Why do I model what I do? Somewhere in my mass of miscellany is a photo of my wife and our toddlers standing in front of Kiso Rintetsu #1 (0-4-2T, Baldwin 1927) at Agematsu, taken in September, 1964. We had a wonderful time. Went back 11 years later and found everything changed - and the changes were not improvements.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in the Alfred E. Neumann universe)
I was born in 1951 and have few recollections of steam. I remember our family traveling from Omaha to Chicago on the Burlington for Christmas in 1959 and we passed a steamer that was parked and remember my mother telling me that steam weren't being run any more. I'm wondering if that was UP's 4023 that was parked. It's still on display in a park in south Omaha. A few summers earlier we made the same trip by car and I believe it was somewhere in Iowa we looked over and there was a short train being pulled by a steamer. I have no idea where we were or what railroad it was.
When I got back into model railroading in the late 1970s, I had no intention of running any steam. I didn't yet have a concept but I just had no interest in running steam because I had almost no memories of it. Then for no particular reason I bought an AHM UP Mikado and I was hooked. I decided I had to have steam on my layout. I've been through two moves since and each time I started a new railroad it has been a fictional transition era railroad. My current layout is a fictional subsidiary of the NYC and it has plenty of steam and diesels. I haven't taken an inventory but I would guess the steam slightly outnumbers the diesels.
Since the last time I posted on this thread back in 2014, I've acquired several more steam engines: the BLI NH I-4 4-6-2, a Key NH R-1b 4-8-2, and a Key NH R-1a 4-8-2.
John,Why not run TOFC behind steam? The NH did, starting in 1937 (about a year after the CGW). Of course, they were twin 24' vans on a 50' flat, or twin 26' vans on a 54' flat, but they did haul a lot of TOFC traffic behind steam for a good 10+ years before diesels took over completely.
Paul A. Cutler III
I was born in '50 and unfortunately I can count the number of times I've seen a running steam loco on my fingers - so I didn't grow up with steam. Despite this "deprived" childhood, I model 1910 because my favorite locos are old Consolidations and early Mallets, I like pre-USRA cars and the pre-WW1 time in general.
I model NE PA because of my family roots, camelbacks just came along with the bargain... which goes to show that you can get used to just about anything!
Jim
I was born 1961
I model trains from the 1960's I just caught the last wag of the steam
so steam features on my railroad.
It has been said that basicaly we model the trains of our youth a fact pretty much born out in the model press.
Give it another twenty years or so and the only steam models that will be avalable ready to run will all be on heritige sites or in museums.
Steam modeling will probably be a special interest area of the hobby by then.
regards John