BillbaI did not get a model of one until BLI came out with one in the 20 teens. A pretty beast indeed! Hooked on steam ever since! Never to late to have a happy childhood indeed!
I'll bet a 4-12-2 is an impressive locomotive in action. I have never heard a three cylinder engine run.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I was born in 1948 in the huge bustling metropolis of Marysville, Kansas. The one group of engines I remember running across the back of Dad's and Grandpa's farms were the UP 4-12-2 three cylinder monsters. I did not know the class or the name, nor was I afraid of the huge black moving buildings. I was in awe, and asked more questions than a three or for year old should have known to ask. So said Dad, Grandpa, Uncles and cousins.
I did not get a model of one until BLI came out with one in the 20 teens. A pretty beast indeed! Hooked on steam ever since!
Never to late to have a happy childhood indeed!
wrench567Built for a purpose and cosmetics be damned.
That's what I keep telling my wife.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Too bad. We went up on Columbus Day weekend with glorious foliage. Started in mist but climbed out into golden sunlight and glorious views to the Atlantic with ghostly mists in the lower valleys. Mist burned off on the downhill run. Great day for a ramble.
railandsail I have yet to see a photo of a diesel engine that comes even close to imparting the sense of power that this image conveys,.... I love steam engine models,...they are so intricate. (PS: Wish someone would produce this model in modern day hybrid plastics)
I have yet to see a photo of a diesel engine that comes even close to imparting the sense of power that this image conveys,....
I love steam engine models,...they are so intricate.
(PS: Wish someone would produce this model in modern day hybrid plastics)
so ugly only a mother can love. To me, the uglier the better. Pure utilitarianism. Built for a purpose and cosmetics be damned. I LOVE IT!!!
Keep your fancy shrouds and the glossy paint and give me something that works for a living. Engine men were proud of their steamers. Diesel were seen one seen them all when they started arriving in mass.
Pete
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
SeeYou190 pwaka88 Early train sets had both steam and diesel locomotives. I am not sure I ever received a Christmas train set with a steam locomotive. I know I had a couple of steamers when I was young, but not sure they came with train sets under the tree. -Kevin
pwaka88 Early train sets had both steam and diesel locomotives.
I am not sure I ever received a Christmas train set with a steam locomotive. I know I had a couple of steamers when I was young, but not sure they came with train sets under the tree.
Edit-
Posted above. Forgot to quote the post and can't locate an edit button.
In Canada Grocery chain Loblaws released train sets in the 1990s and early 2000s at Christmas under the President's Choice line featuring both steam and desiel once a year.
This link shows most of them:
http://www.theweebsite.com/trains/pctrain_s.html
Really wish they would bring this back. Featured some great Canadian trains.
For me, it was the old movies that featured steam-powered locomotives pulling passenger trains. The sounds were incredible! I never got to see a live steam locomotive until I saw the Union Pacific no. 844 4-8-4 Northern pull in to Union Station in Kansas City.As kids, our father built an oval with some sidings using a Märklin trainset. That was replaced by a couple of Lionel trainsets with F3s and a string of freight cars. The trains were replaced in high school with girls and cars. Finally, in my late 20s, I combined the two... cars when the weather was nice and my first HO model railroad layout.
I'm in my 60s now and once again, I've combined the two; an HO layout in the basement and a Mustang GT in the garage.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
BATMAN Wolf359 You hear so many different sounds that you don't get with a diesel. You can hear the hiss of steam, the buzz of the dynamo, and the clanking of the air pump(s). It really does give the impression of a living, breathing thing. Plus, steam locomotives are a lot more interesting to see in action with so many of their moving parts visible, and the spent steam and smoke exhausting.
Wolf359 You hear so many different sounds that you don't get with a diesel. You can hear the hiss of steam, the buzz of the dynamo, and the clanking of the air pump(s). It really does give the impression of a living, breathing thing. Plus, steam locomotives are a lot more interesting to see in action with so many of their moving parts visible, and the spent steam and smoke exhausting.
Now that's a great example of steam and sound! That must have been a pretty cold day for the steam to billow out like that.
Brent,
Small world! My grandfather was with CN Police from the early '30s until he retired in '52, mostly in Transcona. He was a very popular guy so I expect he knew your grandfather.
CN Charlie
CNCharlie It is the motion, noise and feeling that a steam engine is alive that does it for me.
It is the motion, noise and feeling that a steam engine is alive that does it for me.
The same applies to me as well. I like many diesels, but steam is special to me as it has a number of interesting qualities that diesel doesn't. Case in point would be an idling locomotive. On diesels you can hear the prime mover turning over, and not much else. But, an idle steam locomotive is so much different. You hear so many different sounds that you don't get with a diesel. You can hear the hiss of steam, the buzz of the dynamo, and the clanking of the air pump(s). It really does give the impression of a living, breathing thing. Plus, steam locomotives are a lot more interesting to see in action with so many of their moving parts visible, and the spent steam and smoke exhausting.
The Mt. Washington Cog Railway turned out to be a major disappointment through nobody's fault. The weather didn't cooperate. I probably picked the worst day of the year. It was October and the remnants of a hurricane went through New England on the day I booked. The winds at the top were over 100 mph and they don't go to the top when it's that windy. It wouldn't have mattered if we did because the mountain was shrouded in fog and you could only see a couple hundred yards anyway. We got just above Jacob's Ladder before we stopped. Maybe someday I'll get back. Our guide told us about 7-10 days a year it is clear enough you can see five states, Canada, and the Atlantic Ocean.
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CNCharlieone of my earliest memories is going to the CN roundhouse in Transcona with him when I was about 4.
Charlie, my Grandfather ran that RH and the stories he told of keeping those steamers going through the war were facinating to me as a child. In 1939 when Canada entered the war Winnipeg was a huge crossroads and entry point for lend, lease from the U.S.
You probably saw Gramps when you went to the RH for your visit. How is that for 6 degrees of separation?
Steam locomotives fascinate me more than any other man made thing. I am not sure I would be in this hobby if there were only diesels.
I've seen the N&W 611 and the UP Challenger in person, along with the Mount Washington Cog Railway back in the 70s. The Cog Railway left the biggest impression on me.. not sure why. From a modelling standpoint, diesels look more realistic.. a big part of the allure of steam is the smoke and the sound.. in HO scale you have neither.. well.. maybe a few vapours from some models but nothing more.. thus steam is intrinsically less realistic than diesel.. lots of smoke not necessarily part of the modern diesel scene unless you're modelling badly tuned Alcos. And that goes double for electric locomotives.. in that case your model is electrically powered just like the real thing, and realism is therefore that much easier to come by.
I was born in '47 and CN ran steam in my hometown of Winnipeg until 1959. My Grandfather was with CN Police and one of my earliest memories is going to the CN roundhouse in Transcona with him when I was about 4.
It is the motion, noise and feeling that a steam engine is alive that does it for me. I spent many afternoons beside CN's mainline west out of Winnipeg in the late '50s when about 50% of the trains were steam. Most by then were oil burners so the smell wasn't quite the same. My parents rented a cottage at Victoria Beach, a beach town north of Winnipeg on Lake Winnipeg. It was only accesable by train until the mid-50s, the railway being CN. Every noon you could hear the daily passenger train whistle, usually a Pacific as it approached the station. As it was end of the line, they turned the whole train on a wye often with a few coaches loaded with kids, including me.
I have a few diesels on my layout but it is mostly steam.
Hi SeeYou 190
As long as its not the stinky oil burners
For those of us just old enough to have seen them in real revenue service ours finished in 1972 I think, its the sight sound and smell of them the smell of the coal and sort of baby oil smell they have.
The thrashing of the coupling rods as it moves they are the closest thing so far that man has made to a living thing, they even have there own quirks and personalities within the same class of locomotive some need a big fire some need a low fire.
Some are thirsty beasts others not and we still have not changed class yet.
Thats my thoughts.
Oh and the Thomas factor might play in it somewhere for some people.
regards John
Diesels are neat and can be exciting in their own way, but steam always wins. Steam is more ecclectic and has so many moving parts it's hypnotizing. Standing next to the beast makes you feel like your standing next to a living creature. Steam was gone a decade or more before I entered this world but it will always be my favorite. Fortunately there are more and more places to enjoy operating steam locomotives now.
OvermodI have heard since (I have wondered if this reflected a cracked exhaust manifold or some other maintenance-related issue).
Running diesel engines without exhaust manifolds is surprisingly different from one engine model to another.
A Caterpillar 3406 sounds like a top fuel dragster without the exhaust manifold, but a 12 cylinder 3512 is surprisingly quiet without the manifold even though it has twice as many cylinders and four times the cubic inches.
A tiny Detroit Diesel 3-53 with open exhaust will have the police called out. You can probably hear it for miles. It does not even sound like an engine.
Hearing a hydodynamic water pump installation run under full load can be fascinating. The engines are cooled through a heat exchanger in the water pipe so there is no fan making noise. There are no electrical components or gear boxes whining so you just hear the large bore 16 cylinder engine working. It is actually a spooky sound.
I have no experience with the engines you mentioned.
PRR8259I've only ever seen a handful of Alco Century diesels running, also, and even less of them actually pulling a freight train
One of the most impressive things I've experienced was one of PC's C636s coming through Trenton station at speed. The sound of the exhaust was loud enough to actually hurt the ears, easily the equal of most stack talk I have heard since (I have wondered if this reflected a cracked exhaust manifold or some other maintenance-related issue).
The GE U34CH locomotives would also provide a near-perfect approximation of a steam locomotive with poppet valves when accelerating away from stations, in particular north out of North Hackensack toward River Edge where you could hear echoes of the 'talk' for upwards of a minute. In the late '80s on a good cold winter night it was possible to hear one working south out of Suffern, accelerating and slowing and blowing for crossings, all the way from south of Westwood; I thought at the time it was remarkably like what a Pacific-hauled train on the Pascack Valley would sound like.
Modeling either of these 'correctly' for the experience would require much more of a sound system than usually provided in modeling, and absent that you'd never suspect the life that can beat inside those metal boxes.
rrebell Steam is just more complex. A simple service area for diesel is a fuel pipe and sand. For steam it is water, fuel, sand and ash pit, twice as much stuff. Also turntables are needed or wyes for steam but not for diesels. Service areas for repairs are more complex too for steam and you need more water tanks on the road.
Steam is just more complex. A simple service area for diesel is a fuel pipe and sand. For steam it is water, fuel, sand and ash pit, twice as much stuff. Also turntables are needed or wyes for steam but not for diesels. Service areas for repairs are more complex too for steam and you need more water tanks on the road.
...rod knocking, lubing with hand pot or grease gun, draining pumps,...
I think that those who worked on steam had to know them better. They developed a more intimate relationship and understanding of what made them work reliably. When you bend between two giant drivers and dab some oil here and there, you get to see more. You remember more. You notice more changes.
There were two sight glasses, two injectors, two pressure gauges, and they got both crewmen talking and sharing both information and concerns. Their sounds told the crew that things were changing...or steady. Both had to remind themselves that they relied on a robust and groomed fire to keep them on schedule. When one was busy with the fire, the engine's eyes became a single pair at track speed.
For me, it is the darkened loom with its roar and shaking earth beneath my feet, and the fear that it was going to topple over on me because it is impossibly top heavy...and rocking as it approaches. Water and mist was moving everywhere about me as it passed. And, the heat and concussive resonances of shockwaves as they emanated from the passing firebox caused by the repeated inflow and outflow of high pressure steam entering and leaving those hot cylinders.
To an uneducated kid, as I was back when I stood close-by and let Baldwin 2-8-0's thunder past me up the 3% grades in the Andes Mountains 60 years ago, locomotives threatened me, but they also compelled me. I stood, transfixed, in spitting distance and couldn't keep my eyes open when they bore down and roared past.
I like trains. I still do convenient rail fanning when wife and I drive through the Fraser Canyon. Who wouldn't. I do thrill to catch a diesel and train at a specific spot that elicits a great picture or two. But, I was a wide-eyed fan when I was knee high to me Dear Ol' Dad, and in Canada, and then in Peru, it was all steam until 1963 when the mining corporation purchased its first diesel, an ALCO 420 or whatever it was...definitely an ALCO.
I do like diesels, as my examples of southern BC rail fanning will attest:
However, this is where my treasure is, and my heart also:
Born in 1968, and I like Alco Century diesels...until you put a fine steam model up next to the Alco Century, which doesn't seem "alive" by comparison, and then the fine steam model just seems to...really outshine...even the best Alco Century model I can find. I've only ever seen a handful of Alco Century diesels running, also, and even less of them actually pulling a freight train.
I saw the Reading T-1 on the Freedom Train, but not moving, and my only experiences of live prototype steam are Strasburg, New Hope & Ivyland, Steamtown, Tweetsie, and the best one: Grand Canyon Railway 4960 actually working, pulling the train we rode (we rode the dome car).
I've effectively banned any more new diesels from my roster and switched to steam. All the Alco/MLW's are gone--sold in favor of steam. There's one Genesis Reading GP-7 in green and yellow and one old Stewart chicken wire PRR F-3A, partly to remember my friends who loved Reading and PRR and are now dead and gone. My son retains 3 modern diesels, but also has two 4-6-6-4's.
Even steam models just standing still with no sound are more exciting for me than diesels...but also sometimes it is challenging to get the model steam to run at its best.
John
I do have my favorites.
Like you guys haven't seen that picture before
Image from Back to the Future lll
Here's another 4-4-0 at 88 miles an hour slipping into a Time Warp.
TF
I think, for me at least, it must have something to do with the shape. There is a whole "form follows function" design of steam locomotives that is appealing to my eye.
I realized this because I really do not especially like the look of streamlined and skirted steam locomotives. That ruins the look for me.
I was born in the sixties, so I don't have that bond to the real steam locos others have. But to respond to the question, I like my little steam engines because they have cool moving parts. Adds interest to my miniature world... I never saw a real logging locomotive, but they are "king" on my home layout. Steam just adds more fun and detail in a small layout.
On the other hand, our club layout is on the larger side, with 3 levels in a 15 feet by 30 feet space, and I find that diesels are well suited for the long mainline there. I do run my steam, and they are always a hit, but diesels pulling a long set of cars look great in that wider space.
Simon