Steam locos

[mikesmowers]

I have been looking around on the internet for an Atlas steam loco. Nobody seems to have any, Does Atlas not make a steam loco? I am wanting to model about 1958, what steam loco do I need to look for? Thanks. Mike

[Anonymous]

You neglected to mention what scale.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I don't believe you're going to find one by Atlas. The ones I know of are made by Bachmann for the Spectrum line and the ones from BLI (Broadway Limited Imports), very good.

[mikesmowers]

I"m sorry, I should have told you, I'm HO

[Anonymous]

Maybe not in HO, but Atlas makes some very nice models in N.

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffrey-wimberly

I don't believe you're going to find one by Atlas. The ones I know of are made by Bachmann for the Spectrum line and the ones from BLI (Broadway Limited Imports), very good.

[tstage]

Mike,

You won't find ANY in HO from Atlas. Steam manufacturers in HO/configurations: (NOT an all-inclusive list)

Athearn - 2-8-2, 2-8-8-2

Bachmann - 0-4-0, 0-6-0, 0-8-0, 2-8-0, 2-10-0, 4-8-2 and others

BLI - 2-8-2, 4-8-2, 4-8-4

Bowser - build it yourself

Proto 2000 - 0-6-0, 0-8-0, 4-8-2

Rivarossi - Shay, Heisler, Climax, 0-8-0 and others

Trix - 2-8-2, 4-8-8-4

Mike, by 1958 most of the steam locomotives were pretty much either retired or scrapped. There were a few that hung around until the 60s. If you are freelancing then you can pretty much pick whatever. What would you be using the steamer for? Freight? Passenger? Yard switching?

Tom

[mikesmowers]

I would be using it mostly for freight. I do dot have any pass. cars and do not plan to have any. I do not know what a ''switcher'' even is. From your list, what brand would you say is the best? I am leaning twards like a 2-6-2 since I have a number of 18'' curves and do not waht a problem with derailments. Thank you. Mike

[METRO]

Some questions to think about when deciding upong a steamer:

How big is your layout? You don't want a big long steamer if your layout is only a 10 foot long switching yard.

How tight are your turns? Big steamers can't negotiate curves much tighter than 24" radius without having trouble.

Do you want passenger or freight? Most passenger locomotives had four lead wheels for better tracking at high speeds.

How experienced a modeler are you? If you're new to the hobby or haven't done much building you won't want to buy a steam kit like a Bowser yet, and some of the more advanced RTRs may give you problems as well. If you're new try a new IHC steamer, they're a bit more solid and can still be detailed once you become more skilled.

Finally, how much do you want to spend? Steamers are far more expensive than diesels and far more complicated. A good steamer can cost anywhere between $100 and $500 depending upon what engine and features you want.

Finally if you're modeling 1958 this period was about 2/3rds of the way through the transition from steam to diesel. The remaining steamers would probably be fairly newer at this point or very reliable designs. Short lines would have more steam than most Class 1s at this point, with a few notable exceptions. Some Class 1s would still have some large steamers especially the N&W, C&O and other coal hauling lines.

Cheers!
~METRO

[tstage]

Mike,

Switchers were used to "switch" cars around in classification yards to "arrange" them in a particular order to form a train for pickup. They were the backbone to the RR since their efficiency was crucial to saving time putting trains (i.e. lengths of cars) together. The adage "Time is money" was just as true for the RRs back then as it is now.

As far as my preference on brands: Proto 2000, BLI, and Trix. Proto 2000 has the 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 switchers which are beautifully detailed. They aren't strong on pulling but switchers didn't pull a lot of cars at a time anyhow. The newer ones with sound are great kinda pricey. You can still pick up the older non-sound ones for a good price.

BLI and Trix steamers are VERY nice locomotives, also. Bachmann makes some nice steamers as well but I have only seen their 2-8-0 run - which is a wonderful locomotive.

Mike, with 18" radius curves, you could still go with a 2-8-2 "Mike" (or Mikado) and be safe. BLI and Trix both make 2-8-2 Mikes. Both are nicely detailed but the Trix Mike is better at low-end speed. Trix drastically dropped the price on theirs by 50% a month or two ago - that's when I got mine. If you hunt around on eBay you can find some good deals on either one of them.

On a side note, I would LOVE to see Altas come out with a steamer. If they can make one as nice as they do their diesels, they could give both BLI and Proto 2000 a real run for their money.

Tom

[jeffrey-wimberly]

To my knowledge, the only road still using steam on a large scale by 1960 was the Norfolk and Western. Anybody who knows different, please let me know so I can update my information.

[selector]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffrey-wimberly

To my knowledge, the only road still using steam on a large scale by 1960 was the Norfolk and Western. Anybody who knows different, please let me know so I can update my information.

That would be true for continental N. America, but they were still used extensively in the Andes Mountains in Peru, and most likely elsewhere in S. America, in India, China, Poland, Czechosovakia, and a few other places...maybe even S. Africa.

I agree that 1960 is pushing it for the "serious" modeler who wishes to accurately portray railroading in USA in 1960.

[MisterBeasley]

Mike, you really, really owe it to yourself to go to a good LHS and demo a top-end steamer, one with high-quality factory sound installed. I'm a diesel guy myself, but Bob Grech's photos got me thinking about doing a "dual-era" layout after I've got my trackwork done and my scenery down. (Yeah, I know, that's a long time in the future for me, too.) I happened to drop into my LHS when he was testing a Tsunami installation in a BLI steamer, and he had a couple of others on the in-store layout, too. Like many aspects of model railroading, this had me feeling like a little kid again. Only this time, I was the kid out in the cold with his nose pressed against the window, just saying, "Some day, I'll get one of those."

To me, this is the way to go with steam. I've always been the kind of guy who will buy a bargain engine and wire in my own decoder and headlights, but these RTR engines are another thing entirely.

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffrey-wimberly

To my knowledge, the only road still using steam on a large scale by 1960 was the Norfolk and Western. Anybody who knows different, please let me know so I can update my information.

The N&W dumped steam early in 1960, before spring. The Illinois Central ran steam into the summer, and had some on standby into 1962.

Why does everyone always forget that the IC was a much bigger steam road than the N&W, and ran it longer?

[Anonymous]

I think that an IHC would be perfect for you. They run pretty well for the money and the detail on them is OK but not great. Best of all they are cheap as steamers go and you should be able to find any IHC you want for under $100. Also they have big flanges which may help avoid derailments on poor track

[selector]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JPM335

I think that an IHC would be perfect for you. They run pretty well for the money and the detail on them is OK but not great. Best of all they are cheap as steamers go and you should be able to find any IHC you want for under $100. Also they have big flanges which may help avoid derailments on poor track

Gee, Big Fella, I think I'll disagree with you on this on. The larger flanges will make contact with more imperfections on poor track, and will give our new friend fits....gets worse as the code of track reduces in number, too.

[METRO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by selector

QUOTE: Originally posted by JPM335

I think that an IHC would be perfect for you. They run pretty well for the money and the detail on them is OK but not great. Best of all they are cheap as steamers go and you should be able to find any IHC you want for under $100. Also they have big flanges which may help avoid derailments on poor track

Gee, Big Fella, I think I'll disagree with you on this on. The larger flanges will make contact with more imperfections on poor track, and will give our new friend fits....gets worse as the code of track reduces in number, too.

IHCs don't have large flanges on all of their locomotives anymore, they were retooled a few years ago to modern running standards.

At any rate however, I don't think an IHC steamer would be that great for this purpose. IHC has some great big steamers but I don't like their small stuff as much, it seems to be a bit cheaper in construction when you get smaller.

Also, I don't know of many class 1s that where using small steamers for freight in the United States in 1958. However, Canadian Pacific was still using absolutely ancient 4-4-0s then actually and I'm sure there were a good number of short lines around using steam then too.

I'd suggest going for that short line idea, you'll need to buy less equipment to make it believable, and you can run a greater variety of engines as short lines ran pretty much everything from old WWI (and older) steamers sometimes side by side with the newest Alco RS3s and GP9s.

I'd actually go for the Bachman Spectrum 4-6-0, it's a model of an older steamer but could still be used by a short line in 1958. Spectrums are decient models and look great, it may take a bit of fiddling to get running perfectly smoothly but I'm sure the help any good hobby shop could give you would make that not to difficult. It's also much cheaper than the Life Like P2K switchers (the walthers website currently has them on sale for $130 compaired with $225 for a P2K 0-6-0.

Cheers!
~METRO

[Virginian]

Obviously, IC did not have nearly as good a PR machine as the N&W. O. Winston Link and all the press the N&W garnered with their superb homebuilt steam locomotives surely didn't hurt either. They wrote songs about the '409' and the GTO. The Nash Metropolitan the Studebaker are barely footnotes now. Such it is.

[Anonymous]

Actually you can pick up a great little steamer on ebay for at most $40. On ebay look for a Bachmann 2-8-0. Specificlly it will be a Bachmann Plus 2-8-0. These are nice little bulletproof engines. Make sure if you find a 2-8-0 for sale that it is a Plus version. They released the same engine in thier standard line and it had a pancake motor that was a real dog.

I have two of these engines and they help serve as the backbone of my steam fleet