new arrivals

When I get something new I run the heck out of it.

It depends. I buy big, scale articulated locos because I want to have the model on the shelf and be able to look at it, etc. - Lionel Yellowstone, Allegheny Big Boy, and the new H7 when it arrives is a week or so, are examples.  I buy them but don't run them much.  I know going in they are really too big for my layout.  they will run on my layout but look weird doing so - boiler stick out and all.  Basically I never run them - shelf queens bought with that intention: for display. 

 

I've learned the "mid-size" locos - about 2223-25 incesh total length, work out best as runners: Legacy Berkshire, the Blue Comet and Southern Crescent, the ATSF 375X Northerns (just a bit big, but . . .).  I try to buy at least one new one of these a year and run the wheels off them from the moment I get them.

 I actually got too many engines too quickly several times. Some of them didn't get my full attention. Some times I bring one up and set it on my desk. It helps me appreciate the detailing and quality more. It also used to slow my habit of buying more. Now, nothing seems to work.

I've been in this hobby since 2004, and I haven't run the heck out of any of my engines; probably, most of them have low mileage. I like looking at them too, Lee; in different light, and in different positions - on my layout, or on a shelf.

 

I find the colors and the visible detail, vary with the type and time of day; there's usually something new to see...

 

I find my delayed release - is like getting a new unit, all over again.

 

 

Rick