Steam or Diesel – Which Do You Prefer?

Enjoy diesels, I run engines my grandson sees locally. I do have one steam engine because I enjoy watching and listening to it run.

@MELGAR posted:

... I mostly run smaller types with 0-4-0, 0-6-0, 0-8-0, 2-6-0 and 4-6-0 wheel arrangements ...

I'm returning to the hobby after 30 years or more - and looking around at all of these super long centipede/decapod steamers everyone seems so in love with - it makes me wonder if the 'smaller' wheel arrangements were rare or something like that. I always thought those 'big-boy' types were few and far between

I have dozens of steam and 5 or 6 diesel/electrics.

Straight electrics, two-rail and three-rail:

I also have three E. P. Alexander bronze GG-1s but no photos of them that I can post.

Although I love smoking diesels, particularly MTH PS3 diesel switchers running on DCS, my vote is for steamers, particularly MTH PS3 steam switchers.

They tend to be the best operating locomotives on my around the walls switching layout with 031 curves and numerous 022 switches and sidings.

The above diesels and steamers run equally flawlessly; I just usually, but not always, find the steamers to be more appealing.

It's a close call for me.

One more thing: love this topic, Mel.

@woodsyT posted:

I'm returning to the hobby after 30 years or more - and looking around at all of these super long centipede/decapod steamers everyone seems so in love with - it makes me wonder if the 'smaller' wheel arrangements were rare or something like that. I always thought those 'big-boy' types were few and far between.

I have dozens of steam and 5 or 6 diesel/electrics.

It seems that O gauge model railroaders favor "big steam" locomotives even though the smaller wheel arrangements were built in larger numbers. For example - Union Pacific had 25 Big-Boys (4-8-8-4) compared to 1375 USRA 0-8-0 steamers that were run by railroads throughout the United States.

MELGAR

Here are a couple of my favorites in action:

The smoking diesel is an LC+ D&H RS3 (love the D&H livery), and the steamer is an LC+ Erie Camelback (love the detail). Arnold

Steam engines just have a great appeal to me.So I lean that way but on the 1950's layout, first generation diesels have their place as well.

Growing up I had a friend with a '68 GTO, and another with a '69 GTO.  Radically different body designs, but I loved both.  Now that I can afford a really nice restoration of one of those bad boys, I have no interest in getting one.  I prefer the latest/greatest cars with a lot of high-tech gadgets (heads up displays, cameras, lane detection, etc.).  I guess that attitude goes onto trains.  I think a highly detailed steam engine is cool, but I'd much rather get modern diesels.

I like both but I guess I'd have to say diesels from the transition era up to the 70's are my preferred choice. Varied body styles and paint schemes bring more color and variety to the layout.
I do have several 0-4-0's and 0-6-0's along with a couple MPC 2-4-2's and one post war 2-6-4 Prairie steamer. My 027 curves don't allow for much more than that.
On my future layout with larger curves will live a few LIRR Consolidations for sure!

On my old HO layout, a pair of Rivarossi steamers were the queens of the fleet. I ran the wheels off the Hudson and the grab bars show the wear and tear of little hands. I got the Y6b when I was a little older and took better care of it.

Bob

Both diesel and steam engines.  I tend to lean toward steam when people are over to watch the trains.  Seems that’s what the peoples want most to see.

Steam all the way. The only diesels that appeal to me are E or F units.

Mostly PW Lionel Steam and Diesel

My preference is steam. It’s the era I like. I like autos from that time period as well as wooden boxcars. The road I mainly model only had a handful of Alco RS switchers. But I do like the early Alco’s and have a few New New Haven models. I like the Alco sound. Not really a fan of others as the prime mover sound starts to bug me after a few minutes running.

I run 3 rail scale and fixed pilots are kind of a must. They aren’t for everyone and require a bit of work and there’s no turning back on some models if you have thoughts of ever reselling. I’m pretty much done buying at this point. The only 2 engines I have on order though happen to be diesels. Rutland RS1’s that Beth is custom running.

Operating sessions on my layout last about 15 minutes or less, before I move on to other things. So I have only 6 locomotives of which 5 are diesels (Union Pacific and Santa Fe) and 1 steam (Polar Express). So for me, it’s clearly diesels.

Here’s my favorite diesel.

Only one diesel and that’s my son’s engine. So you can say I’m an all steam operation.  Check out my YouTube videos for my roster

@PRRMP54 posted:

Straight electrics, two-rail and three-rail:

Electrics are just diesel-electrics without the diesel.  Wish someone would make descent off-the-shelf catenary, either working or not.

As a child of the late 60's and early 70's, first and second generation locomotives were all that I had ever been exposed to.  Steam locomotives were mythical creatures that my parents and grand parents spoke of, but I had never actually seen.  Sure, I knew what a steam locomotive looked like because of the Lionel and Marx steamers that I had been introduced to as a child, but a real steam locomotive was about as real, to me, as dragons and unicorns.  The steam locomotives at amusement parks were even considered facsimiles in my mind. 

My first encounter with a live steam locomotive was when I was in my early 30's.  The 765 was being run to Lima to have the boiler re-tubed at the old Lima Locomotive Works.  It passed right behind my place of employment.  It was a true thrill to see a working steam locomotive on main line trackage.

With all that being said, I believe my heart is truly in the diesel camp, but only first and second generation equipment.  Modern diesels pulling unit trains of hoppers, double stacks, tankers and auto racks cause me to yawn and lose interest about a dozen cars into the train.

I do have a couple of steam locomotives on my layout, but only because I saw Mel's NYC Ten Wheeler and was smitten.  The steamers see occasional run time, but my diesels do all the heavy lifting.

Tom

For me it's close but I'll have to give the nod to diesels for the myriad of colors and paint schemes over the mostly basic black of steamers.  Of the 25 steamers I have, 14 are not black.  Some colors are prototypical or a representation of a prototypical scheme, and some are whimsey  When running the steamers are much more interesting, hands down.  The action of the running gear, more appropriate smoke and much better sounds.  Newer diesels often smoke too much and the sound systems are just not capable of producing that deep, ground shaking rumble of the real thing and once up to speed the drone can become annoying.  The chuffs, whistle and associated steam sounds most often sound better than the diesel sounds.  Since this is the Photo and Video Album forum here are some pictures.

Four Hudsons, wearing representations of prototypical schemes and a fantasy NYC Pacific by K-Line.  not a single plain black loco among them.

A Williams Santa Fe Blue Goose, I know, wrong wheel arrangement but what a pretty paint scheme, a blue Wabash Hudson and a Southern RR Pacific

Whimsical

I know some GN steamers wore green, i just don't know if 4-4-2s or4-6-4s did or if GN even had these wheel arrangments.

Another NYC Hudson, not black but I don't think the gray is prototypical.  I'm making my NYC friends, Harmon Yards, Norton and CentralFan1976 cringe right about now.

And now for some diesels and electrics.

"Drivin' diesel:

Drivin' steam:

Clickety clack, down the tracks, of my dreams."

Who Am I (Rollin' By)

Arnold D. Cribari

What a great topic. Every point of view here is so true.

Here’s what I think - not only do I like steam and diesel, but electric too of course!

I always liked STIESEL

Steam for me, although I have lots of F3 and Alcos. and a couple of electrics

Steam has more smoke, chuffing, rods and linkages, and friends and family like them better.

@coach joe posted:

For me it's close but I'll have to give the nod to diesels for the myriad of colors and paint schemes over the mostly basic black of steamers.  Of the 25 steamers I have, 14 are not black.  Some colors are prototypical or a representation of a prototypical scheme, and some are whimsey  When running the steamers are much more interesting, hands down.  The action of the running gear, more appropriate smoke and much better sounds.  Newer diesels often smoke too much and the sound systems are just not capable of producing that deep, ground shaking rumble of the real thing and once up to speed the drone can become annoying.  The chuffs, whistle and associated steam sounds most often sound better than the diesel sounds.

@coach joe,

That is quite an impressive collection.

MELGAR

Depends.  I chose 1949 as my layout's era because I could run both plus I prefer diesel cab units over hood units.  My initial thought was to concentrate on steamers but my diesel fleet seems to keep getting larger, especially unique diesels like the Centipedes and Passenger Sharks.

However, if I want to do some switching operations, I usually run my diesels because they have operating couplers on both ends plus normally track through my switches better than my steamers.  If I want to sit back with a Bud Light and run the trains around the main loop, I will run the steamers.  Also, I will run the steamers when my wife is with me since she likes them better.

Diesels. First generation, please. Reasons ... cost, space, cool era, and they look ornery.

My only steamer is a Legacy Y6b, which only comes out when my Christmas Carpet Central takes over our big family room.

For me, the answer is definitely “yes”…

Love all of it.

Jeff C

Well my collection is primarily "toy" trains from the pre-war era up until about 1968.  I graduated from College in 1966 and started graduate school and that was followed by USAF so trains were pretty well forgotten until our own kids came along in the middle 70's.  So my steam locomotives have smoke with a whistle in the tender and that is about it.  My diesels often have no sound at all except a few late model WbB locomotives.  My layout is too small to run much larger than an Berkshire and mostly its 2-4-0 or 0-4-0 steamers from the steam side and cab units and early GP's from the diesel side.  Except switchers which I have continued to collect and operate as they run so very much better on my little layout (no front trucks to come off, no hesitation on switches, etc).  I am old enough to have ridden behind a steam train, in about 1952-53 on a branch line (of the Erie RR) from NJ into NY when my Dad took me to the city for "Fleet Week" in NY.  Other than that singular experience, all my steam engine experience was on railfan trips.  So I guess I would have to vote for the diesel crowd as those locomotives operate much more easily on my little RR.

The largest steamer I operate and the largest that will operate on my layout.  The Lionel 736 Berk.

A pre-war Marx Commodore Vanderbilt steamer.  0-4-0 on this model by Marx, so it runs on these tight curves real well.

A pre-war American Flyer (Chicago Flyer) version of a 2-4-4 from the 30's.  Runs well but the leading truck often derails.

First generation diesels - Alco PA #2032 by Lionel 1952-1954.  Great runner, pulls anything I put behind it.

Lionel 2344 NYC F-3 1950-1952.  2 motors , growls some, pulls anything.

Some "little" steamers ....Hornby 0-4-0 M3 locomotive 1950's

Hornby M1 locomotive and tender 0-4-0 available into the early 1960's.

Tough choice for sure.  I must admit my absolute favorites are those locomotives that operate flawlessly and are easy to maintain regardless of whether they are steam or diesel.  In my collection those tend to be the diesels.

Best Wishes

Don

Ahhhh I changed my mind  its definitely Dieam

Great topic, Mel!!

I prefer steam over diesel, but do have some first generation diesels.  I guess the reason is nostalgia.  The last of the steam on mainline railroads was right after I was born.  So, whatever was running in the 1950's is what I like.  Of course it is very interesting to watch the movement of the drive rods and see all the smoke and steam coming out of a steam engine.  Watching a diesel can be a bit boring after seeing a steam engine operate.  Maybe I would have more steam engines and less diesels if it weren't for the same problem the railroads face, cost to make and operate.

4-6-2

2-10-0 and F3

GP7

BL2

I see I need to get a photograph of my favorite engine a Western Maryland Russian Decapod.  I also need to get photographs of the B&O SD7, WM F3, WM RS3, and WM 2-8-0.  So much for color on the diesels.  They are all black or dark blue. 

I have mostly diesels and electrics with two PRR steamers.

@coach joe posted:

For me it's close but I'll have to give the nod to diesels for the myriad of colors and paint schemes over the mostly basic black of steamers. 

Diesels certainly do have a big edge on the colors Joe.

When I started the model railroading layout I thought the myriad of colors was too garish on the diesels to get too involved in buying them.

However after seeing real diesels on old videos with all the colors being prototypical I soon changed my mind.

Of interest though was the steamers attracting so much attention with the action of the side rods whenever visitors came for a visit the layout..........................I'll have to go with the steamers having a SLIGHT edge.

Lately I've been running and love the look, sounds, ozone and smoke rings of PostWar Lionel Steamers.

2037, 2056, 2065, etc. pullin' traditional size freight cars. 681. 682 pullin' traditional size passenger cars - I can watch and them forever. Just something special about them!

That said, I also love the colorful PostWar diesels and electrics; FM's, F3's, GP's GG1's, 44 tonners andNW2 switchers - I've made matching cabooses for most of them. These, especially the FM's and dual motored F3's can pull long, heavy PostWar cars even up grades with no issues

I like scale steam and scale F3s and F7s.

Ben I don't think you can get any Stiesel out side the Tri-State area, but boy is it good!

Thank you Mel. Living on Long Island for 30 years provided access to quite a few train dealers, hobby shops and train shows.  I tried to stay in the shallow end of the pool when it came to costs.  Most are conventional and most are pre-owned.  I made a brief foray into TMCC, before the layout, two houses ago became history.  Looking to expand my roster, I was looking for Wabash product to go with my Iron Horse Freight starter set, which was Wabash.  Lionel had just come out with TMCC and one of if not the first TMCC engines was a Wabash Hudson.  Well a local dealer had one for a ridiculously low price, so low that I had to go home and check my catalogs to make sure it wasn't offered in conventional only.  It wasn't so began my TMCC journey.  With an 8x8 layout with walls on two sides I wasn't very concerned with remote control operation but TMCC was needed to unlock other features like sound and electro-couplers.  Charles Ro had a special going on the TMCC starter set so I bought that.  Now I needed some more TMCC to justify that.  Two NYC GP9s, first gen TMCC were added. The K-Line Collectors Club was a source of two Alaska GP38-2s, a GN EP-5 and a Virginian Train Master.  TrainLand and Nassau Hobby visits resulted in more engine purchases than ever planned.  New, used Williams.  There are even some PS-1 engines, although I never planned on going DCS some deals were just too good to pass up.  RailKing and Premier PS-1s needed to go to make room for the PS-3s. A RK Y6B, a SD60, an F3, a Premier SD70Mac.  I wish I could be one of those who could have limited myself to one, maybe two road names but there were too many manufacturers making and introducing too many cool things for me to ignore because the paint scheme wasn't right.  If it piqued my interest and the price was right I was in.  Hence the N&W Y6B, the Southern Pacific Shark Nose diesels, all three Train Masters, I could go on but I believe you understand.

Joe, your story sounds similar to so many of us, except for the fact that you lived near so many great shops.  We could go on as well!! 😄

I took time to take some photographs that weren’t in my 2023 folder.

2-8-0 and 2-10-0 Russian Decapod my favorite

Mikado - I forgot about that one in my first post

RS3

F3 and BEEP

Pittsburgh PCC, those were everywhere when I went to Penn Tech in the mid ‘70s

0-8-0

and PW 2026 my older daughter found at a thrift store

Steam and freight only is one way I have narrowed my focus enough to not accumulate too much. It's still not really working though.