I prefer diesel then steam althought i do like steam but when i was growing up steam was phased out everything was diesel then!!!
i retired my steam years ago except for a wide gauge 4-4-0 i used for excursions
other than that the NorthWestern has completely dieselized its timed Fast Fright Service freights from Greenville to Allegheny City and hopefully we plan on snagging some more GP39-2 locomotives and Tier 4 locomotives in the future depending on what lionchief 2.0 diesel we see on Wednesday july 12th
we already have a tier 4 coming in December that is fully painted in Fast Fright livery as well as some new customer adapted cars one which is Salem Cider Works that we are very excited to do business with.
I want both, although I have more diesel since steam is more expensive
Steam but I like early diesels and electrics.
For me, Steam is my preference. I have diesels as well, but the steam engines have so much character with the moving valve gear, large drivers, smoke, and unique looks and profiles between roads. Even the names of steam engines are more interesting: Hudson, Pacific, Mikado, Challenger, Niagara. Modern diesels just lack creativity like ES44AC, SD70ACe, and even the more nostalgic F-3. Really? That’s the best they could come up with? Nice thread - fun to see what everyone enjoys running. The various interests keeps our hobby going!
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Steam only
Steam, emphatically!! I watched clanking Southern Mikados switch coal hoppers for a local country store, and my dad fired them. However, the PA's and early E's sure are pretty in the 1941 Locomotive Cyclopedia. A black Grande PA out of that book would be highly seductive. I also watched Monon BL-2's switch, so there is a strange attraction to early diesels. But, my modeled 1940 shortline would have had to make do with used and tired steamers. Now #90 has been made, l wait for the Little River's 2-4-4-2. It is one of the many small steamers that are missing in three rail. While diesels ride third class here, their predecessor polluters, rail buses and gas electrics are greatly admired , and if the many varieties would be offered, l would be beyond my means. As for electrics, l find that the neighboring states of Ohio and Indiana were carpeted with interurban lines, some interestng, such as the one from Zanesville to Columbus through its rattlesnake infested tunnel, a popular picnic stop! Electric temptation, but not in midwest interurbans in three rail, so wallet is safe.
Sometimes I feel like a nut (steam) some times I don’t (diesel) …………despite being a PRR guy I don’t like Electrics even a GG1 go figure.
Based on my screen name, I will give you one guess.
I saw Milwaukee 261 (Alco 4-8-4 built in 1944) pulling about 20 private varnish cars for the AAPRCO annual convention back in the mid 1990's up a grade at about 45 mph. My perspective on rail-roading was forever changed. So went home and started selling off my contemporary HO rail equipment and backdating to the transition era. My model trains are based on the fantasy of the "coolest" railroad possible. IMO - Sorry to say, what we see today, doesn't compare to what was common place 75 years ago.
I would recommend to anyone on this forum, if you haven't seen one of the Mainline Steam Locomotives "pulling" up a grade, add it to your bucket list. Seeing a small tourist steam loco, just isn't the same.
I have S gauge and run both steam and diesels engines. I have more diesels than steam. But I run more steam than diesels.
@ENichter posted:Enjoy diesels, I run engines my grandson sees locally. I do have one steam engine because I enjoy watching and listening to it run.
Love the trip around the layout youtube video!
Diesels !! Nothing like being trackside & feeling the ground shake under your feet, and they even smell good !
@trestleking posted:Diesels !! Nothing like being trackside & feeling the ground shake under your feet, and they even smell good !
yeah you can't beat the smell of diesel fuel and i know the green heads are ready to mob at my front door with torches but i don't care although i am excited for Hydrogen locomotives
when i buy smoke fluid for my lionchief 2.0 diesels i'll get the diesel scent so my train room can smell like a real railroad
@MainLine Steam posted:Love the trip around the layout youtube video!
Thank you
No offence, but the answer is "No." There's something about boxcabs that appeals to me.
This is one of a pair made from a security car (not a 520). One powered truck.
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Diesels and steamers are great. Electrics have a certain mystique, though. Not sure who made it. Sheet metal body. Scale-like couplers and wheels.
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@Arthur P. Bloom posted:
Diesels and steamers are great. Electrics have a certain mystique...
Arthur,
As the Original Poster, I felt the better question was to ask just about steam and diesels. As a model railroader and New Haven fan, I share your affinity for electrics.
MELGAR
Not at home so can’t post pics but here are my thoughts. I love steam because it spans such a long and interesting period of American History. It’s fun to collect various wheel configurations and configure appropriate consist of passenger cars ranging from woodside coaches to heavyweights to streamlined or freight cars including the colorfull Woodside reefers.
I also love the early electrics and deisels. Being a New Haven fan it’s fun to collect engines that display all the colorful paint schemes that evolved during all the years prior to the sad consolidation of so many unique and colorful local railroads into Conrail and Amtrak
@Arthur P. Bloom posted:
Diesels and steamers are great. Electrics have a certain mystique, though. Not sure who made it. Sheet metal body. Scale-like couplers and wheels.
Good looking model Art. 
I like videos/photos and models of steam more because I find them more visually interesting. But I love steam or diesel in real life. They're both big and loud and that's what I like in a machine.
Although I am old enough to have grown up around steam, the main line railroad I was near ended steam service in 1953, when I was in second grade. Southern Pacific was still using steam, over 30 miles from home in a direction wh seldom traveled.
So, I have very fond memories of first generation diesels doing the work in the yard, on freight, and on passenger. I'm fine with diesels of that vintage.
Whether steam or diesel, I prefer the smaller size. An end cab switcher, or an 0-6-0. Easier to play around with on the layout! In addition, diesel locomotives tend to run smoother at low speed and have fewer parts to bind or break during operation.
Of course, I used to dream of a NYC Niagara pulling the 20th Century Limited, but I never had the space or the cash.
Beyond particular F or E units, diesel has never really been my thing. For steam its mostly the unique prototypical engines (the u1f top this list), or the old fashioned engines from the early 1900s (ie moguls). I do have a particular streetcar and interurban passion though which is constrained with limited availability...
Also don't forget Gas Turbines are a thing haha (TurboTrain anyone?)
If I had to pick one, it would be steam. However, I don't have to pick one, so I have both. 
Yes.
