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Some like the steam locomotives that burned wood.The type that was used during the civil war and the move out west.Me I like the steam locomotives after the 1930s.And this is shows up in my collection of trains.As it is mostly steam locomotives.The later models such MTH mohawks that can pull a long train.The same can be said for their berkshire types.I also a few lionels.I have other types such as northerns,I have 1 kline mike that the smaller than the others.But despite this it can pull a fair size train.And since I live around the S.A.L.I changed the road name to seaboard.The seaboard had some mikes called Q3.They had pumps on the front.But they did have a few without the pumps on the front.Funny thing the Q3 had a boaster which gave it some extra pulling power.Pretty slick of the seaboard to do that.I also like the seaboard mountain types of which I have 4.I just got to get some decals.But enough about me.So lets hear from you guys

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mikey posted:

I model late 30 s to the end of steam in the West and N & W steam.

Mikey

I had a coworker who was from wv.She was a little girl and her dad was a coal miner.Any way she saw N&W and C&O steam.In fact she and her sisters would help clean the house.Only to have another coal train come by and dirty every thing up.So that would have to start all over again.

My wife likes the 19th Century Steam Engines, or ones around when Abraham Lincoln was alive and president, she has been reading a lot of books about Abraham Lincoln. Me I like pretty much any steam engine, since I have the NKP 765, the N&W 611 J class, and the Big Boy, as well as the UP 8444.

Last edited by tcochran

Also, LOVE anything with NYC on it. I like the bigger 40 and 50 decades engines. It is FUNNY, but when I started this hobby I wanted only early transition diesels in PRR or PC. My tastes have changed so much - broadened a bit. I have an RS-1, RS-3, E-3 A-B-A, GG-1, Mohawk, GS-4, and numerous other NYC steamers in all scales. I don't really prefer "older steam" engines but am having a 14.5" x 36" all metal cut out of an American class made to put on the wall of my train room. I did see a layout in Freedom, PA with a Civil War theme that I thought was excellent.....

I like 'em all.

I really like the LGB G Gauge European products......always have. Seeing LGB in action brings back lots of very, very fond memories.

As for O Gauge, I try to stick to steamers with 6 drivers or fewer. I think they look a bit better on my small layout. Not to say I don't have anything bigger...got some articulated steam, large 4-8-4s, etc.

 

RoyBoy posted:

Streamlined steam is my favorite.

Actually, I like almost every steam loco except for the ones with elephant ear smoke deflectors.

Just picked up a Mohawk with elephant ears. I wonder how those things work? Anyway, I didn't think I would like them but they make the engine look bigger. I am leaving them on. You know its funny, our quirks. I don't like the really big articulated engines that have the leading wheels on the separate little platform. I mean they are OK, but I kind of prefer the steamer that is always seen at the opening of old Superman shows. What was that anyway? 

Smoke deflectors (aka Elephant Ears) were not needed when stacks were tall. The smoke would be high enough to rarely ever be a visible issue for the cab. As locomotives grew in size and weight, bridges needed to be stronger and that necessated that stacks needed to be shorter. There were times when the smoke from the stack made its way into and around the cab. Smoke deflectors were designed to reduce that effect.

If you have to light a fire to heat water to make it go, I love it.

As for this hobby, I really want to see a lot more scale small steam, that can go on O36 curves.  The older American class colorful and similar era locomotives, as well as early all black locomotives.  We've had plenty of the big and powerful steam.  You can get DCC with sound in N gauge, so there must be a way to get Legacy control and sound in a scale 4-4-0.

Michael Hokkanen posted:

I don't like the really big articulated engines that have the leading wheels on the separate little platform. I mean they are OK, but I kind of prefer the steamer that is always seen at the opening of old Superman shows. What was that anyway? 

Southern Pacific GS-2 daylight. This is a 4-8-4 semi-streamlined loco.

I just like steam engines.

Balloon stacks to turbines.

Special favorites are:

N&W steam. Had an uncle that worked for the N&W in Columbus Ohio. Learned about N&W steam from him.

Streamlined steam. Art Deco and Airflow designs are super cool in trains or cars

Having grown up in West Central Ohio, gotta like Lima built steam.

I prefer 20th century steam this is echoed in my HO layout and certainly my 3 rail O which is predominantly post war Lionel and some dear to my heart Marx. I also run transition era diesel but that took me some time to grow into.

As a kid I was a steam guy while my brother was into diesel. At an age too young to know about locomotive economics I was devastated when my father told me that steam was obsolete and would all be replaced by diesel in a few years. I think back to that day and that remark and it still brings great sadness to me, "How could they? It's such a beautiful machine." I exclaimed!

 

Bogie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I prefer steam from the USRA to the end. I like the bulky look of later steam locomotives. Not dainty or even clean-lined. Muscular; maybe even Gloriously Ugly.

Probably my tastes are influenced by my toys: Postwar Lionel steamers more or less resembled late steam engines because that's what was, or had most recently been, on the rails. Also, those were the sort of engines you'd see in mainline excursion service. By contrast, the 4-4-0 American Standards ran on theme park railroads, which somehow subtracted from their status as "real" trains.

nickaix posted:

By contrast, the 4-4-0 American Standards ran on theme park railroads, which somehow subtracted from their status as "real" trains.

The 4-4-0 was the backbone of early railroading and deserves respect.  Any 4-4-0 still operating today (including the Leviathan and York) is just as "real" as 844 or 765, regardless of where it's running.

Rusty

Last edited by Rusty Traque
Rusty Traque posted:
nickaix posted:

By contrast, the 4-4-0 American Standards ran on theme park railroads, which somehow subtracted from their status as "real" trains.

The 4-4-0 was the backbone of early railroading and deserves respect.  Any 4-4-0 still operating today (including the Leviathan and York) is just as "real" as 844 or 765, regardless of where it's running.

Rusty

Well, I know that NOW, but when I was a little kid forming my preferences and prejudices, that's just not the way it seemed!

Transition era steam (lets me run diesels too).  For my late 40s PRR layout I can run steamers from an 0-4-0 to a large 4-4-6-4 duplex.  By this time most of PRR's steamers made prior to 1910 were gone.

I find that for operations I lean more to the smaller, older steamers in my stable.  My wife also likes small steamers, especially the 4-4-2 and early 2-8-0.

 

 

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