Which steam engine to purchase?

NYC heavyweights? Personally, I'd go for the NYC 4-6-4 Hudson, standard or streamlined, standard for me , unless the streamlined J3a really makes your "socks roll up and down"......

Might want to give this one some consideration.  Not mine, wish it was.

https://ogrforum.com/t...emi-scale-nyc-hudson

Bagelman-

Since you have a legacy system, I recommend purchasing a TMCC or Legacy-equipped steam locomotive. Legacy will not be able to access or control any of the DCS functions.

Fortunately there is a plethora of New York Central locomotives in the marketplace, and given your budget limit I recommend considering the earlier Lionel TMCC and K-Line TMCC-equipped scale locomotives.

-John

 Would the NYC (and I know nothing about their roster for short passenger locals) use

a Hudson to pull just two heavyweights?  Of course, if you are going to expand that

set into more cars and model a mainline route, Hudson.  Otherwise, and I don't know

what has been made in smaller NYC engines, ten wheelers, Pacifics, Atlantics, etc.,

or even an American (4-4-0) which NYC made famous with the #999, by MTH, Lionel, or ?, I (this is me.. others should do as they wish) would be concerned about what the

real road would do. 

Good point, Bagelman, what era / location do you want represented.

Lottsa choices

When it comes to steam I would go with Legacy for the superior sound and features like a qwilingling whistle and whistle steam smoke affect. 

For a pair of heavyweights, how about Lionel's NYC 4-6-0? It was originally made with TMCC and later reissued with Legacy. Nice looking little engine, and perfectly prototypical to pull a couple of passenger cars. Here's a link to the catalog page:

Lionel Ten Wheeler

Nothing wrong with pulling two passenger cars with a NYC Hudson - later in life they were used on locals and even work trains - and definitely on freight trains, a lot.

The Lionel NYC-prototype 4-6-0 is a good choice if you have a smaller space but want to stick with 1:48 scale and not go down to "under-scale". It is an excellent model, and came in several road names of roads that had similar locos - though it is actually a NYC F-2/F-12 class model. I have the TMCC F-2, and my only complaint is too few chuffs/rev.

The NYC Hudson was a large loco, but not an enormous one, and a scale model with the 

smaller, 12-wheel tender can look fine on a smaller layout.

Purchase the biggest you can run, the best one you can afford, and the one with the absolutely best whistle.  Then you will be happy.