Favorite Locomotives


R

Russ

New Member
I have seen some of the discussions here of different Diesel Engines and Manufactures. I have done a search but did not find any like discussions of Steam Locomotives. Being new to the Hobby I am looking for input on Good, Better and Best Steam Locomotives. Would anyone care to share their opinions please. Thanks.
 
What scale? In N, there isn't too many choices besides brass. Bachmann Spectrum makes good steamers, and Kato makes a few. Con Cor has older steam engines, but are not as new. Atlas makes only a shay.
 
You will get lots of opinions, and I wish you good luck in sorting it all out when the thread dies off.

I own the following, and would rate them as follows: (all HO)

PCM 2-8-8-2 Y6b - heavy (metal), solid runner, excellent detail...rates 4.5 stars. Why not 5/5? It has a quirky tether connection between the tender and receptacle below the cab.

BLI Niagara 4-8-4, K4s 4-6-2 (metal), J1 2-10-4, J1 Hudson 4-6-4, and a Duplex T1 4-4-4-4. Each of them is excellent. Not top drawer on details, but darned nice, and they pull fairly well. The Niagara and K4s, believe it or not, have equal capability in traction. The mighty J1 and Duplex are strong pullers. Each of the four runs well, reliably, and they look and sound quite good. 4/5 across the board.

Rivarossi H-8 2-6-6-6. It is superbly detailed, and a huge engine. The tender is very light, but it doesn't seem to be an issue. It came with incorrect sound files on the otherwise very nice LokSound decoder. It was easier to replace the decoder with a Tsunami. I wouldn't rate this engine, yet, as a strong enough puller for its size. All in all, it gets 3.7/5. I hope to warm up to it.

Trix metal Mikado 2-8-2. This is a very nice little engine, but a little light. Detailing is quite good. I had the LokSound yanked, once again, because it was the early version with its limitations. Tsunami medium to the rescue once again. I would rate this engine as a 3.6/5, down from perhaps 3.9 because of its light traction.

Like Like Proto 2000 Heritage Series switcher 0-6-0. I got it DC, so it has a Tsunami light in it. It rates up there with the Rivarossi in terms of details. It is a very nice tiny engine to look at. It rides well, but it is light, as you would anticipate. Strictly for yard shunting, although it can shove four Walthers heavyweights and a reefer without trouble in the yard. For what it is meant to represent, this engine rates 4.5/5. I would urge you to get its bigger brother, the 0-8-0 for yard work. If you can get a deal on sound equipped engines, get two.

Lionel Challenger 4-6-6-4 (metal). Another solid, heavy engine that runs really well. It pulls a ton. It is light on details, all things considered. I would rate it overall at 3.9/5.

That is my stable of steamers. I have a new Bachmann Spectrum J Class 4-8-4 that I got for a song from M. B. Klein's a few weeks ago. I have a heavy Tsunami in it. I have not been able to give it a reasonable test due to running problems. It seems to be a nice engine, but it stumbles, or lurches at slow speeds, and occasionally would simply chuff like mad without turning a wheel. :eek: It is back with my decoder installer who reports that it is now working well. I haven't talked with him about the details. I would tentatively give this engine a 3/5, feeling magnanimous. If it turns out to be repaired, I will probably settle on 3.5/5. The side rods are very light in colour, too new...they should have been blackened a bit. The bad running gear rankles, to be honest, and has left the new experience soured a bit. I hope it can win me over in the coming weeks.

-Crandell
 
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What can you afford, what era? I myself cannot afford a fleet of the nice BLI sound equipted steam engines. I run predominatly older AHM/Rivarossi's. They look nice, most of the detail is molded on the plastic shell, which is ok for my taste. They run good for thier age, most are easily remotored with a new can motor. Yes they have deep flanges, but if you run code 100 rail, they wont derail easily. My Mantua 2-6-6-2 with scale flanges derails much easier than my Rivarossi stuff. If you like the heaft of diecast, love PRR steam and like to build kits. Bowser has a nice line of mostly PRR steam with a few others mixed in like a Challenger and Big Boy. You have to rivet the valve gear, they give you the tool in the kits. Its not a hard job, just takes patience. The diecast kits as well as the older diecast Mantua engines can be detailed with brass castings and when done right, can rival a brass engine in detailing. The newer steam is wonderfull, comes with sound and are as detailed as a brass engine, but on the flip side, you must be electronicly inclined or have someone that is to deal with the decoders, sound system. Will these new fangled steamers be running in 20-40+ years like the older ones, only time will tell if the chinese can motors and electronics will stand the test of time. The president of our model train club has an old cast brass boilered bowser 4-8-2 mountain type. He bought it as a kit when he was in the service during the Korean war. It runs as silent as a kato diesel engine, smooth as glass. This is with the factory open frame motor, open worm gear drive. Its only glitch is some surging going down steep grades, just needs more thrust washers on either side of the worm gear. But his eyesight is gone so it never got done. So not all older steam runs like a pig. Cheers Mike
 
Thanks for the replies. Nice explanations and evaluations. This all lends to a better knowledge of understanding for me the newby.

In response to question of era is still in the deciding stage but looks like late 1800's to 1920's. I am searching history of the lines I am interested in and what was being used in that time frame. At present I am looking at the ATSF and DRGW lines which would have ran in Colorado, NM and western Kansas.

As far as cost I am like most as in trying to get as much as I can for money invested. Detail and quality are important. I would rather have one mid to high end Locomotive as to several low ends. So being patient and shopping smart is the plan after I am familiar with what to shop for.
 
I am into the pre 1900 modeling with 1900 being the cut off year. For engines you are limited to the current production 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 from Athearn/Roundhouse, I am told these run nice, can be bought with factory sound and DCC in them. For older power you have the Bachman Jupiter and 119 4-4-0's The Mantua General 4-4-0. Mantua also does a wild west style 4-6-0 and 4-8-0 but they are a bit oversized, more correct for UK OO scale, but still look ok when detailed a bit. They can be remotored with a can motor to run better. AHM/Rivarossi/Pocher had the 4-4-0's, 2-4-0 and the Casey Jones 4-6-0. These look nice and have great detail for thier age, but usualy need some pickup improvement and the 4-4-0's could stand a better can motor. IHC still does this 4-4-0, but the colors are more mid 1800's when they were quite colorful. Colorado opens the market to HOn3 narrow gauge, but that gets quite pricey for engines. My new layout will focus on the Memphis TN to Canton MS part of the ICRR leading up to the time of Jones's death on April 30th. MDC/Roundhouse and new production Roundhouse thru Athearn is my primary source of rolling stock, as well as older craftsman kits I find at shows. Labelle kits, Ye old Huff and Puff, Silver Streak ect. I am using a couple of the Rivarossi Casey Jones engines for passenger power, They are easily renumbered. And I plan to get a couple of the new Roundhouse Athearn old time 2-8-0's as they are a close match to the ones on the IC. The Rivarossi engines hold up well in the detail dept, and were the high end choice back in the 70's and 80's, to get anything better, your only choice is brass imports, which many dont run well, need remotored or tweaked and tuned to be a good runner. Running steam is a love or hate part of the hobby, they take more maintaince, many need to be torn down and gone thru due to age and congelled grease. Hopefully we will see Broadway or MTH do a couple of mid 1800's thru 1900 locomotives in the future. MTH has done them in O scale, so there is hope.
 
More interesting reading. I have not seen one but seem to hear nothing but good about the Brass Imports. Are there drawbacks and are they found only in swap meets, ebay etc.? Are the new ones of the same quaility as older?

Do I understand right that MTH has some great detailing in their line? And that thier DCC program dies when the battery is changed out plus you have to send it back to MTH to have it reprogramed?
 
Of the brass I have owned and worked on for others, it can be quite picky in the way it runs. Older PFM models operate the best, the other brands was hit and miss, some run just horrible, others run smooth and quiet. Most smaller steam suffer from lack of enough pickup, usualy the tender picks up the one rail and the locomotive the other. On a short wheelbase engine, this can lead to stalling on turnout points. Adding extra pickups isnt to hard on most models. Newer brass, providing you can afford it, usualy runs well, but can be quite fragile due to the amount of details on them. I myself have always wanted an HOn3 ET&WNC 4-6-0. Precision scale has talked about it for years, been taking reservations for years and last I checked the estimated price was in the $800+ range!!! For that kind of money I can remotor and tune up several older brass or plastic models. Most of my engines run at home and get taken to the local club layout each week, so a few less details is ok by me. So I find the level of detail on the older Rivarossi's perfect for my taste. Other than the extra deep flanges, they usualy will run nice and smooth once I tear them down, clean all the old grease out and relubricate them. The deeper flanges do help with derailments not happening as much, so I can live with them. Code 100 track doesnt look as bad once weathered and ballested or burred in the dirt. Mike
 
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