Those of you who model in the steam era. Did you consciously build a roster to have a diverse variety of locomotives, to represent a cross section of the railroad you model, or just buy ones that looked cool and were available at the time? :mrgreen:
I ask because, as you know, its difficult for steam modelers to get specific types of locos even if you go the brass route.
Whereas diesel modelers have a much wider variety available at any given time. Its gotten better in recent years with BLI, the Proto Heritage Series, and others, but still no where close.
I started my model rail odessey with a diorama, and for that I bought an inexpensive SW1200. Then I wanted to see something run, so I bought a Presiden't Choice train set that came with an 0-8-0. That's when the bug bit me and I started planning a layout, based on CN in the early to mid 50s.
Despite that, my next purchase was the BLI Hudson. I just had to have that sound. That led to the decision to go DCC on the layout and to purchase only DCC-equipped motive power. I also branched out to include CP.
As I did more reading and research, and began to learn about prototype operations, I began to think in terms of realistic rosters. My layout will be mainly freight handling, with the odd passenger train just "passing through" on the outside loop. That meant I needed more freight haulers: Mikado's, Consolidations, 10 wheelers. The difficulty for me however is that both CN and CP used mostly all-weather cabs, and those are simply not available in plastic. If you want Canadian prototype engines, you are going to have to go brass.
When I first got into the hobby in 2001, brass could be had for around $1000. Now it's up to around $1700. Then there is the difficulty of converting to DCC.
What all this means is that my motive power purchases have come to a halt. I now have the Hudson, several switchers (both Alco and GM), a CN RS10, 2 Mikes, 1 Consolidation, and a CP F7a-b-a consist (for pulling the Canadian - a high end cross country passenger train), plus a CN Hudson - the only engine in my roster with a vestibule cab.
I am currently working on my layout, and since nothing is running yet there's no real pressure to buy more engines. I'm hoping that at some point, someone will release some Mikes with the all-weather cab in plastic and in the meanwhile I am saving my pennies for that day!
Val
He has a lot of other projects ahead of mine right now.
However, the CNR had a lot of Mikados with open cabs, especially in the various sub-classes of S-3s, which were USRA locos or USRA copies.
