since i am modeling the 1940s and posibly to the mid 50s, i am looking for steam switchers, for yard work. what are some companys that make them? and are they worth the money and are they good runners, pullers ect? i am looking to model the northern pacific and the Chicago & North Western.
THe state of steam switchers is sad in N scale. Here is what is out there of recent availability. Bachmann has updated its USRA 0-6-0. The Northwestern and the UP both had them. I do not know if they are available in Northwestern, but they may be available in UP. THe 0-6-0 does not come with the correct tender. The Bachpersonn 'prairie' is really a USRA 0-6-0 with a pilot and trailer added. It has the correct tender. Buy the 'prairie' and remove the pilots and trailers. The updated versions come in a plastic box, the older cardboard. The older has its problems. Most of these have been addressed in the newer. After break-in, they creep well. They do not pull well. A solution to this is to couple it to a cheater boxcar. I use LL FA-2s (split frame) as the power chassis. With a minimum of work, the Atlas fifty foot boxcar will go onto these. You can add some styrene to make a place to screw MT 1015/1016. The throttle response of the LL FA and a well broken in B-mann 0-6-0 is about the same. MT conversion for the B-personn is 1133/1134, old or new. The LL 0-6-0T is reviled by many as a lame locomotive. That designation is unfair. If you will spend HOURS breaking in the LL, it will match the throttle response of the LL FA-2. You can then couple that to the cheater. The prototype appears to be an oil burner. You might consider making an 0-8-0 out of the B-mann SPECTRUM consolidated. More than one road made switchers out of consolidateds by removing the pilot truck. There are other steam switchers out there, but they are mostly out-of-production. B-mann had a B&O 0-4-0T and a PRR 0-4-0 with a tender. Inconsistent runners and pullers TRIX had a PRR B-6 (0-6-0). good puller, for many years considered a good runner. Really it is mediocre. Atlas had a B&O C-16 (0-4-0), but they were the configuration that the had when two of them were converted to tender engines and made into coal burners. The original C-16s were 0-4-0Ts (like the B-mann) and were oil burners. Oil burners on the B&O? you ask with amazement. Those things were ordered to work the streets and docks in Baltimore. Baltimore had some very nasty smoke abatement ordinances. Back then, you could get the smoke abatement boys off your case by operating oil burners. WM had four oil-burning pacifics that worked passenger trains into Baltimore. I have never had one of these, but have been told that it runs well and will pull the track off of your train board. RR sold an IHB 0-8-0 first through Atlas then through C-C. Inconsistent runner but good puller. Older models had a brittle frame. I have no doubt forgotten a few.
