Unfortunately, for model railroaders like me who follow less popular roads like the MP, Bachmann is in the Model Railroad business to make money, not to grant the every wish of me and everyone else like me.
The models offered by Bachmann, and just about every other vendor, seem to be prototypes from roads that serve the most major major population centers, essentially the metropolitan Northeast and Chicago. This makes sense, because that's where the most people interested in model railroading are going to be concentrated, not in small towns and small regional cities throughout the country. There's only a couple of Bachmann models defying this logic, which are the mogul, based on a engine from a 100 mile long midwestern short line, and a Wisconsin central diesel, from a relatively small regional carrier, not well known outside it's immediate area.
Fortunately, for Missouri pacific steam modelers like me, over the years Bachmann has offered several engines that, while not precise molecular correct models, are very reasonable stand-ins that have made me happy for a very long time.
1. The spectrum consolidation, while a little heavy for a Missouri Pacific 2-8–0, has overall lines and details very Missouri Pacific like. I have four of these engines lettered as the imaginary MP 180 class, right above the MP spot class engines numbered 1–173.
2. The spectrum consolidation was offered as Missouri Pacific 92 many years ago. It appears from time to time on eBay and I finally got one about two years ago. It's very cleanly and prototypically lettered. It's a little heavy for a spot class engine, but again, who cares. A very accurate brass model of a spot class was offered many years ago, but they run like coffee grinders, and are unusable for any kind of operation or anything at all other than a mantel piece placeholder. On the other hand. Bachmann steam engines run like clocks once the DCC CV settings are correctly.
3. The Bachmann USRA mikado is almost dead on for an MP 1300 class. I have one done up as the 1304, with multiple added MP specific details, such as an oil bunker for the tender, number boards by the stack, and a hinged stack cover.
4. Bachmann offered a USRA light 4-8-2 years ago, dead on for the MP 5300 class as-built and before their heavy rebuilds in the late 1930s. Bachmann's MP model is very beautifully lettered. A purist could argue that the numerals on the cab side are a little big, but who care, I don't. It's a beautiful engine that took me a very long time to locate.
5. Bachmann also offered a Spectrum light USRA 2-10-2 back in the days of yore. There were several variations for different prototypes, and the Seaboard Air Line one was very close to some of the MP 1700 class engines, including a Boxpok center driver acquired by some during shoppings. I bought one to repaint for the MP, but my Gulf Coast friend cried out, how can you paint over something that says "through the heart of Dixie" on the cab? So I never did, and it is still in my roundhouse as a Seaboard engine, although really too large to run my branch line.
6. The Russian decapod is an incredible offering. The Bachmann one is in its second run now. I've loved those engines ever since I saw a photograph of an MP one way back when I was a teenager, switching in the Anchorage, Louisiana yard across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge. The MP engines vary some from the Bachmann model, especially the running board configuration, but I don't care. The 8 MP decapods were numbered from 941 to 948. I've lettered two of mine as imaginary MP 940 and 949, just outside of MPs numbers as if they could've been a couple of extra engines. I have five other decapods operating on layout, but the MP ones are my favorites.
Some might argue otherwise, but for someone who is modeling a marginally popular railroad, I feel like I've been showered with riches untold.
My father is from Missouri and loves the old MoPac. I need to get some of their steamers.
No, you can't paint over "through the heart of Dixie". I'm a huge Seaboard fan, but the Espee takes the no. 1 spot for me. Then there's the Milwaukee Road, Erie Lackawanna, AT&SF, C&NW, Pere Marquette, and the Katy.
Oh, and of course, the A-OK railroad (not a fallen flag, but eh). SKOL (South Kansas and Oklahoma), ending in my hometown, also holds a (small but) special place in my heart.
I'd love to see a few more models of these railroads, but as you said, Bachmann is not in the business to grant all our wishes.
You have forgotten about the MKT GP40 and the Frisco GP35, notable for riding on Alco trucks just like the real ones. The B23-7 was also offered in Missouri Pacific.
I don't pay much attention to diesels. Easy to miss. Diesels make modeling less than popular roads pretty easy. Standardized models for only a couple of manufacturers, as opposed to the many customized steam engines over the years. Diesel modelers might well say that there's lots of variation in hatches and fans and stuff like that, and that's true, of course, but the generalized profile all these engines makes it quite easy to superficially model just about any railroad you're interested in. Since I don't follow diesels, I don't know, but the Santa Fe CF7 was a real odd duck, and I'm not sure if anyone has ever made a model of it.
Haha, yes, the CF7 was quite interesting. And ugly, but thats just my opinion.
On the topic of diesels, what are your opinions about the EMD MRS-1?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_MRS-1
"Military Road Switcher". Haha. I like it. A great idea too late for practical use. Homely, I have to say.
About the truly most homely diesel I ever saw, I can't remember the name of. It looked like a GP7 but instead of a short hood it had a cab that looked like the faceted glass nose of a B-29. Someone knowledgeable remind me what it was.
This EMD NW5 is an odd looking loco.
(https://lsrm.org/wp-lib/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/192-1-1024x500.jpg)
Athearn did a DCC Ready version of the CF-7 around 8 or 9 years ago. They still show up on eBay now and then.
Len
Quote from: trainman203 on February 09, 2023, 08:44:38 PMhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_MRS-1
"Military Road Switcher". Haha. I like it. A great idea too late for practical use. Homely, I have to say.
Far from being too late for practical use, EMD was thinking way own the road with these units. The military market was small, but the export market was HUGE. Dieselization may have been beginning to wind down in 1952, but overseas almost every railroad was still steam powered. The export market is something often overlooked by US railfans, but it was greatly important to our locomotive builders. With the MRS1, EMD gained experience building locomotives to the smaller loading guages common overseas, and the modifications to domestic designs necessary to meet those specifications. The MRS1 was the forerunner of the G16 model, and it and the smaller G12 series dominated EMD export production well into the 1960s.
I'd honestly like to see a MRS-1 model. Might be a neat addition.
No one knows yet what the diesel was with the B–29 cockpit for a cab? I had a model of it years and years ago, was lost in a house fire.
I've searched the internet, couldn't find anything. Anyone else?
My model might have been a bachmann. It's probably 30 yr since I last saw it. It was Chessie. Never ran it, it was a gift. No space for layout back then. I think it was an EMD engine. Can't remember for certain.
Are you talking about the M1000?
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Union_Pacific_M10000_at_Pullman_1934.jpg/640px-Union_Pacific_M10000_at_Pullman_1934.jpg)
No. It was a road switcher with four wheel trucks from maybe the late 60s, certainly the 1970s. I was given a model of it in the early 80s when I begin to think about a layout and talked about it some. Couple or three people gave me models, diesels, and this very unusual road switcher was one of them. Think B 29 or B 36 faceted glass nose. That's what the front of this locomotive looked like. It was the weirdest looking thing I've ever seen on rails.
I never unboxed any of them. Really should have. I didn't understand that I could've had a 2x8 switching layout using the three or so road switchers I had. I had that peculiar locomotive, an Athearn SD9, and an S2 and RS2 or something by Atlas. Plus a dozen or so freight cars that had survived 20 years in the attic. All burned up in a fire.
Quote from: trainman203 on February 11, 2023, 08:26:49 AMNo. It was a road switcher with four wheel trucks from maybe the late 60s, certainly the 1970s. I was given a model of it in the early 80s when I begin to think about a layout and talked about it some. Couple or three people gave me models, diesels, and this very unusual road switcher was one of them. Think B 29 or B 36 faceted glass nose. That's what the front of this locomotive looked like. It was the weirdest looking thing I've ever seen on rails.
I never unboxed any of them. Really should have. I didn't understand that I could've had a 2x8 switching layout using the three or so road switchers I had. I had that peculiar locomotive, an Athearn SD9, and an S2 and RS2 or something by Atlas. Plus a dozen or so freight cars that had survived 20 years in the attic. All burned up in a fire.
It almost sounds like you are describing the BQ23-7. It was an experimantal cab added to a standard GE B23-7 in an effort to fit a full five man crew aboard a locomotive. There were ten built for SCL, but no other buyers. The reduction of crew size to two men made the design a moot point, and the railroads were able to eliminate cabooses a few years after these locomotives were built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_BQ23-7
When I hear 'B-29' nose, my immediate thought is the observation car on the 'Hiawatha':
(http://cruiselinehistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/stream5.jpg)
For locomotives, all I can come up with are the IC's 'Green Diamon':
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nfAqHTh0UIs/XN0RZNIuO-I/AAAAAAABt6k/PwH-f5-e91o0q78RHfyPq-UkqKndqkvGwCLcBGAs/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/1936%2BIllinois%2BCentral%2B%2527Green%2BDiamond%2527%2Bat%2Bthe%2BMilwaukee%2BRoad%2Bdepot%2Bon%2B5th%2Band%2BClayborne%2Bin%2BMilwaukee%252C%2BWI..jpg)
And the 'Flying Yankee':
(https://www.cardcow.com/images/set451/card00931_fr.jpg)
Len
I'm pretty sure this is it
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_BQ23-7
The B29 nose is a quirk of memory. It's been so long since I saw it. I do remember it being SCL now.
I was imagining something totally different with more windows. :)
Back to original topic. Quentin, follow the examples I put up for stand-in Missouri pacific steam engines and you can build quite a roundhouse-full of acceptable locomotives for that road. Accurate MP steam engine decals can be had from the Missouri Pacific historical society.
Bachmann engines aren't the only ones I have. I have four other mikados by another vendor, plus a couple of Bachmann 10 wheelers lettered for the MP that I did not even mention, so I believe I have about 15 or 16 MP steam engines in my Roundhouse... quite likely one of the larger MP steam rosters in the model railroad world.
In addition, I have MP diesel power consisting of 4 GP7's and an A B A set of F units... though they only run on other layouts.
I have a few steam engines for other roads too, like the Frisco, KCS and the Rock Island, my only requirement being that they ran in the ArkLaTex region. A Cotton Belt steamer is planned.
I haven't touched on my steam engines for southern roads east of the Mississippi.
https://tycotrain.tripod.com/bachmannhoscalelocomotives/id74.html
https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/bq237-by-bachman-12214421
Quote from: trainman203 on February 11, 2023, 07:58:56 PMBack to original topic. Quentin, follow the examples I put up for stand-in Missouri pacific steam engines and you can build quite a roundhouse-full of acceptable locomotives for that road. Accurate MP steam engine decals can be had from the Missouri Pacific historical society.
Bachmann engines aren't the only ones I have. I have four other mikados by another vendor, plus a couple of Bachmann 10 wheelers lettered for the MP that I did not even mention, so I believe I have about 15 or 16 MP steam engines in my Roundhouse... quite likely one of the larger MP steam rosters in the model railroad world.
In addition, I have MP diesel power consisting of 4 GP7's and an A B A set of F units... though they only run on other layouts.
I have a few steam engines for other roads too, like the Frisco, KCS and the Rock Island, my only requirement being that they ran in the ArkLaTex region. A Cotton Belt steamer is planned.
I haven't touched on my steam engines for southern roads east of the Mississippi.
I may do just that. Thanks.
Quentin, saw this on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155405470177?hash=item242ee349e1:g:gHEAAOSwjZFj6R~6&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsHOnZL6Pj4rb9PnkJFSiWbIuvW1CMdpjAZpaEXtex6rlhNfAgeFLlW7LUAAkfBk3TdLlAphulFCrAV6eDDrg75tfi%2FqDxOL1MRQRW%2B0IRlTrfFLNHjeBJzKHUHksJQDTys7PstcKKloPfgLinA7ls5Fn5h%2Fv98hN3i6q%2FEtVdQ3orebKSccfUZSz%2FQ3MylBelfY4cyYlH93IUdZx%2BMdLesX0C2CrSF9sgB1KmfuUUFsU%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6jnoKjKYQ
I got really excited till I saw the wires that connect the tender to the loco. Then i got sad cuz i hate those dang wires.
Still may buy it though.
Thanks trainman
Quentin, every HO steam locomotive on earth has wires between the locomotive and the tender. You cannot escape that. Back in the 1960s, when DC ruled the model railroad rail, and only one wire was required from the tender to the motor and the locomotive, wireless drawbars that conducted power between the locomotive and the tender began to become popular. But with today's engines, there's just too many functions in play to have only one wire between the two units.
There are ways to redirect these wires around to not cause problems. Sometimes, they can be quite squirrelly in refusing to be positioned properly. But with work and patience, it can be done. Sometimes you have to far–connect the engine and tender to allow stiff wires some room to flex. It's true, that wrongly directed wires can cause the tender to chronically derail. But I wouldn't let that keep me from buying an engine I want.
I'd have to count again, but I believe I have at least 50 HO steam locomotives, all with DCC and sound, every one of them with wires between the engine and the tender. I'd have to say that 3/4 of them needed some kind of doctoring to keep the wires from derailing the tender on some curve or switch or something. Fixing that problem is just one more skill to add to your Model Railroad toolbox.
mmh. great. still probably gonna buy it... at some point.
They do come up on eBay now and then. Might wait for one that isn't from overseas. Could possibly be be hidden customs charges unknown when ordering.
Don't forget the Bachmann MP light mountain either. I've seen them a few times on eBay as well. None of these engines come with DCC and sound though, be ready to shell out for those items and the install.
Quentin, the nickel plate Berkshire you just bought is going to have wires between the engine and the tender also.
yeah, it does. And the price jumped to 182. No go for me, unfortunately. (ugh, auctions)
however... I did find a set of unpainted BRASS HO scale E5 A-B units that run, standard DC, etc. Auction. Starting bid $50. 5 days left, but I shot the seller a message saying I'll take it for 70 bucks, plus shipping and handling and packing and whatever else they charge for. hopefully I can get this set for this price.
You bought them already? Be prepared. Mechanically, brass locomotives are from the Model Railroad Jurassic. No matter how beautiful they are, many of them run like coffee grinders. Yours may not, but the brass locomotive experience often includes installation of new can motors and gear boxes, if operation of them is desired rather than shelf display.
I have a very beautiful brass Southern Pacific 4–4–0, but between the impossibility of installing a front coupler and the huge prehistoric open frame DC motor sticking up in the cab, I'll never do anything with it. I'm just holding it in the collection for the young modeler who will inherit my collection eventually.
On the other hand, brass cabooses are a wonderful way to make a train a lot more prototypical. They all need new trucks a new couplers to run well, but that's a lot easier than remotoring, and regearing a brass steam locomotive. Plus having to do various electrical isolations to allow installation of DCC.
I have two brass cabooses from each of the following roads – Missouri Pacific, Frisco, and Cotton Belt. They are beautiful and really top off my locals. I'm about to retire at least a dozen plastic cabooses that have been sidelined by these brass beauties. The MP and Frisco ones came factory painted and lettered. The Cotton Belt cars are both fairly crudely painted aftermarket, but done tolerably enough to leave alone for now.
The E5s are gonna be shelf units unless they run nicely. I'm repainting them to match the SAL's citrus scheme, even though those were really E4s (i don't care, ha).
Found an AHM 4-6-2 pacific in UP lettering. 60 bucks. Next purchase.
Found a Spectrum "Pennsy Pacific" with box. 74 bucks. Thats next.
Taking a break after all this.
Repaint the SSW. Crude painting is an insult to that line.
Cotton Belt, T&L, the Denver Rio Grande, with all the others proud and strong, coupled hand in hand...
"Crude" wasn't the right description of the paint job on the brass SSW long caboose. It's very cleanly done. It's just a little, well, bright. A little too Crimson to match the SSW color. Nothing that a little weathering powder wouldn't tone down.
I have a second one that is more correctly painted. When I saw it in the glass display case at the LHS, it was correctly lettered. When I got home, I saw that the previous owner had only lettered one side of the car. Why, who knows. I just keep that side of the car facing to the outside of the layout. Maybe one day I'll fix the other side.
Quentin, excellent reading.
https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Belt-Engineer-Standefer-1898-1981/dp/1449069207
Hi Trainman; You hit the nail on the head and why I went with early era Diesel. More Mfr availability in medium and small road names. Also older era Diesels were shorter LOA and a large selection of diesel switchers on the market. Size (length) matters on many layouts. I try to stay at NTE 40-50' rolling stock length and my longest loco is SD9 U25B size. GPs fit all my curves. Anything too long is just trouble on my curves and turnouts.
Hi Terry, loved that NW5... one reason I model Great Northern is small diesels which are somewhat unique.
Geeper, I started limiting the use of longer-than-40' cars on my relatively small layout quite a while back, even though I have a good population of really nice 50-foot cars. My layout is a branchline about 50 feet long with an interchange point on either end. There's the interchange track, a run around track a two track yard that holds about five cars each, and a couple of ag branch type customers like co-op warehouses, and oil dealers. Nothing to excite mainline enthusiasts, but running between those two terminals, if you can call them that, and set-outs/pick-ups at rural settlements out on the line can take hours. But, the rub is that there's room for only about 35 40-foot cars on the layout to operate well. After that it's too crowded. And even less if the rural open space that I strive for begins to be compromised. A couple of 50 foot cars can really eat into limited space.
One car I really miss running is a string of 50-foot wood express reefers like we used to see in strawberry country in southeast Louisiana, spotted at almost every team track along the Illinois central between Baton Rouge and Hammond. I have a bunch of those cars, but they really eat up my track if I have more than a couple of them on there at once.
And I can't even think of my complete head-end heavyweight passenger train I ran with my MP 4–8–2 on the now long-gone club. Maybe one day....
Trainman,
I got the book on Kindle. Started reading it today, already a good read.
Must. Finish. Second. Caboose.
Geeper, I need more geeps to use. I run a lot of steam locos, and all my steam locos are 2-8-4s or larger. Except for one 0-6-0 that I use as a switcher. My only diesels are 2 FA units (SF Warbonnet), 2 SD-40 units (BNSF and SF Bluebonnet), and one SD70ACe in Erie Lackawanna paint.
You need smaller steam engines for workaday purposes.
When I first started my present layout, about 15 years ago, I knew it was going to be a branchline from the beginning. I told myself, I will never get an engine larger than a 2–8 – O. Then, I joined the club with an extremely large layout, having a mainline run of over 700 feet with several steep grades and curves. I bought a 4–8–2 to run on that layout, then four mikados. Then a couple of pacifics. Naturally right after I bought the Pacifics, the last ones of the bunch, the club closed and was torn down. The only place left to run them was at home. And I rarely do it, because of the cabs hangover too far when going around certain curves and through sharp switches. I do use them as switchers in the yards on either end because supposedly that is mainline trackage where my branch intersects to go out Into the backwoods. But their days of hauling 40 and 50 car freights are over.
I have a variety of consolidations, 10 wheelers, and decapods to work the actual railroad. But, really, the only ones to get a consistent workout are the decapods ...... penultimate short line locomotives if there ever was one. And they've always been a favorite of mine since I saw a photo of one of them working on the MP back in the 40s near Baton Rouge Louisiana.
Hi Trainman and Quentin; I run 64' of track on 4'x 8' with double oval "X" design and 4 sidings. [Figure if I go into TT scale, I can do 100+ feet of track.] I have mostly 32'-40' rolling stock and a few 50' which I remove unless needed. Have a nice set of Seaboard 50' ice refers. I run 30 locos with 10 Geeps, 10 switchers and 10 misc including a nice little ML8 Plymouth. About half are DC and half DCC. Grandson is getting really good at controlling 2 locos running, while building and spitting trains using EZ-Command. [His first train was a Great Northern DC 0-6-0 w/ log car, pax car, box car, bobber caboose.]
We are all blessed to have such a great hobby... Keep smiling...
:)
wires on steam models. the prototype steam locomotives had air hoses, water hoses, and steam lines, and if an oil burner a oil line, all going from tender to locomotive.
1. DC steam locomotives back in 1960 all had one wire to the tender. The engine would pick up on one rail, the tender would pick up on the other. The first HO steam locomotive I ever saw back then was a Varney Casey Jones. It had that one wire to the tender and I thought it was the neatest looking thing I ever saw, just like the hoses on the steam engines that I had seen only a couple of years earlier on the T&NO back home. The several wires on today's DCC steam locomotives can push the tender wrongly to one side or another or pick it up slightly off the rail, causing a derailment. Some are easier to cure than others. I've had a couple of tough customers. When you get them right, they can approximate the numbers of hoses that connected steam locomotives to their tenders.
2. Geeper, I would think very long and hard before investing much in TT scale trains. Unless things have changed, there just is not the availability of just about anything that HO has. I'm thinking more of supplies and ancillary items like trackside details, signaling, structure kits, decals, and so on. You've probably looked at it harder than I have, but I have a feeling that going into a marginally popular scale like that, one will be constantly looking on eBay for old HP products items. And wishing that you could get stuff that can easily be had in more popular scales. Plus, if you're getting up in age like me it's just really hard to see those smaller trains. I restarted Model Railroading 15 years ago after being out for 40. The few HO items I had saved from way back in high school days had burned up in a house fire, so I could've started in N scale from ground zero, and I thought real hard about it. HO won out for all the reasons listed above, and I've never regretted it. Plus, a friend of mine with considerable experience in the small scales says that operation can be very tenuous with low tolerance for only slightly unclean track and such. Plus the little cars are so light that realistic switching is almost impossible, smooth coupling up just cannot be had. Switching was going to be a major part of the branchline I had always wanted to build, so that pretty much sealed the deal to go to HO. I have never regretted it. Even though I could've had twice the railroad in my space, it would've never operated to my satisfaction.
There was a Bachmann spectrum 2-10–2 lettered for the Texas and Pacific on eBay a couple of days ago. Despite missing the pilot and looking like it took a nosedive off the layout, it went very fast.
I don't remember ever seeing this as a road name offered by Bachmann. Does anyone know if this actually was a stock road name way, way back in the Spectrum Jurassic? If another one appears on eBay, I would know if it was a home repaint or not. I stay away from home repaints and decal jobs on eBay. You can't tell enough from the photos how bad the work probably is, but hardly anyone knows how to do decals right and you can always see the film edges.
Nevertheless, I am very interested in any Texas and Pacific steam locomotive that might appear on eBay, if it's not brass.
Hi Trainman; Thanks for that light-car coupling issue. Never thought TT might present rail yard switching problems with lighter weight railcars. My set-up is ALL rail yard running switchers and small Geeps. I'll stick with HO for now... unless I can get hands-on TT proof positive on yard switching. Thanks for your advice... I learn something new every day.
Different issue, looking at Sinclair Antennas to go on some locos and way-cars. I see Cal Scale, Details West and Custom Finishing offer some possible Sinclairs. Does anyone have positive (green light) or negative (red light) on "quality" of these mfr products? I bought air horns once (forget from whom) and they were garbage quality, totally unfinished even molding was inferior and would've taken too many hours to re-build and re-finish, before I could paint and attach them to the loco. Anyone's thought...
Quality finish: Cal Scale red or green??? Details West red or green??? Custom Finishing red or green???
Quote from: trainman203 on February 19, 2023, 12:13:27 PMI bought a 4–8–2 to run on that layout, then four mikados. Then a couple of pacifics. Naturally right after I bought the Pacifics, the last ones of the bunch, the club closed and was torn down. The only place left to run them was at home. And I rarely do it, because of the cabs hangover too far when going around certain curves and through sharp switches. I do use them as switchers in the yards on either end because supposedly that is mainline trackage where my branch intersects to go out Into the backwoods. But their days of hauling 40 and 50 car freights are over.
Wanna sell any of those mikados or pacifics? Ha.
Those stupid brass locos are
beautifullllll!!!!! Gonna start the painting soon. Need to sketch lines out for the design. My dream is slowly coming true... probably shouldn't say that cuz something'll happen if I get too cocky, ha
Quote from: Geeper on February 22, 2023, 07:02:15 PMHi Trainman; Thanks for that light-car coupling issue. Never thought TT might present rail yard switching problems with lighter weight railcars. My set-up is ALL rail yard running switchers and small Geeps. I'll stick with HO for now... unless I can get hands-on TT proof positive on yard switching. Thanks for your advice... I learn something new every day.
My experience with N scale is that most cars having truck mounted couplers was way more of a problem than car weight. I spent alot of time and effort body mounting where I could but certain cars like Tank cars and hoppers do not have a place to mount a coupler box. You can always find ways to add weight to the cars. This experience is similar to HO, where trying to do any backing with truck mounted couplers is going to be frustrating. I would imagine the same would hold true for TT as well.
You can add Pacifics to your short line steam locomotive list.
U S Sugar at one time ran four ex-FEC Pacifics, 3 of them survive today.
https://www.ussugar.com/u-s-sugar-steam-locomotive-no-148-hauls-sugarcane-train-to-mill-ending-harvest-season-new-sugar-express-launched/
And, this article is out of date, they're in the process of restoring the engine to operation.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/u-s-sugar-interested-in-acquiring-second-steam-locomotive/
After learning about all of this, I immediately put my USRA Pacific at work on the locals.
The New York Central ran Pacifics on some local and branchline freights quite a bit too.
Scroll down to the 2-8-0's. Look at the 1019 and the 1025. These little ex-Frisco engines are right up your alley, and they are some of the very ones that ran on the branchline back home that I saw as a child. The three swing bridges on the branch could take nothing larger.
http://www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/loco_steam.html