Board,
First off I hope I'm posting this in the right place?
Well I recently started to get into the Steam Era. I recently purchased some HO scale locomotives from International Hobby Corp. and Spectrum. I was wondering if there are any good online resources that explain the different types of steam locomotives, history etc. I'm looking for something that might have product reviews. Also, looking for pictures of different angles and close ups on the steamers for modeling purposes. I have surfed through some of the messages on these boards and found some helpful things but looking further. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you,
Just do a google search. like 0-8-0 steam locomotive. or prr k4 4-6-2. What ever type locomotive you have.
this is a great source:
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/ (http://www.steamlocomotive.com/)
I think these two are very good starting points. The first is specifically about locomotives and the second is freight cars which are significantly different in the era of steam than they are now. As I recall, they both have links to other sites, and beyond these basics and the link already provided above, most of what you'll want will be more specific and is best found with search engines. One site of note that is often overlooked is the Google Books site which has a wonderful variety of complete books available for download and/or on line viewing. Searching there for railroad, railroads, steam locomotives, etc., etc., can provide you with a great deal of older material specific to the locomotives and the era of steam railroading. You can mine that site for several days and find everything from ICC rulings from the steam era to old textbooks from that era regarding right of way construction or the design of railroad yards.
http://www.railarchive.net/rlsteam/index.html
http://www.steamfreightcars.com/
http://books.google.com/books
Regards
Looks like I'm off to a good start now with the information provided. It was much appreciated, thank you!
Keep an eye out for the Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Vol. 1, Steam Locomotives. It has plans (all in HO) and lots of photos of all types of steam engines, from early 4-4-0's to the latest 4-8-4's. Also includes data on applicances such as air brake systems, feedwater heaters, etc. It was published originally back in the 1960's as a hardback, but was reissued in soft cover. Also, R.L Hundman has also publshed a similar steam locomotive cyclopedia.
www.steamlocomotive.info
Is a favorite of mine, it only deals with surviving steam locomotives, but you can still get lots of ideas from it.
For prototype pictures, I love this website:
www.rrpicturearchives.net
Also, www.railpictures.net is a great place, you can also enjoy the stunning arts of photography there.
Googling is another great tool. I found that I could find prototype pictures for my project only by Googling, and looking around on www.rrpicturearchives.net.
The steam era, eh? Great place, and time. You can do steam era, but if you wish, do Norfolk and Western. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's nice for someone who might be frustrated with choosing there set date and era. They ran steam locomotives, even when the others were using 1st Generation diesel locomotives for about everything, I would recommend the ATSF to a die-hard diesel fan, though. One of the first to modernize, and the biggest purchaser of the EMD FT. I personally wanted to do the 1970s... Great time for railroads. Some small steam, early diesel, industrial look and theme. On the contrary, I'm planing the Eastern Coast (Namely in the vicinity of Pennsylvania) for my layout. About early 1950s-late 1940s. Since it's such a small layout (4'x8') I don't think trying to cram in a real town and everything will do much good. I'll just take out prototype information, feed it into my mind, and pop out with a realistic and believable design for my C&O projected layout. (With N&W/Pennsy RR interchange, of course.)
Joshua
a great place for N&W photos is here. Thousands of photos, locos, buildings, etc.
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/nw1414.jpg (http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/nw1414.jpg)
images like this
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/nw901.jpg (http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/nw901.jpg)
or this
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns1413.jpeg (http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns1413.jpeg)
or this
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns815.jpeg (http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns815.jpeg)
pdlethbridge,
Do you want me to die of heart attack?! :D I love those, your certain know how to get me to beg, but I won't take that treat, maybe just one. I really love those S1s, very unique. The inside perspective of one of their locomotive shops makes me hyper. Aw, I just too my meds too. ;D
Joshua
the nice thing is there are hundreds more where they came from. :o
Don't remind me! :D
Joshua
I'm reminding you! I'm reminding you! I'm reminding you! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ahhhhh! *BOOM!* Okay, I knocked some sense into myself. I think that even if someone is doing the modern times, that they can do an excursion.
Joshua
If you enjoy running trains with others, you may be able to have "steam nights" from time to time. Mostly this means changing locomotives and rolling stock but that is usually easy if your friends being their own. I mean you don't have to own a complete set of alternate trains - just one if others can each bring one too.
If you are a real perfectionist, you can even change buildings. But chances are you will get so involved in running the trains that the ages of the buildings will not make a whole lot of difference.
Jim
I'll second that MR Cyclopedia--has a lot of good basics on how a steam loco works. Then if you pick a favorite railroad, it probably has a historical society and a lot of books on it that are full of info. gj
For exactly how steam locomotives work, I recommend, "How A Steam Locomotive Works" by Karen Parker. It is very well done and covers auxiliaries as well. I think it's the best fundamental work I've seen.
Regards
Wikipedia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive
If you want to look up a certain type,,say 2-8-2 mikado,
just type in 2-8-2 on the search area on the left of the screen.
A couple of things to remember, though you will find this as you do a bit of research. As a general rule, a steam locomotive is unique to a specific railroad or system. Yes, there are the Harrimans and the USRAs, but these are the exceptions. A NYC Mikado doesn't look like a C&O Mikado, for instance. Next, just because two locomotives are in the same class, doesn't mean they are identical. As they got shopped various things got changed: side mounted air pump (s) got moved to the pilot deck or the smoke box, the loco got a new tender, the bell got moved, a feedwater heater got added, etc.
Another point is that a wheel arrangement had one or more specific names, so saying "2-8-2 Mikado" is redundant. All Mikes were 2-8-2s. Some arrangements had more than one name, but there was the "standard" name (Berkshire for the 2-8-4) and the "oddball" name (C&O's Kanawha for their 2-8-4s).
Gene