"Best" first locomotive

[wbarbe]

With all the possibilities out there, if you were going to recommend a best first steam locomotive to someone, what would it be???? Base your recommendation on cost, ease of operation, reliability, performance, etc. I am curious to see what opinions are out there. I know everyone has a faviorite type of engine, but if someone wanted a good old reliable engine, what should it be?
Oh and lets assume it will either be a bolt together kit, or machined by a professional. Any ideas??????

[dampfwilli]

Bill wait for Jesses Newbie-Loco. So i know Jesse his concept its easy and the costs ar not to high. Only you must work! This says a marine engine and steamtractionenginefreak.

[Bruce_Mowbray]

Bill,
I don't own one, (wish I did) but, my experiance and from what I have seen, the Allen Models (4-4-0, 2-6-0, 4-6-0) engines are one of the best runners for their size with a proven track record. The size of these locomotives also make for a good "first" locomotive (not too big and not too small). They are not the easiest locomotive to build but they are relatively straight forward. Their slide valve cylinders are not as difficult to get right the first time as are piston valves. The frame, either built up or single piece are a good design. Good weight to size ratio make them good pullers too. A boiler that has plenty of steam for the piston size. There are lots of aftermarket parts available from a few suppliers that save a lot of time when you build your Allen engine. Best of all, if you have any questions regarding the building or problems with your parts, Gene Allen is happy to give you advise or replace parts that are defective from him.

[Allen_from_CHT]

Bolt together or custom machined? Economics probably tips in favor of the off the rack kits. The labor costs (mostly due to machine set up times) only starts to come down when you can build 5 or 6 at a time.


I can only vouch for the Maxitrak and OS lines. The obvious difference there is price. The maxitraks are much less expensive because they favor simpler designs, produced with a good workmanlike finish. The OS engines tend to be more complex and the workmanship is simply superb. I've heard the comparison made is the difference is like that between a Caddy Fleetwood and a base Chevy Nova

In 4-3/4" ga the Maxitrak Dixie seems to be the most popular (with slip eccentrics for simplicity), in 7-1/2" ga its the Maxitrak Lil Jo Hands down on this side of the pond.

A LOT depends upon your abilities, expectations and taste. I have heard a lot of good things about some competitors and a few bad about the same ones from others. To me that says more about the customer's expectations than the companies' products. One line worth a look into is Little Engines, and another is Roll Models. As a guess to most popular? There seems to be a LOT of Allen Moguls out there.

But if your main wants are simplicity and a good price, Maxitrak is worth a look

[Tom_Wade]

Well, an old Baldwin which had been recently restored would give five years of good service, and in theory could run anywhere in the US and Canada, if you could negotiatie track rights.
Other than that, I'm hardly qualified to comment. Little Engines seems to make some good off the shelf engines, but at the moment they don't seem to be in operation.
I'm currently building an Allen Mogul. This seems to be reasonably easy to build, with a lot of aftermarket parts available already machined, if you don't care to do it yourself. Another attractive aspect is that Allen has plans and kits so that you can easily modify a Mogul into several other different engines.
If you want to run something this season, look around for a used engine. Seems like a club in Florida (Largo ?) is offering a brand new steam engine built by a professional machinist for about $15,000, which seems reasonable. There is also another company in Florida which builds some real nice Deisels, ready to run, even already painted, if you like. These feature a gasoline engine with hydraulic drive.

[FLtenwheeler]

The Ridge club has the locomotive for sale.

Ridge Live Steamers

Tim

[themnax]

well if best first STEAM haddn't been specified, and up front i've gotta say i have no experience at all of actualy building any of this stuff, i'd a said what i fully hope to do one of these days if n when i ever gets the chance and that is to slap a couple of more or less off the shelf power trucks under a rider car, slip a couple of batteries under the seat and hook em up with one of those off the shelf controler packages.
i know that's not the kind of thing most of you guys have in mind but i'd sure be happy as a bug in a rug with something like that. specialy if it could mayby pull a couple more cars loaded and up a pretty good grade ... ~:)
(and the next step up from that would be an onboard genset and battery charger arraingement spliced into the middle of it -
in other words neither steam nor a model OF anything but an in and of itself 7.5in lokey - as in that geometry i keep makin picers of fur my alien/furries to ride on ... ~;)