Wow,
How could I stay out of this thread on my favorite subject - trains.
I'll admit that I'm not much of a juice loco fan, but it's all tremendously interesting, thanks, All.
But, there's nothing like steam. Scott35, when you mentioned cab-forwards, I had to jump in. SP had 195 of them, almost all where 4-8-8-2's. If they were to run them cab-in-back, you would be about 75 feet behind a 6000 HP, miilion lbs machine with ear-splitting steam exhaust.
There's a story in Trains Mag about 3 or so years ago, describing being in the cab of UP 3985, the 4-6-6-4 they still operate. The Diesel power in their train crapped out in the snowsheds over Donner Pass, so they had to open 3985 up. I believe they mentioned breathing bottled air, and enduring 200 degree cab temperatures, until they were out of the tunnel. Some fun, Huh!!!
I run 750-1000 lb. 1-1/2 inch scale steam. It's still hot, but all fun.
see
www.trainweb.org/vcls Regards to all,
Energy7
