I was thinking about this and thought I would get some input.

2 Sundays ago at the Bucyrus club I was running a Athearn GP7 lettered for R.J.Corman pulling 2 RTR Athearn boxcars..After running this train for about 30-40 minutes I realize how enjoyable it was running a so called "vintage" and "outdated" locomotive was and kinda like stepping back to a simpler era of the hobby..

Has the hobby really advance that far? After all this is the first time I ran this old geep since July.

I feel the same way when i run my Climax... It's vintage and no - i hardly run the U25-B I run the Eggliner and the Climax way more

The only thing that I don't like about the Athearn Geep is that the hood is too wide. I got a deal on about 6 ex-Front Range Gp7s & 9s from the owner of Trains Unlimited at a GAT show years ago. They were attempts at doing Santa Fe zebra stripe that came out badly. I got them for $5.00 each and removed the paint. The Front Range shell fits the Athearn chassis fine with very little modification. Otherwise I run a lot of old Athearn blue box power units. I like Athearn's new screw mount hard plastic motor mounts over the old "gummy bear" mounting, but those are readily available for 6 for $10.00 if I remember correctly from Athearn.

For some people, "the hobby" has advanced dramatically, for some it hasn't.
I noticed that yesterday when running trains on our Ntrak layout.
I was running my 80s era Bachmanns on DC and other members were running their latest releases with DCC.
Everyone had a great time doing their own thing.

Since I have only been in the hobby for 5 years or so, I can't really comment. Only old DC locos I have run was way back in the late 60s early 70s when I was a kid. However, I will say that I am very much a fan of DCC and having the ability to program a loco's response to throttle input and all that.... MUing, multiple locos, no wiring for block control.

Running vintage equipment is something I've always enjoyed. There is a certain amount of chest-thumping pride in taking a 70s vintage articulated, converting it to run on DCC and tweeking it to go from slipping drivers with 5 cars on grade to slugging it out with 30 with nary a squeak. It is sad though that some in the hobby who can afford these high dollar offerings feel that it somehow disqualifies the other as evidenced by the two sprites overheard at the club when referring to my work..."Why don't he get a real job so he can stop running that toy junk here?"

I resisted the temptation as I quietly walked out of the club that night---but---I still fantasize about the sound of their BLI Pennsy T1 and GG1 bouncing off of the opposite wall and the picture of their faces as the pieces cascaded to the floor

I sense that some are meaning running old familiar engines from their childhood, but with modern technology available to the hobby, while others have taken the approach that they have had occasion to run DC engines from the past and find themselves hearkening back to earlier, less worrisome, and less complicated times. Both are legitimate, if I am asked, because they rekindle memories from our pasts that our brains always wash to cleanse of all but our worst memories. We tend to recall the good times, not the bad.

I have dim recollections of my Marklin days when I was maybe 11 years old. I really enjoyed that wonderful gift from my parents that Christmas. Then, decades went by. Now, I have many more engines that produce cheesy noises (but I wouldn't part with it!), and I really am enjoying learning how to build a good layout. So, the past is past, and I look forward.

"Qui non proficit deficit."

-Who does not advance falls behind.

Selector Wrote:"Qui non proficit deficit."
-Who does not advance falls behind.

Yeah, but someone really has to keep an eye on the back door.

There's something to be said for the value of "simpler pleasures".

ray_m Wrote:For some people, "the hobby" has advanced dramatically, for some it hasn't.

I'd be among the latter with my mostly Athearn Blue Box DC roster.
Ralph

well guys i must be one of the guys that loves the past. brother came over yeasterday and brought me a new loco it was a sd80 mac in norfolk and southern yes it was dcc. my layout is set up for dcc and block dc with a push of a button. i ran it as it was for about an hour and i took it to the bench he looked at me and asked what i was doing i told him it;s going to be a blast from the past. i took out the dcc . and rework it a little and she runs like a dream. i just find that some locos both newer and older run better one way or the other. dcc or dc. it is how the person running the loco wants it to look on their layout. in my case the loco was to jumpy with the dcc couldn't get the it where i liked it on start up it would do a little jump in the pull. with it dc no jump just roll start.

so it all falls down to the person how runs the loco and what they want out of it . some work and look good on dcc some on dc.

well Brakie your not alone i still take plesure in running my Varney old lady .
jim

My locos span from the '50s to the '90s and I'd buy something current if it appealed to me, too. Of course, all of these are run on DC, so I benefit from some newer technology while still enjoying the simplicity of DC. For my secondary- and branchline-style railroading, it's a perfect fit.

Wayne

At a recent train show (WGH on tour in Puyallup, WA) I found a basket-case Penn Line Atlantic in an old cigar box, all the parts there and half-assembled, for $15. The guy let me have it for $10. It's being wrapped for a place under the Xmas tree so I got a glance at it when I bought it and that's about it until after Xmas morning.

Anyway, some of my favorites are my firsts as well - an old AHM 0-4-0 A3 slope-back in GN green, silver & red, an Athearn NW Geep9 that growls when it runs, etc. Part of the fascination with the 'oldies' is the simplicity, even though I may take that simple thing and pour on a ton of detail parts & brass bits, then outfit it with DCC.

I've got an engine that I've been working on, off and on now, for a year or so. It's a Mantua Classics 0-6-0T that really needed some work even though it was new. It's the one in the video in my signature. I did some reworking (including purchasing a NWSL Quarterer to requarter the drivers) and have found that it may actually run better on DC than DCC. I was able to improve the slow speed characteristics with DC, but the DCC settings seem to remove some of the low speed, actually. I may be able to tweak the decoder a bit to account for that, but that remains to be seen.

All that to say, no, it ain't just you.

Galen

I have a couple of favourite old locos, too. Hornby Dublo originally, with parts (most parts) that can be traced back to 1945 or 1939. Nice solid metal castings. Not a lot of detail but my second last loco lost all the piping under the cab because that's where they put the push-out holes in the box.
I can't run them at Lostock Junction because they take an amp to move and 6-8V just to start. But they will pull a train about 16 feet long -- one side of my layout.

It depends. If it were one of my old locomotives, i might enjoy it, though to me, age isn't as important as what the engine means to me.