Steam...

[Tom]

I would second (or is it third or fourth?) the recommendation for the Spectrum 2-8-0. It's a good sized steamer, not too large, not too small, that would work well on 22" radius curves. The 4-8-4 northerns (I have a couple of them) are great, but on 22" radius curves, they look a little unrealistic. The MTH 4-8-4 are FANTASTIC, I almost took one home from the museum gift shop, but again, 22" radius curves make it look like a fish out of water. It'll *do it*, but looks a little odd like Miles mentioned. The 2-8-0 would be a great medium sized steamer that pulls hard, runs smooth as silk and in the prototype world, it would represent a 3 or 4 year restoration project that is still somewhat manageable for an association like a museum or tourist road, or even a steam association to handle restoration wise. The MDC Roundhouse (now Athearn) Harriman cars look great behind them (I would however upgrade the wheels to 36" Intermountain metal wheels) and on 22" radius curves will look great and perform flawlessly. It'd make for a great excursion train to occasionally polish the rails.

I plan to have an excursion steam train on my new layout. I plan to take an old vacant warehouse with a weed covered siding and use it as a base of operation as well as a covered shop area for restoration, maintenance and storage of a steamer. Imagine that a non-profit steam association rescued a steamer out of a park and leased a vacant warehouse with indoor rail access to restore their engine. It would add an unusual point of interest seldom seen on a layout in an old warehouse, and gives you a place to "hide" the steamer when not in use in the modern world. Add a spur down the side of the warehouse to store the passenger cars with a chain link fence around the whole thing to protect the rolling stock from vandals. And don't forget to add a generator car (maybe made from an old 40' boxcar?) to provide electrical power for your passenger coaches, and an obs car to command a little extra coin from your excursion passengers, they LOVE to ride on the rear platform.

Letter the whole thing however you want, for one of your prototype railroad names (so what if it isn't 100% accurate, it's YOUR railroad!) or do what I'd do and letter the whole thing in a fictional road name, but this is just a few ideas that *I* had to justify steam on my modern layout.