Steam...

[Tom]

The 3751 you'd like is probably BLIs. [url]http://www.broadway-limited.com/catalog/AT_SF_4_8_4_HO-1852-1.html
[/url] This is a blueline loco, so you need to pop a decoder into the socket. It comes equipped with sound.

Bachmann standard makes one that is DCC equipped. (I don't know if they one sound equipped). http://www.ehobbies.com/bac50803.html?ut...gn=froogle
It is numbered for a later class of 4-8-4s than the 3751. Old Bachmann steam engines were not very good. Throughout the 1990s, they worked to move their line from being poor runners into first class models. The 4-8-4s of the end of the decade looked like the engines from the start of the decade, but ran fairly well (though they didn't pull that great). Their Spectrum 2-8-0 launched the modern era of steam locomotive models...being the best detailed, smoothest running, and best puller of any steam locomotive in plastic up to that point. This is not a spectrum locomotive, and accordingly, doesn't have that same level of detail. It is probably the budget option between the two.

The Daylight from Precision Craft: http://www.broadway-limited.com/catalog/...764-1.html
PCM is the corporate sibling of BLI.
Bachmann offers her in post-war black...which is important, because it is the easiest to convert to the BNSF scheme she wore. This locomotive is acceptably detailed and runs okay...although I'd suspect the PCM version is better. If I really wanted her painted up for BNSF, and didn't want to repaint a locomotive, I'd get one of Bachmann's, use a pencil eraser to remove the tender's lettering, add stripes from Woodland scenic dry transfers, and drop a logo onto the tender.http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/160-50203
MTH, in O scale, is the only model of her factory painted as BNSF 4449.
Here is a photo gallery of BNSF 4449: http://www.photosbystevenjbrown.com/stea...elite.html

I love the link to the pictures you posted. Very, VERY nice. I also like this engine, http://www.broadway-limited.com/catalog/...852-1.html the details are nice and so is the prices. It also lists the engine as Recommended Minimum Radius: 18 in... Only issue is the Suethe Smoke Unit Compatible, meaning that I have to buy and add it to the unit. Not something I want to mess with. The decoder install is not a big deal. I also am sure that I need the engine to have smoke now. It adds so much to the engine. It makes it look like its working.

While I do like the paint and the BNSF part of this engine is it converted to oil now? http://www.mthhotrains.com/Gs4.asp To me that adds realism to a modern layout. The engine would have been modernized just like they really have now a days. However, the engine you posted has much more detail. Not because its better but because its different.

What a Pain in the but I am....

Thank you for your continued advice, we are getting closer to a choice, that I am sure of.

The GS4 and the ATSF 4-8-4's you mentioned are oil burners.

I think you'd be very happy with both of those choices, however, just as a side, I would strongly suggest against using any kind of a smoke unit in your steamer. It works by burning a light oil that leaves an oily residue all over your tracks (the smoke fluid is deposited from above into the stack and onto the smoke unit, the remainder then drips down all over the bottom of the smoke box and running gear) making your tracks an oily mess that in turn promotes grime, dirt and dust making track cleaning a necessity a LOT more often while inhibiting the pleasure of a fine running layout with the rest of your trains, and when it burns out of the stack, it still sprays a fine mist that covers everything around the tracks in a fine film of oil. If you're like me and have styrofoam as part of your scenery, it can also eat into the foam eventually. I have a few spots on my steepest grade where the foam, even though it is covered with a layer of latex based spackle (the layout is made to be portable) is staring to noticeably erode. It never looks prototypical anyway, as it is a fine whisp of smoke that resembles a burning cigarette and looks NOTHING like real steam locomotive exhaust. It is too light, and too whispy to look even close to real. And unless you're really running full throttle with it (at way too fast a speed usually), it barely even appears at that.

A really cool aside that I just thought about since you are running a modern railroad with a steam program, don't forget to add a few fire trucks nearby to help quench the steamers HUGE thirst for water, I always thought it was neat to see the UP 844 or 3985 roll into a small town and the local FD Pumper truck comes out and fills the tender for them with water. That'd make a neat little conversation piece to model, as well as a fuel oil tank truck ready to pump oil into the tender for fuel. Also, you might want to do up a service truck ("chase" vehicle") with company logos on the door, tool boxes and a ladder rack on the rear for servicing and lubricating the engine at service stops. Don't forget to hang "Blue flag" signs on the rear with the ladder, as you have to protect your steam crew ehn serviceing the locomotive.

Just some friendly advice on smoke though, it sounds neat, and seems like a cool idea, but I'm sure others would agree, the benefits pale in comparison to the problems that it creates usually.

Again, do whatever makes you happy, it's your railroad, your call.

Let us know what you decide, now I'm really curious.