Steam or Diesel?

#15 Reply
Posted by Amtrak on 14 Feb, 2015 10:07
I like steam engines & all of the intricate moving parts....BUT....I don't live for yesterday.

I have to go with diesel.

#16 Reply
Posted by trainut61701 on 27 Apr, 2016 15:15
I think I have about 16 diesels and 6 steamers. I love them both. I like Wabash and there's not a lot of selection for steam but have several different Wabash diesels. I grew up listening to diesels late at night going out of town and then into transition (I think that's the correct term). I always thought they were shifting gears. I have steam probably because I like steam power in general. It's much more "alive" than diesel-electric.

#17 Reply
Posted by Hiker 39 on 21 Feb, 2017 15:24
Diesel! Because I like the roar of the engines. I think I only have two steam engines in my collection.

#18 Reply
Posted by mtfrizzell on 15 Apr, 2017 22:22
Steam forever. I love the sound and the memories of my youth. Born '46. I have 5 locomotives., one Diesel, a gang car and a trolley. I just need more layout space.

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#19 Reply
Posted by weberwabash on 04 Nov, 2017 21:09
I'm a new Lionel hobbiest and I much prefer steam. When I was 7 yrs. in 1952 (yep, I'm pretty old), I lived in Ogden, Utah, the town of my birth. One day, as my family was diving the highway past Ogden, I noticed several HUUGE locomotives parked together on a siding. Over the years, I wrote the experience down to a child's imagination. Only lately have I come to realize that those locos were "Big Boys" put out to pasture. If I could only go back for one more quick look.

#20 Reply
Posted by weberwabash on 04 Nov, 2017 21:14
Addendum: My maternal grandfather retired with a pension from Union Pacific after a lifetime with UP in Wyoming and Utah.

My great grandfather retired from UP as well, but I don't know if they had a pension back then. He was later a sheriff in Wyoming.

#21 Reply
Posted by lioneldude05 on 30 Dec, 2017 20:23
I think steam is cool in real life and in Lionel because there is something really cool about how it smokes, I don't know why, it's just cool. I still like diesels, but not as much

#22 Reply
Posted by Qckslvr on 01 Mar, 2020 01:32
My HO and G scale were steam, my Lionel so far is both steam and diesel. I think steam trains are fun especially the old Shay locomotives. But I do like the older diesels such as the EMD F-7 and F3

#23 Reply
Posted by pjdog350 on 26 Jun, 2020 07:00
Steam. Born in NJ in 1941. PRR went near house and as a kid I use to go to the train tracks and was the steamers thunder down the tracks.

#24 Reply
Posted by durban on 06 Oct, 2021 09:39
Steam hands down, also I just bought a new Reading T1 Rambles #2100 and I was wondering what the part inside the box was for, it has 4 little screws and a metal plate with 2 little nubs on it.