Motive power; more detail

I made a pretty general, handwavy affair at what motive power I'd want; about half a dozen steam engines, including geared steam. Because I just did a much more detailed, kit number and everything summary of my little tank down of Davis (which would represent what the original J&S trackplan had as Dos Hermanos), I figured I could actually determine the specific engines I want too.

First, an aside. I think I've decided that every single "block", which includes all three of the eventually planned 4x8 modules as well as the narrow necks that will connect them, will need to feature at the very least a locomotive water tower, to help represent the implied distance. The 4x8s might well feature two; at least the J&S trackplan does. There will be a total of 2 engine servicing facilities that will be a bit more extensive when all the modules are in place, including coaling bins (not towers; I imagine a more shortline rough and tumble affair where guys with shovels and wheelbarrows load the tenders out of a bin), water, and sand at one and an ashpit at the other. And then pretty much every little town will feature a water tower. Looking (again) at the J&S for inspiration on how to do things, I notice that he has a tank town at Dos Hermanos, some railroady structures including a signal tower, passenger station, freight station and water tower at Clarkdale, and diesel services at the BA&W.

My thought is that I'll have a water tower at Davis, Jefferson will have a water tower too, and the real service facilities will be in Mirabeau, which will be my BA&W lookalike. There, I'll have a coaling station, another water tower, a sanding tower, and an ashpit. I'll worry about the next modules when it comes time to plan those modules. Most little towns will have at least some kind of freight depot and LCL dock, if not a more extensive reason for the railroad to visit other than the water tower.

Anyway, back to the point; water towers are a requirement for steam engines, especially smaller steam engines with smaller tenders that have limited water carrying capabilities. Let's go through my proposed roster of locomotive power for the railroad. This may seem extensive, although I like the variety for photo opportunities, if nothing else, and once all of the modules are complete, it probably won't seem as extensive as it does now. I just like having lots of locomotive options. I expect most model railroaders do. Note that there is one more loco that I'd really like to get, but which isn't in production anymore. I'd probably have to order a brass engine off of brasstrains.com or enay, and since those are auction sites, I can't nail down a specific one that I'll plan on getting yet. This is the two-truck geared Shay.

Many of the kits I'm listing are identical except for color and roadmarkings to other kits with similar numbers. Since I'll almost certainly repaint and redetail all of these engines, that's not really a show-stopper for me if the specific one I want is not in stock. I am trying to get color schemes that are closest to what I'm expecting, however. That way there's a possibility that other than relabeling the engines, I might be able to just weather it with only minimal repainting. If I'm lucky.

4-4-0: The 4-4-0 set that I specifically picked is a Bachmann, set number 51005. It's DCC ready. I prefer the coal-burning tender to the wood-burning, so instead of a bonnet smokestack, I have a simple stovepipe. There are a lot of bonnet types available too, but that was mostly a requirement for spark arresting on wood-burning actions, so I'm going to mostly avoid bonnet style stacks entirely. This PRR model is already the right color; mostly black with some brass accents, so it's the preferred one to get.

 0-6-0: I like small switchers for use on these types of railroads. Curiously, the J&S book shows a picture of an actual prototype, (i.e., real train, not a model) of an 0-6-0 backing down from the mine to the smelter at Clarksdale with a load of ore cars. I'd like to have two 0-6-0s, even though there's not a lot of variety available; almost the only thing you can change is the color-scheme and the tender. Every 0-6-0 I've seen has been the USRA standard design. But with some coloring and some detail customization, and with two tender types, I'm sure that I can distinguish the two of them. Kit numbers 50405 and 50705 are the two that I targeted, with a short haul tender and a Vanderbilt tender; I'm going to try and avoid the slope-backed tenders. I had images in an earlier post on this topic, so I won't recreate them here.

Heisler: There is a Rivarossi Heisler model coming out in the next few months for HO scale in multiple road colors. The Curtiss lumber is the closest to the color scheme I want (along with the Pickering, although that's a bonnet style smokestack, so I think I'll probably pass on that one.) It's kit number HR2882. 2882s for the DCC version, which is probably what I really want.

Climax: Curiously, although it's listed as out of stock, it's available at Wal-Mart, for crying out loud. I do see it available at Hobbylinc, at least. This is a 2-truck geared steam logging locomotive, but it'd fit really well anywhere on the RSA. This is Bachmann kit 80602.

That's five locomotives. Honestly, if that's all I end up being able to deal with, that's probably OK. Shays are available on the aftermarket without two much trouble. I prefer the two-truck there, like I did with my Heisler and Climax, but I do think maybe having at least one heavy duty three-truck geared locomotive might be kind of fun.