The future of model railroading.

[RobertInOntario]

"I think the biggest reason for the focus on transition era to now is the difficulty in engineering a decent running steam engine. In addition, the difference between a diesel engine on Say the NYC and the Santa Fe is paint and location of a few details. On the other hand during the steam era, each railroad had there own designs for steam engines, and they often didn't resemble each other."

I diragree with this. Steam engines all look alike, yeah some are longer or shorter or have more wheels or less wheels but they are all black and therefor all look alike. That point was driven home to me by people visiting a Lionel train museum I work at. In talking with them I was amazed by the fact that the most of them assumed that any engine that was black was a steam engine. Diesels took a dull somewhat depressing industry and turned it into glorious technicolor with their rainbow of paint jobs. Most people don't notice the details only the big picture and their eye isn't attracted to a black steam loco if there is a deisel parked nearby with the BNSF pumpkin or Seaboard citrus or whatever paint sceme on it.

Except in Britain, they used a variety of colours on their steam engines -- the LMS had maroon/red (i.e. Princess Elizabeth); the LNER had bright blue (i.e. the Mallard), apple green (Flying Scotsman) and gray (Silver Fox, etc.); and the GWR and Southern had various shades of green. There were even other types of blue and red used by different railway companies. Generally, freight locos were black while the bright colours were reserved for passenger trains.

Having said all this, I still think steam engines are 'way cooler than diesels, no matter what colour you paint 'em!