You CAN run steam and Modern Diesels together on a Model Railroad

[@hobbiesunlimited4231]

The great philosopher Steve Brown said "It's my Railroad". Freed me up to start one as I was too concerned about others' thoughts. So, run SD60s and 2-8-2's. They key is enjoy your trains.

[@Eclipse1988]

Exactly!! The only thing keeping me from running a steam engine is that I don't own one! I don't care what Era or decade my model is based in, they're just cool. Especially the ones that actually blow smoke! It's my railroad! I also ran Santa Fe's with my Conrail and CSX locomotives on the same layout, even though I'm not sure if those companies would ever cross paths with a Santa Fe in the real world. I just like the way they look so I got 'em lol. Who cares? I'm not trying to win any awards lol.

[@EvergreenValleyModelRailRoad]

Jimmy I am of the Steve Brown approach, "It's MY railroad", run it how you see fit.

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

It is the best way to do it!

[@AndrewJohnson-ur3lw]

Rule 1 applies. It's my model railway and I like this, that or the other and it's why I run it out of era. Aka "museum" rule.

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

It’s the most important rule!

[@davidbarr9343]

Spot on!👏😀

[@adventuresofabbott4374]

Aka the person who pays, in money, time, and or labor, has the final say.

[@jeffreyperdue3382]

Hey Jimmy, i almost always add a "museum" to my layouts just for this purpose! As always great video.

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

Great approach to this!

[@SirLANsalot]

exactly. Have a "historical society" of whatever name that has restored said steam locomotives. For operations you can say that the main railroad for the yard/area has requested some extra help with a local or yard duties for the day. Saying that whatever locomotives they use are out of service but you have a 2-8-2 all steamed up and ready (or whatever steamer you deem to use). I have this on my own layout, with the roundhouse area being owned by the "historical society" and a small branch line all attached to the main yard owned by BNSF/UP. The bulk of the layout is BNSF/UP but the steamers get their share of work out there too, tons of fun.

[@djfoodrecipes2297]

​@@DIYDigitalRailroad😊😊😊

[@Alex-RealApplebees]

For those long shoves you should look into adding a caboose as a platform for your crew to ride on. I’m sure they’d be happy not hanging onto the side of cars. Plus it adds operational fun

[@melkitson]

You are going to have to glue down the front left wheel of that truck at the crossing! Fabulous Jimmy. I have always said that I will run what I want and am not trying to prototype an era or a location. It is also a matter of what I could afford at the time. Steam goes with electric and diesel on my layout as do elephants and brown bears! I love what I am doing and am having such fun doing it.

[@bigizzysworld4253]

I run em all. I got steam passenger service with modern diesels for the freight!

[@robertmyers5269]

I really like these mini op sessions. It shows what operations can add to the enjoyment of a model railroad. And also that it needn't be high pressure and can be done with one person on a small layout. Now to go work on my layout a little.

[@4everdc302]

If you're looking for a modern-day example of coexisting. Alberta Prairie Railway runs excursions on the weekend with vintage diesel&steam. But does shortline action to the main during the week. Home of CN6060 under restoration🚂🇨🇦🙋

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

I’m loving that more and more locos are getting restored!

[@billschneck9107]

There's also this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXS6e6GJa5qsjNE

[@kents.2866]

Super cool. I need to get out to PA to see Reading & Northern RR to its T1 pull a coal drag.

[@HobbiesRfun]

And let's not forget the most obvious, and famous example of a modern class 1 railroad running both modern diesels, and classic steam power, and that's the Union Pacific with their heritage steam program, running the 844, and the king of steam, the 4014 Big Boy in excursion service. I'm building a 4X8 N scale layout, and run modern Union Pacific GE, and EMD locos, and also run my newly purchased Kato 4014 Big Boy, water tender set, EMD SD70M 4015, and excursion set on the layout. If you're a modern Union Pacific fan, but are also a fan of vintage UP steam power, then the real UP has given you a great reason, excuse, and justification to run Big Boy 4014, or 844, or both, along with a modern diesel, and classic UP passenger cars all on the same train.

[@asteroidrules]

Always a firm believer in "run what you want." Also a lot of people forget just how long the transition from steam to diesel and electric was, the first diesels started appearing before World War 1, and depending on the country steam was phased out somewhere between the 1960s and an indeterminate time in the future as some places are still using steam power to this day, plus steam's enduring popularity in excursion trains and heritage railroads.

[@melodiejones7100]

Well, as you know the UP 4014 Big Boy is currently in service and looks great on any layout.

[@drewzero1]

Almost any layout. It would look pretty silly on mine, since the model is nearly a third of the length of the display area!

[@billschneck9107]

Thank you for showing the coupling/uncoupling. I'm new to the hobby, and have been confused about how that works in with operations sessions. I had heard about the bamboo skewer, but wasn't sure how to use

[@robertlucido3686]

I've made my railroad a modern day freight hauling railroad that runs a tourist train program, because I like running old steam and diesel trains up to the most modern diesel locomotives

[@thoughtengine]

Also, steam locos are often seen on test runs. They often end up on the mainline whilst under test. Steam didn't disappear overnight when the diesels were first introduced. Over a decade went by from Queensland's first diesel to the loss of the last steam. Even more so with the sugar mills; some mills didn't ditch their last steamer until 1979, even 1980! Victoria Mill, Ingham, in fact, still has theirs; though the information that it is occasionally used may be a bit dodgy. Then of course, there's always the ghost train at Halloween...

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

I do love me a good ghost train. Sadly the Southern Railway where I live ditched steam the fastest.

[@kenshores9900]

Jimmy: Yet another good episode. Waiting to see the next one.

[@tommythomason6187]

I run F9s on my modern N-scale layout ; Officers' Specials, Employee Specials, and excursion runs.

[@gmaneis]

Born in 1947, so I wondered why this was even a topic!😁 C&NW ran near our house, and steam and diesel power running together wasn't uncommon, at least for a brief year or so. No problem.

[@thomaslarsen5057]

Great session and as you said in another video.. do what ever makes you happy! Watch out for doors!

[@LordPhobos6502]

I've always run on the assumption that you can run whatever the heck you like, because it's your railroad

[@williamthawley9251]

RBMN has had its steam pulling freights, so has others, good video

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

I’ve seen several videos of various steamers pulling freight, especially short lines.

[@tomstrains4129]

Luckily - my layout is just a family layout as a test bed to work on our model railroading skills and run whatever we like! We run modern and steam simultaneously. In the future, I do plan on running prototypical equipment for my proposed layout for 1940s - 1950s. An all steam is difficult to maintain so I’ve compromised with late steam / early diesel transition era equipment. Run what you like as long as you enjoy it, no one else’s opinion should matter. We’re all part of a very forgiving / constructive hobby and community. Thanks Jimmy for another great video!

[@SmackyTheB3AR]

One thought that I had always considered was swapping out some of the smaller details to "change the era", such as switching the vehicles on the road out for older ones, changing any ads or billboards, and maybe even having a few "hot-swappable" buildings. While this would not work with some of the smaller details, it could give the general idea that your layout is "back-dated" about 40 years or so and allow reasonably prototypical running of older equipment.

[@Elios0000]

you can do any thing you want. its your layout!

[@gbwdude]

I'm on the other side of the spectrum, I model the late 1930's and 1940's so yes steam and diesel exists... mostly steam and one RS1 (but not owned by the Whiskey River Railway).

[@Shipwright1918]

Personally have it so my road never gave up on steam power, just modernized the shops and operations to make maintenance more cost-effective. As everyone else was in a big hurry to scrap their steam fleets, engines were bought up cheap for scrap value and integrated into the fleet. Diesels are in use as well, but as a complement to the steam fleet, not its replacement.

[@petermenningen338]

I was gifted a 2-4-0 steamer Old school by a friend. My plans are not only a museum track but to use it in the town holiday trains pulling various "special" cars for events.

[@TheABRailfan]

heres a cool idea you should try to add a little figure that is railfanning or looks like you.

[@northmill70]

Great video Jimmy. Your NS consist locomotive with sound makes a cricket sound.. chik-a-chik. My Soundtraxx/Kato E unit makes this sound too. Is it a glitch or prototypical?

[@David_Mattox]

Totally agree. Steam and diesels can be run together, especially when a good reason is given. But odds are I’d run British steam with American diesels anyway. Also wanna say I LOVE the music throughout this video! Alright if I ask what song it is?

[@bc5441]

Good video. A museum, a fan trip, a legacy run… or you can always default to rule #1 and run what suits you at the moment. Besides, how prototypical are our steam or diesel models? They are powered by electricity! We can all get caught by versions of this. It’s easy enough to avoid a particular paint scheme or version of a piece of rolling stock because it was not released until October and we are modeling September, so it doesn’t exist yet. 😂

[@s16100]

Don't you just love how everything runs smooth and perfect till you put the camera on it? LOL Age old gremlin that shows every time. I have practiced moves and "fixed" everything, made the move 3 times perfect, take out the camera, turn it on and something picks a point, bounces on ballast, stalls or just derails. LOL This is N gauge right?

[@STho205]

I ride Southern Steam out of E Chattanooga regularly, and there is a modern freight mainline on the embankment above the TVRR head yard...plus we interchange with NS main rail to get into Georgia. However you'll need to repaint your locomotive. 4501 and 630 are all black today.

[@STho205]

Also for operations interest, TVRR is a historic RR corporation not an excursion RR. They run freight during the week, including wayfreights switching the VW plant, they've pulled long copper trains over the helix east of Etowa & Delano, north of Ducktown.

[@raymondleggs5508]

You could model the Polish state Railway, they have a daily steam powered commuter train in one region

[@danshobbies13]

I run steam. It’s my “excursion” train. Just like I have near me.

[@OriginalBongoliath]

Guess it is easy for me since I model the 1950's 🤣

[@glrider100]

Your excursion train made me remember an idea I had.. Instead of just an excursion train... what about modelling a train museum into your layout? I can see some benefits to doing this. First I doubt it's been done very often so it has a "newness" factor to it. But there are some practical benefits as well. It allows you to place trains and rolling stock from any area and any era onto your layout. They don't have to match whatever your prototyping, because they're displays for your museum. For example, you're modeling your region of North Carolina.. You will probably never see a Santa Fe locomotive in that area.. Never see a Canadian Pacific, or a Chessie.. Well in the museum they're museum displays. Also.. got an old, broken, rare locomotive that you can't fix? Have a round house that doesn't fit into the era you're modeling? Put it into the museum... Just a thought.

[@jasonworden8209]

I love your setup.. hope your head is better 😆 ✌️

[@Mike__B]

I was going to say "How do you run them?" my answer is "It's my damn train setup, I'll run a shinkansen through the wild west if I want!"

[@loispadgett6306]

What a fun run both your steam and diesal makes life more intersting. I enjoy both keep up the fun. Thanks for sharing and have a great day. GOD BLESS 🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖

[@Brickticks]

That’s one way to do it. Another way would be to simply let engines be engines and have both steam and diesel doing the jobs they were originally built for. That’s the way it is on my own 10x14 foot L-Gauge layout. In fact, I’ve got more steam locomotives to pick from than I do diesel or electric. Come to think of it, only counting the standard gauge, there’s really only four electric engines and four Diesel engines. Compare that to the steam fleet, which consists of, let me see…. Right, for standard gauge only, there’s six steam engines, (five of which are coal fired), to the only four each of electric and diesel. Pretty good. (I admit, if I count the narrow gauge at the mine, that’d be seven steam engines, five diesels, and four electrics). Rockatoa, Brickticks out!

[@HumancityJunction]

Invoking rule #1!

[@ivovanzon164]

You aren't limited to museum trains if you want mainline steam, steam trains were in regular service in East Germany until the reunification, and even a few years after that, even on passenger trains. The narrow gauge lines in the Harz and on Rugen island never stopped running steam, with the Harz one being really interesting because they use transporter wagons for standard gauge vehicles, which makes for even more shunting opportunities.

[@ethanandrews1230]

2:15 have you tried adding a keep alive circuit to that locomotive’s DCC decoder? I’m no N scaler so I don’t know how well or even if that would work but just an idea.

[@eothetrainmaster]

Always good to have an excursion or two rambling on a layout! Or pull a Strasburg, a mainly tourist line with some revenue freight which is occasionally hauled by a steam locomotive! What music did you use in the video? The violin track was pretty good!

[@thomascanady1967]

Hope this goes through. Music is "Get" Mountain Dreamers.

[@genejablonski9909]

Great session ... thanks

[@hoppercar]

Noticed the 4501 dynamo starts up, but the lights are allready on

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

Yeah. The car lights are pure track power. No on/off on those. The dynamo was for the headlight only.

[@BillwUpstateNY]

Great video Jimmy. I have been following you channel for a while and always enjoy it. On my layout, I have an 1800’s station on a siding on one side of town and an Amtrak station on the other. Will be tearing down my “beta” layout soon. Will be viewing a lot of you previous videos during the new build.

[@SD45-ET44AC]

Great video! Thanks for sharing & explaining as you are helping those of us with new layouts/experience!

[@jimbarrett1975]

I've just seen that someone else has mentioned it, but have you considered a caboose as a shoving platform? It would also add a bit of extra switching. I really enjoy your operations videos, you've nearly got me considering N gauge!

[@hobbiesunlimited4231]

He sold me on it. I have HO and N and enjoy both now.

[@jimbarrett1975]

@@hobbiesunlimited4231 I'll probably have to sell something myself if I go down that line!

[@DjDubbleSeven]

Hey Jimmy, I've noticed your sidings don't have buffer stops, is this a future project? Also do you ever regret having the diamond crossover instead of two separate individual crossovers... I just notice some boxcar bounce across it.

[@odeooo16]

Fun video!

[@michaelpfister1283]

Hey Jimmy, great video! One question, though: on a long shove like the one you showed, shouldn't there be some kind of shoving platform to protect it on the "front" of the train? A caboose or some other car that is easy to ride? That would be a loooong way for some poor conductor to hang onto a tanker! Injecting the steam-led excursion train into the ops mix was a great idea! I've thought of it myself and heard folks discuss it, but this is the first time I've seen an ops session actually do it. Thanks for sharing how it can work!

[@devinshufford7748]

Run it how you want it's your time and 💰

[@dannyking748]

Hey like the model railroad im planning. Im going to have no specific railroad or era. Im having a mix of everything.

[@kevinshortell7604]

Cool video. :- ) It's the same thing that I do on my own layout. I suppose that great minds think alike! ;-)

[@NorthStarRailfan]

I can't no matter what. Small DC layout. (4 foot by 4 foot)

[@oldgrumpyhunter]

It's okay to run what you want to. After all it's your railroad. Besides passengers why not run some freight.

[@CatHeadKnows53]

Hey, your railroad, your equipment roster, right? Since when can't we mix eras including mixing steam and diesel? I hope someday to add a steam locomotive to my HO roster just because. I don't think we need to create a scenario, like excursion trains or museums (we can, of course, if we want to!) because it's all at our discretion. I already mix eras with my diesel locomotives and rolling stock. I'm doing a proto/freelance layout, so why not toss in (no - I won't literally *toss* it!) a steamer?! As always, Jimmy, great video.

[@jamesburba1995]

Hi Jimmy ! My Son and I just bought a 12k 3D resin printer, and was wondering if you could please give us a few sources for the STL's for some n scale models we might print. We are both new to resin printing, and would truly appreciate any information you might share with us. Thanks in advance ! Jim (also), and his Son Zac.

[@DIYDigitalRailroad]

I can add this to the Q&A!

[@jamesburba1995]

Yah, great idea ! I'll be looking forward to that. Thanks again Jimmy !!!@@DIYDigitalRailroad

[@thomasdecker7631]

Around here, excursions pulled by PM 1225 are a fairly regular event. I will be modeling this as well as my own railroad's steam powered excursions. As always, your op session resulted in an enjoyable video. BTW, any plans to run excursions with the Big Boy?

[@Quince828]

Very interesting show of how a switching operation works, and how to accommodate a special interest such as an excursion train. I found the music loop rather annoying and distracting. Why do so many model railroaders always play country music?

[@kenfolstad1346]

Hi Jimmy, love it, just curious should I not paint my Kato track, I noticed yours is not? Thank you!!!!

[@robertmyers5269]

Chiming in here. I really like painted track. The shiny sides look very toy-like IMO. Also, painted track helps hide the fact that N scale code 80 track is about 2x too tall. Look at tracks near you or pictures of where you are modelling to get an idea of colors. Lately I've been using Tamiya Khaki XF-49, as it is a close match to traditional 'rail brown' colors. After painting, let the paint set for a few minutes, then clean the rail heads. I use a piece of masonite or MDF. Avoid abrasives as much as possible. Do it as you paint, don't let the paint cure completely.

[@jwd8964]

Awesome video! How big is this layout?

[@the_autism_express]

That's a good solution Or you could just be like me and just not care