Keepin' ON TRACK
Technical Data

The Steam Locomotives:

Steam locomotives were used for over a century, from the 1820's to the 1940's. They started out small, but ended up quite large. If you are a model railroader who enjoys modeling a period during the steam era, this chart should help you to determine which locomotives to run on your layout. For example, if you are modeling 1900 to 1910, don't use a 2-10-4 to pull a passenger train, because:

1) they were not ment to pull passenger trains, they were designed to pull heavy freight trains and

2) they weren't around until the 1920's.

You can find plenty of information about locomotives in books or on-line, so if you pick a period to model prepare to do a lot of research on the railroad lines you wish to represent. This chart is only intended as a quick-reference guide to help you get started.

4-8-4 Northern Pacific #2603 built by Alco around 1926 on the left
poses next to 4-6-0 East Tennessee & Western North Carolina #10 built in 1910 by Baldwin.
This photo was taken in 1942 at the Northern Pacific Shops. Photo by Heck Miller.

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