# Rolling stock for steam locomotive



## cman (Nov 15, 2017)

HI

I am new to the forum, i have looked at the gallery and wow lots of great work being done, and new to n scale. When i was younger i had HO and still have everything in a box. recently i have wanted to get back into it but space is an issue so on a whim i bought some N scale track and a steam locomotive. i set up a small layout and was happy with what i can do with this size on a smaller layout. one day i will set up my HO stuff again but for now I am N only. i bought this locomotive http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Bachmann-N-0-6-0-Switcher-w-Tender-UP-p/bac-50561.htm and would like a few pieces of rolling stock to match the era, a passenger car or 2 boxcar flatbed and the most import caboose. Does anyone have any suggestions? this is the vintage i would like to do for my N scale layout.


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## Ko Improbable (Mar 15, 2017)

cman said:


> HI
> 
> I am new to the forum, i have looked at the gallery and wow lots of great work being done, and new to n scale. When i was younger i had HO and still have everything in a box. recently i have wanted to get back into it but space is an issue so on a whim i bought some N scale track and a steam locomotive. i set up a small layout and was happy with what i can do with this size on a smaller layout. one day i will set up my HO stuff again but for now I am N only. i bought this locomotive http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Bachmann-N-0-6-0-Switcher-w-Tender-UP-p/bac-50561.htm and would like a few pieces of rolling stock to match the era, a passenger car or 2 boxcar flatbed and the most import caboose. Does anyone have any suggestions? this is the vintage i would like to do for my N scale layout.


Bachmann used to make some "old time" passenger cars and a combine car. They're not too easy to find, anymore. I want to say Athearn or Concor did a run of them, too, but I'm not sure. While it would leave you with two nearly identical 0-6-0s and track you might not want, Bachmann still sells those passenger cars as part of a train set, i believe.

I've seen some old school rolling stock out there, but I can't remember who makes it.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

I found this info on your locomotive, in case you hadn't seen it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USRA_0-6-0

It says the build dates were from 1918 to 1919, so that's the vintage you will likely want for your rolling stock.

The first thing you'll find out is passenger cars are expensive! And freight cars aren't all that more reasonable. Ebay has lots of stuff available, and if you can make it to a model train show, lots of people sell used stuff there. 

Good luck! :smilie_daumenpos:


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## Ko Improbable (Mar 15, 2017)

Fire21 said:


> I found this info on your locomotive, in case you hadn't seen it.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USRA_0-6-0
> 
> It says the build dates were from 1918 to 1919, so that's the vintage you will likely want for your rolling stock.


On the other side of the coin, however, remember that railroads have a tendency to use things for as long as they're useful. Steam locomotives were still in commercial use well into the 1960s, thirty years after they were made "obsolete" by diesels.

I.E. you're not constrained to the teens or roaring twenties, just because of this 0-6-0.

You might look at the underside of that locomotive. I'm fairly certain Bachmann designed them to be able to take front and rear guide wheels. So, if you wanted to get them, I think their parts department can sell them to you.


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## 1905dave (Sep 18, 2016)

The USRA 0-6-0 was in service from 1919 to 1960. So pretty much it touched every type of car during that period. Most of that "old time" stuff was outlawed before the USRA engines were made. 0-6-0's were heavy switch engines. They spent most of their lives working in switching yards switching cars or working industrial jobs in urban areas. They wouldn't have been cascaded to shortlines until the late '40's or early '50's.

Pretty much any steel underframed car built before the 1960's would be appropriate. 

They would have a top speed of about 40-45 mph so they weren't designed for passenger trains. I don't know of any of them equipped with steam connections to heat a passenger car. If they were on a shortline, they would have been used after WW2, so the passenger cars (or more likely 'car') would have been a older steel underframe car, probably a combine.

If it were me I would shoot for a late 40's shortline layout, I would get a steel combine as the passenger car and modify it with smokestacks for coal or oil fired heaters in the car. In that era I could use literally hundreds of models, most lay all the 40 ft cars, hoppers up to about 70 tons, early covered hoppers, 50 ft boxcars either smoothside or composite and riveted gons and flats in the 50-65 ft range.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

In my book about the history of the Great Northern, there's a B&W photo of a branchline train somewhere in North Dakota in the 1930s. The locomotive itself isn't visible. The consist is a hopper car, a tank car, an ice-bunker reefer, a 40-ft boxcar, and a heavyweight combine bringing up the rear (there's no caboose). Put coal in the hopper, gasoline or diesel in the tank car, groceries in the reefer and dry goods in the box car, and the mail in the RPO end of the combine and you've got everything you need for day-to-day life in the small towns along the line.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Ko Improbable said:


> On the other side of the coin, however, remember that railroads have a tendency to use things for as long as they're useful. Steam locomotives were still in commercial use well into the 1960s, thirty years after they were made "obsolete" by diesels.
> .


Thanks, KO, I hadn't considered that aspect of vintages. Opened my mind a bit wider!!


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*0-6-0 switcher*

cman;

The 0-6-0 steam locomotive was used as a switching locomotive, most commonly in a railroad company's yards, or at a large industry that had its own yard switching to do. Switch locomotives like 0-4-0s, 0-6-0s, and 0-8-0s, were usually restricted to 20 miles per hour or slower because they had no guiding wheels up front. (Called "pilot wheels") Going faster, without the pilot wheels, could cause a real 0-6-0 to derail. (The model can run much faster without derailing.) 
This speed restriction generally kept them off the main line. Many switchers spent their entire career in one yard. 
If you are able to get extra wheels from Bachman, as Ko Improbable has suggested, then you could convert it to a 2-6-2 "Prairie" type loco. These, unlike switchers, were common in main line service, as they were safe at higher speeds. 
A switcher might handle just about any car on the railroad, but, typically only in the freight yard, or large passenger station, where it was assigned. They did sometimes haul a few cars along short parts of the main line, as between two nearby yards.
So, as others have said, you have many cars to choose from, and unless the type of car wasn't invented until after steam had vanished; you can legitimately pull any cars you want. 
Of course, whether you want to be technically correct in any of this stuff, or not, is strictly up to you.

Have fun. That's all that really matters.

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:

For other info on starting, or starting over, click on the links below. They will connect you to some pdf files aimed at new modelers.

View attachment Where do I start (revised version).pdf


View attachment MODEL RAILROADING ON A BUDGET.pdf


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## cman (Nov 15, 2017)

Thank you for all of the replies

All good points and a alot of good information.

I'm looking forward to setting up a N scale training and continue to read this forum lots of good information


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## cman (Nov 15, 2017)

I placed an order for a couple of freight cars.

There is a lot more you can do in N scale with a smaller space then HO, but of course i always seem to want a bigger building area.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

cman said:


> There is a lot more you can do in N scale with a smaller space then HO, but of course i always seem to want a bigger building area.


As with everything else, it's a tradeoff. More layout in a given space, but smaller stuff, which is harder to see and handle with our 1:1 scale bodies.


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