Question: When you buy locomotives, do you match them with their "Proper Set"? Or do you have a preference for whatever looks good?

[EHizon671]

Following my C57 post, an idea has been on my mind that I would like to get a second opinion on. 

When you purchase locomotives, do you typically match them with the "Proper Set"? Or do you opt for whatever aesthetically appeals to you? 

 

For instance, if you were to acquire a steam, diesel, or electric locomotive (excluding commuter trains and Shinkansens), do you make an effort to connect it with the designated freight or passenger set suggested by various websites? Or do you simply couple it with your era-appropriate rolling stock? 

 

I have a KATO EH10, which is one of my favorite electric locomotives. I checked two websites, KATO and HOBBYSEARCH1999.

 

HOBBYSEARCH1999 suggests pairing it with the KATO 10-489 Container Express Train "Takara" - a 9-car set that's extremely hard to find.

KATO's website recommends matching it with KOKI5550 or REMU 5000S, which are also quite elusive.

 

Recently, I watched old videos and noticed the EH10 pulling various JNR-era rolling stock in real life. So now, it's making have second guessing myself.

So, I ask again, when you purchase locomotives, do you typically match them with their "Proper Set"? Or do you have a preference for whatever looks good?

[SwallowAngel]

Ah yes, the "I-have-one-part-but-not-the-other" struggle...

 

For me personally, I think I (mostly) try to get matching sets for my locos. Usually they look very nice when paired together and on occasion you can use them with other locos too. That especially goes for "unique" locos with some unique distinguishing feature (think of preserved locos with their special consists).

But depending on situation I personally like to go with "looks-good-enough". Sometimes you couldn't get a specific set or your loco is otherwise "train-less", and in those cases I like to just run them with whatever I feel like looks good. My D51 489 "Orient Express '88" is probably prime example for this: I got her used without the matching Orient Express coaches, so she just pulls whatever I have lying around with the excuse of an "excursion train" or whatever. Of course it is wildly non-prototypical, but my personal focus and fascination lies more within the locos rather than the train they're pulling, so I don't care that much what's behind the coupler 🙂

 

Cheers!

[Lessigen]

Echoing the opinion of
@SwallowAngel -

 

I also personally primarily subscribe to the "good enough" line of thought where I try to aim for a best-effort recreation of any formations where it's reasonable. Like if this locomotive was usually seen pulling these coaches then I try to get those as well if it's not too painful to get. An example is the upcoming KATO E26 Cassiopeia set. The KATO EF510 from a few years is still easily accessible and affordable so I've paired that with the E26s.

 

But honestly if those rolling stock (or v/v with the locomotive) are really hard to find or expensive I just use whatever I have laying around that's compatible. The DSB MY 1146 (Denmark) locomotive in my collection has Arnold couplers, and the only carriages I currently have that have Arnolds are the Oigawa Railway carriages so they're often seen coupled together. Hilariously un-prototypical, but I enjoy seeing the train/consist itself go around my layout rather than what was prototypical.

[katoftw]

I do both.  Match sets for prototypical running.  But also do whatever I want. My care for the rivet counters opinions is zero.

 

Just do whatever you want.

[cteno4]

The only real correct answer to this question is what do you like/want to do! Really is your railway and other’s options are just that, their opinions, not what you may enjoy. Do what brings you the most joy!

 

Personally I dont get too tied up in this. I have some trains i know the consist of well and try to follow that, but many i just cant remember and never really noted, but i dont it let it bother me at all and I worry even less what other’s think of what I do with my trains. Many, though, like things like this perfect and exact and it’s not fun if its not right to them. Thats cool for them, but what may be joy for them probably is not for me and visa versa.

 

Those that say there is only one correct way to enjoy these things i tend to listen the least to, and at times they get you second guessing yourself about what you enjoy, which is silly. It’s good to hear what others like but in the end it becomes an internal question. Enjoy your trains how you like!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[MeTheSwede]

 

 

I just came to think of my first ever Youtube video. It seems my answer should probably be neither. 😆

 

[Kamome]

With passenger formations I usually try to get the correct locomotives as on each leg of the journey, there were specific locomotives used in most cases although alternative locos or liveries may have been used at some point. 

 

With JNR freight locos like EH10, there was still a lot of mixed freight and so you can build up a long mixed rake of wagons. The Takara container express was but one train they pulled as well as other container trains were starting to be brought in. You can easily build a train with both short wheelbase and bogie fitted freight including the odd JNR container flat. The EH10 in most photos pulled substantial length trains rather than shorter formations. Ku5000 car transporters are another alternative. Essentially the “mammoths” as they were called were designed to pull heavy freight trains on the Tokaido main line between Tokyo and Osaka. 

 

Check Google images or similar for inspiration. Kato obviously show what is appropriate from their range although it is not always updated to reflect recent releases. 

 

Perhaps think of it the other way around. If you have the Takara container express, you’d probably want an EH10 or if you have the Resa 10000 “Ginrin” fish train, you’d want an EF66.  Most loco types pulled many other things. 

Edited Tuesday at 10:51 PM by Kamome

[bc6]

I get whatever looks good then worry about pairing them up with passenger cars. What I do want is a locomotive that works with passenger and freight cars.

[Pashina12]

For my part, with my interest being the Aizu Line in the late 1960s, I don't try to recreate exact trains; instead, I know what locomotives and  what DCs (by number) ran on the line at the time, and I collect freight cars of the types seen on the line at the time, serving the various rail-served industries. Eventually I might get around to numbering those cars according to the numbers seen in photorgraphs from the period, but that's not a priority for me. More important to me is that I be able to reproduce the operations on the line such that an operating session represents "any given day in 1967-69".

 

That said, as a much less important thing, I do also want to assemble various trains that ran on the line in earlier and later periods; I have an 8620 and an OHaFu33 as the start to a 1950s passenger train, for example. For those trains, yeah, I'll be putting together more or less permanent sets that will always run together on special occasions (not on "everyday operations" on the layout), but I have a suspicion that all of those trains will have to be assembled piecemeal. So that's another option, if you find a photo or video of a train that catches your interest, you might decide to put a train together like that.

[Wolf]

I am team "slap together whatever".

 

🙂

[Martijn Meerts]

I'm a bit of a sucker for full sets, so whenever there is a loco release that has 1 or more accompanying sets of cars / coaches, I usually pick up that set as well. I do however also mix and match cars / coaches for locos that don't have accompanying sets.

 

I think me buying car / coach sets is also something I do because before I got into Japanese trains, I mainly had Euro trains, and the Euro brands seem to have an aversion to releasing full sets of rolling stock. So when I saw the Japanese manufacturers releasing the bookcases with multiple cars in them, I just started picking those up 😄

 

The downside is, that I have sets that I probably will not run very often, such as the full 18 cars of the SP Morning Daylight ...