Live Steam - Railroads / Railways

Railroads / Railways

Ridable, large-scale live steam railroading on a backyard railroad is a popular aspect of the live steam hobby, but it is time-consuming to build a locomotive from scratch and it can be costly to purchase one already built. Garden railways, in smaller scales (that cannot pull a "live" person nor be ridden on), offer the benefits of real steam engines (and at lower cost and in less space), but do not provide the same experience as operating one's own locomotive in the larger scales and riding on (or behind) it, while doing so.

One of the most famous live steam railroads was Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific Railroad around his California home; it later inspired Mr. Disney to surround his planned Disneyland amusement park with a working, narrow gauge railroad.

The live steam hobby is especially popular in the UK, USA, and Australia. All over the world, there are hundreds of clubs and associations as well as many thousands of private backyard railroads. The world's largest live steam layout, with over 25 miles (40 km) of 7 1⁄₂ in (190.5 mm) trackage is Train Mountain Railroad in Chiloquin, Oregon, USA. Other notable layouts are the one operated by Los Angeles Live Steamers and the one operated by Riverside Live Steamers.

Although not technically live steam, the hobby embraces other scale model locomotives whose prototypes are diesel (gasoline) and electric (battery). A few tracks restrict operation to only live steam engines, such as the Riverside Live Steamers mentioned above, but a visit to most tracks will reveal a mixture of locomotive types.