I am looking for a couple of US G scale items.

No I haven't 'turned'.

I am doing this book for the last year Baccalaureat students at the lycée called 'My Antonia'. Bill Wray exceptionally kindly helped me by making a priceless copy of the film. It's an American immigrant pioneer story that features several references to the railroad.

Having studied the book, the author, the geography and history it would be nice to take this a stage further with the students in the 3D form.

What better than to 'combine' (good pun) work and hobby. G scale tains in the classroom......!

Thus I am looking for a small (2-4-0 Casey Jones type if possible) US steam loco from about 1880s plus 1 small coach.

I've seen Bachmann stuff and I can buy a whole 'Silverado' train set brand new for about 200$ but I think that is a little bit extravagant as I really just need the loco and 1 coach. An Aristocraft 'shorty' type would ideally suit me best.

I have a few US wagons already to make up a train and plenty of track of course.

Any suggestions....?

Sounds like a great idea. One idea you might consider- LGB made an "Americanized" 0-4-0 based on the Stainz motor block. It was used in quite a few starter sets over here. I'm not sure how common they are in Europe, but they look good (even though they are not true to any US prototype) and are relatively bulletproof (which Bachmann stuff isn't). This is the model I used for my kitbashed conversion I posted here a while back.

There is also a stand-alone version with a matching powered tender, available in US (LGB 2017) and German (LGB 2015) versions. The powered tender was also sold separately. These all show up on eBay regularly. The powered tender generally commands a higher price than the Loco itself.

BTW, Casey Jones drove a ten wheeler (4-6-0) to his demise.