There are probably more answers to this than there were locomotives for each railfan has his/her own favorite. Or favorites. For many reasons, too.
Me?
First, probably the Fairbanks Morse Trainmaster: first high horsepower dual purpose road switcher. Despite its problems it at least presaged the second generation of diesels. Never rode one, rode behind them quite a few times but did ride litttle brother the "Baby Trainmaster".
Second, GG1. What a monster! How ugly! How beautiful! How fast! And it was when I was about 10 years old while walking with my father, brother and friends, on a platform in Penn Station, NY that a trainman jumped up from between a G and a baggage car and handed me a real railroad kerosene lantern. The G was part of that prize forever!
The Lackawanna Railroad. Every engine. Was a couple hundred feet from the house I grew up in and everything they owned from 1946 to 1961 went passed. Cannot forget the Poconos pulling the Lackawanna Liimited and its brethern like the Merchants Limited/Scrantonian. Or thier Pacifics puffing up and down the line with the Boonton Line scoots with the open vestibule cars. My first cab ride was in the MU's, yes, but first diesel cab was an RS2 quickly followed by the GP7s and the Baby Trainmasters. The E8's were so graceful pulling the Phoebe Snow and just as gracefule, with a touch of brute, pulling the milk trains 47 and 44!
CNJ's Wharton and Northern introduced me to the EMD F's in orange and blue! What a sight! And the NYS&W scampered about behind those silver and maroon RS1's. Lets see, the Erie had those Vanderbuilt tenders waiting with their Pacifics and their commuter trains there on Bloomfield Ave.at the end of the Caldwell branch made such a unique sight. Over in Easton, PA we would marvel at the PA's with LV's Black Diamond. And out on the Island, Long Island, the LIRR had those funnly looking cabbed FM's called C-Liners, but boy did they move those owl eyed cars! And those huge double ended electric engines the NH had bringing trains from the Hell Gate Bridge across the Grand Cental Pkwy were absolutly fascinating to watch. And thre were those little Lionel electric engines flitting about GCT and lugging long strings up the hill to Mott Haven. The same railroad, NYC, also kept a flock of PF's huddled along the Jersey side of the Hudson ducking in and out of that tunnel along the high cliffs.
How can anyone choose a single favorite out of all of them?! Each one contributed so heavily to the experience of becoming and being a railfan that to give any one all the credit would spoil the fun of what happened!
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my favorite engine of all time is no other than the southern pacific daylight 4-8-4 gs class 4449.the style grace and good looks make her my favorite steam engine.
Not the best, not the most beautiful, not the fastest, not the most powerful, Beauty, the New Haven I-5 with the N&W J and the SP Daylight close behind. But my real favorite. Of course the K4. Why, because I rode behind it more often than any other steam locomotive, everything from the Broadway down to New York and Long Branch commuter trains. (Was stationed at Fort Monmouth twice in my life.) And fan trips. So many enjoyable and memoriable rides. That is realloy what counts as a favorite. And I'd have to place the NYC Hudsons, all three variations together, as second for the same reason. With either locomotive, I never had a train I was riding delayed or cancelled because of a locomotive failure.
My overall favorite would any PRR GG-1, in particular #4935.
Steam: Atlantic Coast Line R-1 4-8-4 Northern
Diesel: Tie between the "ugly duckling" BL-2 (preferably in FEC red and yellow) and the graceful E-6 (in ACL purple and silver, FEC red and yellow, Seaboard "citrus" or Southern green and gold - take your pick).
Steam I've seen/ridden behind: I'd have to give the nod to N&W A-Class 2-6-6-4 No. 1218, although two others - Clinchfield 4-4-0 No. 1 (my first steam excursion experience) and N&W J-Class No. 611 also get high marks in my book.
Diesels I've seen: As a class, the odd-looking GP-30. As an individual locomotive, SCL U-36-B No. 1776, the locomotive which started the Bicentennial paint job craze, and the best looking one of the bunch. Pity it wasn't preserved.
Electric: The GG-1, specifically the "Blackjack" No. 4935, which I saw parked (and then pulling silently away from) the platform at Washington Union Station in 1978.
If the K4 is my favorite steamer because of the many enjoyable miles behind its tender, then I also ought to rate the diesel and the electric. Obviously, although in my opinion the New Haven EF-3P is a better engine, more powerful, better crew accomodations and visibility, and a cleaner design, the GG-1 is certainly distictive and given me the most reliable and pleasent passenger miles. Diesles? 1949-1954, 1956-1970, regularly rode NY-Boston. 1971-1996, NY - N. White Plains. So the answer has to be the FL-9. And its a good looking locomotive too.
The Four Aces 1111 Timken bearing special
Please don't
327 ci Chevrolet.
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