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Which Western Railroad do you miss?

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Which Western Railroad do you miss?
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 8, 2003 7:50 PM
Please vote I am very curious.[|)]
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 8, 2003 8:03 PM
This is a hard decision between CNW and ATSF or CB&Q. Anyone eles out there?[8)]
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 8, 2003 8:05 PM
Some of these are still around, like the UP.
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 8, 2003 8:06 PM
Kettle Valley RR.

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 8, 2003 8:41 PM
Big Sky Blue is the most beutiful paint scheme ever!
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Posted by cacole on Monday, December 8, 2003 8:52 PM
The Southern Pacific is not quite dead yet -- some of their grungy locomotives are still being used mixed in with newer Union Pacific locomotives on the Sunset Route through southern Arizona between Yuma and New Mexico, and probably further East.
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Posted by Hawks05 on Monday, December 8, 2003 9:06 PM
i chose GN. i like the logo, the paint schemes, and they fit in with the BN stuff i plan on getting. some of the others are CNW, CB&Q, WC, MILW, and Rock Island.
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Posted by Wdlgln005 on Monday, December 8, 2003 9:58 PM
I miss the Rio Grande, and their Zephyr. I hope the Ski Train runs again each winter. Denver to Salt Lake City & back. I hope to be able to ride the Durango & Silverton and the Cumbres Pass narrow lines.
Glenn Woodle
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Posted by tutaenui on Monday, December 8, 2003 9:59 PM
What about the Chcago Milwaukee St Paul & Pacific! Sob
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Posted by douginut on Monday, December 8, 2003 10:11 PM
MILW.
Little Joes, Olympian Hiawatha the Station at Tacoma, and the one in Chicago.

And of course, CNS&M

Doug, in Utah
Doug, in UtaH
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Posted by dwick on Monday, December 8, 2003 11:13 PM
Of all the raulroadsi n the western part of our country, I miss the Southern Pacific and the Rio Grande. They were the true masters of mountain railroading. It's a shame that mega-mergers result in tossing rail history into the "ditch of the obsolete". The Golden Rule is: "Those that have the gold make the rules"! It was great to see some of those units [SP & D&RGW] sometimes lashed into some of the power which ran thru Illinois and Wisconsin and Iowa. I saw SP running in Arizona and California. Rio Grande units bursting out of Moffit Tunnel was always a treat too. Farewell to those pioneer roads.
Don Wick, West Bend, WI
Donald F. Wick dmwick@charter.net
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Posted by joseph2 on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 3:36 PM
Milwaukee.Especially through Montana.
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Posted by CBQ_Guy on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 5:35 PM
Well I guess you can tell which railroad I miss the most by my signature line. But I miss them all as they are part of my childhood memories watching them while growing up in Chicago. You think they'll be around forever. I've heard the same said by the old timers about steam engines.

Happy Holidays!
"Paul [Kossart] - The CB&Q Guy" [In Illinois] ~ Modeling the CB&Q and its fictional 'Illiniwek River-Subdivision-Branch Line' in the 1960's. ~
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 5:44 PM
As you may have heard, Canadian National bought out BC Rail. I'll probably miss those BC rail cars that always whent by my granma's house.
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Posted by Trainnut484 on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 5:58 PM
Of course I miss the ATSF the most. I also miss the Rio Grande and MKT ( I didn't see any Katy, but wished I did), and CNW.

Take care,

Russell
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 6:09 PM
1. Rio Grande, but the Santa Fe is 1a. Also don't forget the Western Pacific.

Tom
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 6:29 PM
BC Rail
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 7:30 PM
The SP&S tops my list, followed by the Milwaukee Road, which curiously is missing from the list. "Other" doesn't do it justice.

Please note, Wisconsin Central doesn't make the cut as a "western" railroad, while someone could make the argument that C&NW is perhaps nominally so (although in my opinion it doesn't qualify as nominal western railroad, the Powder River Basin not withstanding). A western railroad, to many of us who live in the West, is one that operated through or west of Rockies -- SP, WP, UP, Santa Fe, SP&S, NP, GN, MILW, D&RGW, CP, CN, BCR, et al.
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Posted by randybc2003 on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 10:48 PM
D&RG was a fiesty little Class 1 that whiped mountains, weather, competition, and economics to hold on to and survive in it's own little nich. SP was too toxic for it to survive, and therefor fell.
I am also a fan of GN and AT&SF. Most of GN is still visible, albiet in ghosts.
I don't care what the sign on the side of the loco says. If fit is Scarlet & Silver Warbonnet, it is SANTA FE.
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Posted by FThunder11 on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 11:11 PM
I live in colorado and read a lot about them
Kevin Farlow Colorado Springs
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Posted by n2mopac on Wednesday, December 10, 2003 9:22 AM
How about the good old MoPac. Here is a major player in the industry until merver with UP in 1983 that very often gets forgotten. Go MoPac.
Ron

Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado. 

Check out the TC&WRy on at https://www.facebook.com/TCWRy

Check out my MRR How-To YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RonsTrainsNThings

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 10, 2003 3:41 PM
Here's another vote for The Milwaukee Road
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Posted by ddechamp71 on Thursday, December 11, 2003 6:25 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by oprr

Please vote I am very curious.[|)]


I definitively miss the SP and their rusty and dust covered heavy diesels.
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 10:54 AM
I miss the Grande. They were one of the great pioneers of railroading. Their paint shcemes were always sharp, even if not always clean! Those locos worked hard for a living!
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 11:44 AM
I miss the Denver& Rio Grande Western, Baltimore & Ohio, Milwaukee Road, & Rock Island railroads because of their pride and glory & how much fame they had on the beautiful gleaming rails. by:keith bunner joekiddcf@yahoo.com
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Posted by bluepuma on Friday, December 12, 2003 2:03 PM
Southern Pacific I miss... but I forgot ATSF... they are not really gone, just transformed.

Missed PE after they quit running.

I like seeing the SP painted locos on the UP tracks, and SP traincars. Guess I'll not be finding a N scale SD70 in SP colors. Got two in BNSF pumpkin, but ya know what? I decided I don't like how they look at home. If I get more BNSF, either red/silver or ATSF decoration.

NYC Lightning Stripe has more of a SP "feel" so I may get more of the pre-conrail locos, maybe more B&O or MP.

I see SP between Rochelle to Clinton, Iowa, but two BNSF lines are closer.
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, December 18, 2003 6:10 AM
I'm going to add that while I miss the RIo Grande greatly, a part of me misses the Wobbly and Pathetic....er...the Western Pacific. It was built with D&RGW money and drove them into receivership...but I did like seeing the Silver, Black and orange diesels tracking across the Salt Flats between Salt Lake City, UT and Wendover, NV.
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, December 18, 2003 12:00 PM
I voted for Other. The Mopac, Frisco, and the Katy were not on your list.

Dale B.
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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Thursday, December 18, 2003 4:26 PM
Loved all of the wester roads. Each with it's own uniqness. But, While the UP & SP (formerly Central Pacific) were first on the scene, it was the Santa Fe that set the standard for top notch frieght & passenger service that the customers would compare the other roads to.

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


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Posted by NevinW on Thursday, December 18, 2003 4:40 PM
For me:

1. D&RGW (by far the best for me from a railfan's point of view)
2. Western Pacific
3. Southern Pacific

- Nevin

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