What do you think the best or the worst RailRoads around

[railfan619]

HI everyone

I was just thinking what are some of the best or some of the worst RR's around to this day some of the better ones I think would be.

1. CN&W
2. UP
3. BNSF
4. MILW ROAD
5. SOO LINE
6. CP RAIL
7. CSX


and now some of the not so good ones


1. NS
2. CN RAIL
3. SP
4. AMTRAK


Now if anyone has any RR's pass on if their your better ones or your not so good ones, [:)][:)]

[railroadyoshi]

Boston and Maine is the BEST!
BEST I tell you![:D]

[Anonymous]

Best:
1)CSX
2)BNSF
3)CP Rail
4)KCS/NAFTA
5)The WC, SOO, and IC parts of CN
6)Shortlines!

Worst:
1)NS
2)The rest of CN
3)Amtrak


In-between:
1)FEC
2)Whoever Maine Central folded into
3)Arizona and California

[Anonymous]

get rid of that ***ed horse NS as their logo

[Anonymous]

The best!
1. Santa fe
2. BNSF
3.CN&W
4. CSX

Worst
1. Burlington Northern
2. Rock Island poorly ran
3. Union pacific
4. NS
5. CN

[coborn35]

The Best:
1.DM&IR
2.Great Northern
3.BNSF
4.Canadian National/Whiskey Central (nowadays)
5.Santa Fe

The Worst:
1.Rock Island
2.Canadian Pacific of the 1980's
3.Canadian National of the 1980's
4.CSX
5.NS

P.S, Hey, uspscsx, what do you have against shortlines???

[samfp1943]

I wi***hat the individuals would list their criteria as to why they think what they think about a specific railroad..I had personal interactions with employees of NS and CSX and NGRR [ a short line] while a resident in the Southeast, and to a man or woman they were all very oriented to their employer road and knowledgeable of each other roads strong and weak points..professionals all..

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by coborn35

The Best:
1.DM&IR
2.Great Northern
3.BNSF
4.Canadian National/Whiskey Central (nowadays)
5.Santa Fe

The Worst:
1.Rock Island
2.Canadian Pacific of the 1980's
3.Canadian National of the 1980's
4.CSX
5.NS

P.S, Hey, uspscsx, what do you have against shortlines???

Shortlines? Oops, I think I was thinking of something else...I LOVE shortlines. Especially SRN, ALAB, and HS.

I'll change that right now.

[coborn35]

Oh, ok, thats good.

[Philcal]

As a police officer, now retired, I've interacted with employees of SCL, now CSX,and Southern, now NS. To a man/woman, they were helpful, focussed, friendly, and professionial. I admit to being somewhat partial to railroaders, as I come from a railroad family. Which is the best? Hard to say.

[espeefoamer]

Best.[8D]
1. SP
2. ATSF
3. WC
4. NS

Worst.[}:)]
1. UP
2. UP
3. UP
4. UP

[Anonymous]

I agree that we should give reasons why we classify a line as best or worst. Read the recent issue of Trains regarding the NS, which is now a scheduled railroad like the CN. How can you say a very profitable railroad that runs on time can be the worst?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by uspscsx

Best:
1)CSX
2)BNSF
3)CP Rail
4)KCS/NAFTA
5)The WC, SOO, and IC parts of CN
6)Shortlines!

Worst:
1)NS
2)The rest of CN
3)Amtrak


In-between:
1)FEC
2)Whoever Maine Central folded into
3)Arizona and California

Okay, here's why:
Best:
1)CSX-Runs through my town. They've been very friendly to me in the past, and I've had no trouble out of them while railfanning my local yard.
2)BNSF-I love their older paint schemes. The swoosh...not so much.
3)CP Rail-It's the only other Canadian railroad other than CN!
4)KCS/NAFTA-I truthfully don't know. I've just always had a thing for them.
5)The WC, SOO, and IC parts of CN-WC, SOO, and IC have always seemed to have locomotives on CSX freights around here. Plus I love WC and SOO's pain scheme.
6)Shortlines!-Most interesting rolling stock you can find. Patches, rust, graffiti. You name it, it always seems to hit these cars.


Worst:
1)NS-Runs over everybody in a city about 20 miles from here. In this year alone there have been about 10 accidents in that city. I don't see CSX having problems like that here...
2)The rest of CN-It ate up WC, SOO, and IC!
3)Amtrak-Ah-hem...Do I need to say it?


In-between:
1)FEC-Hmm...FEC...Well, don't like 'em, but don't hate 'em. Don't know why either.
2)Whoever Maine Central folded into-Skip.
3)Arizona and California-Never seen it. It's about a million miles away from here.

[Anonymous]

What is the criteria? Biggest, fastest , railfan friendly , best run?

But when it's all said and done, Who cares?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wrwatkins

I agree that we should give reasons why we classify a line as best or worst. Read the recent issue of Trains regarding the NS, which is now a scheduled railroad like the CN. How can you say a very profitable railroad that runs on time can be the worst?

I don't think that employee professionalism, profitability or timely modern operations that are good business are the point of this thread. Rather I think that it is closer to a romantic yearning of an immagined by gone era that we are reading. My position is close to what one of Albro Martin's lectures called "Bankers, Lawyers, and Real Railroad Men." Persons who are Transportaion professionals, students of business, transportation systems and history (with a few geographical types as well) have said; in the past and the present that you cannot run a railroad or any sort of business (even the publishing of magazines and novels) on romance.

[cpbloom]

Seems like it doesn't matter whether reasons are given for best/worst railroads or not because almost all the time the reasons are [censored].

This topic is just another poorly disguised "who do you like, who do you hate" thread.

[:0] ............what is happening to this forum?

[Anonymous]

Comparing railroad companies is much like comparing the relative likes and dislikes of a college football team. I grew up with the for-runners of both NS and CSX. Weather it be the AB&C, Savannah &Atlanta (S&A) Central of Georgia, Southern, The Stillmore Airline Seaboard (SAL) or the Gainsville Midline. Each road had its own personality and ways of doing things. But like I have said before, they have to make money, more the better.If only it was a simple as a college football team. Personally I like the Georgia Bulldogs more than the North Avenue Trade School insects. But I still refer to GA Tech as a fine bunch of engineering types.

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with Norfolk Southern? They make money, have a great safety record, are innovative and have proved better able to use their old Conrail routes than CSX.

Actually, I think the six big Class One's have more in common than differently. I do think, though, that CN is overrated. The IC mainline north from N.O. is in atrocious condition (even before Katrina), and they seem to be having a lot of "little" accidents of the kind most of the others have eliminated or cut down to statistical insignificance.

[CopCarSS]

Favorite, or Least Favorite I could at least understand to a degree.

Best and Worst, though? How does one judge best and worst with no modification provisions... (e.g. Best/ Worst Paint Scheme; Best/Worst Investment, etc.)

And as always, I think it kind of odd that railfans spend time and efforts worrying about generilizations about best and worst. It's almost a given that you loved the railroad you grew up with, and hated the railroad that took them over. At the same time, as long as its a steel wheel on a steel rail, isn't that sufficient to garner our interest and admiration?

[wabash1]

when did the NS start running a on time railroad? it does seam that everyone dont like the ns even one guy said that it is because ns runs over everyone . it isnt because ns runs over them its because they try and beat the trains . But I really want to know when the ns started running a scheduled railroad. and when they stopped it?

[Anonymous]

I agree with cpbloom. If Bergie was like Chuck Barris of the "Gong Show", this post would have been GONGED (deleted) long ago.

The war between the love/hate certain railroads has gotten nowhere. What did that particular railroad do to you to HATE it so anyway??

[CSXrules4eva]

Believe it or not, I don't think any railroad out there is just down right terrible. I do have favorites but, I don't hate any one railroad. Oviously, many railroads like to do things their own way, therefore, many positive and negitive things are a result. For example, CSX is very well know (sad to say) for their poor track maintence. NS is known for useing DC power 24/7. UP is known for sticking AC44CWs on the point of every coal train they make up. lol

My favorite railroads are based off of my opinion and not fact. Now, someone could ask the question (What railroad did the best or the worst in conducting themselves to compete with other railroads and other corperations).

[Anonymous]

You are sounding like a good exec in the making.
Well said - PL

[AlcoRS11Nut]

Worst......(need I even say it?).........CANADIAN NATIONAL!!!!!!!!

[wctransfer]

BEST ( in terms of my liking)
1. WC
2. SOO Line
3. DMIR
4. Rock Island
5.DME
And also MRL

Dont Like

1. CN managment, not the employees
2.Conrail
3. BNSF, but i will take pics of them
4.NS i dont like either, but will take pics of, if they get to minnesota that is.

Alec

[joegreen]

I'd have to say by experience that CN would be the worst.

I think BNSF and NS are 2 of the best run railroads in the country but I also think IC&E is pretty nicely run even though they are a regoinal RR.One of the best things about IC&E is that the do very good in keeping their 103 engines clean..........and everybody knows that that is hard to do in this day and age.The hardest thing for IC&E was turn IMRL around from their "way of running".IMRL treated their engines like crap and hardly even cared about the line they were running on(similar to CSX) and thats mainly why they(IMRL) had an accident just north of Forreston a while back.The line has come a long way since IMRL runned it.

[Tharmeni]

The Indiana Rail Road from Indy to (near Effingham is the best I've seen.
Why? They took an unwanted old weed-infested IC line and with marketing and foresight turned it into a dynamic road that is improving the line, adding new sidings and -- gasp -- making money.
Finally, as an ex-BN official, I taking exception to the poster who listed the old BN as the "worse" railroad. The BN made a key strategic mistake in opposing the Staggers Rail Deregulation Act of 1980 and, thus, was poorly prepared to deal with a deregulated industry. But once it saw the writing on the wall, it moved quickly to become a leader in the rail industry.

[JDV5th]

It seems that NS is getting on the right track (sorry, bad humor) [;)][:I] I appreciate their no nonsense effort to run an efficient railroad. But their motive power color scheme is boring. I still like UP and want them to get back to running smoothly. How bout a NS + UP merger. Hmm. Different forum though.

[tree68]

In short: "My railroad is good - Yours is bad."

[JDV5th]

Well, I guess that's a legitimate way of looking at it. [:)]