For me its the C40-9W (known to local railfans as a "catfish", especially if its in the colors of Norfolk Southern). I love NS, dont get me wrong but seeing catfish every day gets rather boring.
I worked with a guy that was a photographer his whole life. He told me in the 80s-early 90s he actually got BORED with seeing nothing but sd40-2s and GE C30-whatevers. He actually chased a train with brand new NS dash-9s for a change of pace. Now he can't stand them, But he still takes photos of them.
In 10 - 20 years, it will probably be rare to find a train with 3 or 4 solid c40-9ws. You dont know what you got till its gone.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
Ya an SD-40-2 was about as "generic" an engine as you could get 20 years ago. Not an unattractive engine, just that and it's near-cousins looked pretty similar after a while.
I think this has probably always been the case with railroading. Before the SD40-2s, there was a hoard of GP-9s running around. Before that it was all F Units. Before that, it was steam. Granted steam locomotives had personalities, but I still wonder how often photographers would tire of seeing the same class of Mikados or Consolidations. Go back far enough and you'll get to the Americans. Can you imagine what a joy it would have been to see something with a different wheel arrangement than 4-4-0?
It's all a matter of perspective. Just imagine yourself being able to tell future railfans about those "Catfish" you saw when you were younger!
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Anything painted in the old BN green and black. Possibly the worst paint scheme ever in my opinion.
ndbprr Anything painted in the old BN green and black. Possibly the worst paint scheme ever in my opinion.
Worse than PC? That's saying a lot!
I don't hate any of them, but my least favorite is the B23-7. Not a good yard switcher. Not a good road locomotive. Rusted out cabs. Lousy walkways - got you filthy. Mediocre ride quality. Not good looking in any paint scheme. Too many bulges and bumps. Just blech!
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
With only two major builders and only a handful of products from either, no matter what you are going to see the same thing over and over after awhile. I am sure in early diesel days it was quite a different story. NS just has so many of that one model or similar GE models that its almost all you see sometimes, even seeing an EMD aside from the SD40-2 pushers has been rare on occasion.
I hate the one the breaks down on line of road and ties the railroad up on knots. Unfortunately they all break down.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Southern_Serves_The_SouthFor me its the C40-9W (known to local railfans as a "catfish", especially if its in the colors of Norfolk Southern). I love NS, dont get me wrong but seeing catfish every day gets rather boring.
First, I don't normally like to nitpick, but I'd just point out that NS is the only owner of the C40-9W (as opposed to the C44-9W), so you'll only ever see them in the colours of NS. But that's overly specific and I know it annoys some people, so if it does, just ignore it.
-Tim
For me, it used to be the SD40-2's and the SD60M's. But I've seen quite a few in a long deadline at Englewood Yard recently so seeing them now is not bad at all! Now the locomotive I'm not too crazy about is the SD70M just because they're everywhere on the UP system.
mine would be an SD-40 because that is the local yard switcher and i see it every time we drive past the yard because it just seems to sit there all the time
n The f40s of Amtrak fame has to be the ,ost boring engine ever designed Larry
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