Favorite Railroad Decade

[Anonymous]

My choice is the 1950's. I grew up on the C&O Alleghany Subdivision. H-8's, K4;J2a,J3,were all present in my earliest memories. We usrf to "meet" every Passenger run at reasonable hours of the day, some of the engine men would look for an awestruck 6 year old and lift me up into the cab.

Then came the "streamliners" which actually caught my attention more than the steam power. F7 ABBA sets on the freights, E8 A A A sets on the passengers. Then the GP7's arrived in force. A very exciting time to grow up.

Trains were frequent, many of the westbound steam were double headed indeed a very nostalgice time

Tom Blair
Hampton Roads, VA

[Anonymous]

My choice is the 1950's. I grew up on the C&O Alleghany Subdivision. H-8's, K4;J2a,J3,were all present in my earliest memories. We usrf to "meet" every Passenger run at reasonable hours of the day, some of the engine men would look for an awestruck 6 year old and lift me up into the cab.

Then came the "streamliners" which actually caught my attention more than the steam power. F7 ABBA sets on the freights, E8 A A A sets on the passengers. Then the GP7's arrived in force. A very exciting time to grow up.

Trains were frequent, many of the westbound steam were double headed indeed a very nostalgice time

Tom Blair
Hampton Roads, VA

[Anonymous]

It's gotta be the 40s and 50s. That's back when BIG steam and first generation diesels ruled the rails. Ahhhhh, the good 'ole days.

[Anonymous]

It's gotta be the 40s and 50s. That's back when BIG steam and first generation diesels ruled the rails. Ahhhhh, the good 'ole days.

[LuthierTom]

Hey, Jim, I'd like to schedule a trip in your time machine to the 1950s to catch some N&W action, both steam and early diesel, but only if I can take 21st century audio and video/film recording equipment back with me to get state-of-the-art records of the action. Oh, and if I can schedule a 2nd trip, I'll go back to the 1967-72 time period with the same equipment and get state-of-the-art records of the Saturn V. [:p]

...and I want to bring back a '57 Bel Air convertable, a '59 Gibson Les Paul, a '60 Fender Stratocaster, a '65 Mustang convertable, and a '65 Fender Twin Reverb when I come back from those trips! [:D]

[LuthierTom]

Hey, Jim, I'd like to schedule a trip in your time machine to the 1950s to catch some N&W action, both steam and early diesel, but only if I can take 21st century audio and video/film recording equipment back with me to get state-of-the-art records of the action. Oh, and if I can schedule a 2nd trip, I'll go back to the 1967-72 time period with the same equipment and get state-of-the-art records of the Saturn V. [:p]

...and I want to bring back a '57 Bel Air convertable, a '59 Gibson Les Paul, a '60 Fender Stratocaster, a '65 Mustang convertable, and a '65 Fender Twin Reverb when I come back from those trips! [:D]

[Anonymous]

love the 90's and the good SF power frieghts

[Anonymous]

love the 90's and the good SF power frieghts

[slotracer]

I picked the fifties although that all happened before I was around....the forties thru the mid sventies has to qualify anyway. To each his or her own, but I can't see anything attractive in rialroads from the eighties on, especially the nineties when the last mega mergers occurred and boiled everything down to just a few corporate clones, sterilized of any personality. I don't think so much it is a case of my being closer to what was, it is more recognition of the fact that a primnary thing that makes rail buffs like railroads is variety, uniqueness of carriers, and operations. Back Then, there were complex and busy junctions and yards, paint scemes, architectural design, china and corperate identity that was close to home. The railroad had a deep tie with the community and your dailey life. Today it is just another transportation mode that may roll through town. (maybe not if you had your rail line merged and ripped up).


I parked my cameras after 1980 and only reused them a brief stint when SP was about to be taken over by UP in 95-96....got some pix of Tennessee pass before abandonment. I wouldn't get caught dead looking ike some nerd with a camera around railroad tracks today, no matter what was rolling thru town. It was fun in the seventies though with so many local operations, active towers and variety of roads and schemes.

How many others have hung it up, when and why?

[slotracer]

I picked the fifties although that all happened before I was around....the forties thru the mid sventies has to qualify anyway. To each his or her own, but I can't see anything attractive in rialroads from the eighties on, especially the nineties when the last mega mergers occurred and boiled everything down to just a few corporate clones, sterilized of any personality. I don't think so much it is a case of my being closer to what was, it is more recognition of the fact that a primnary thing that makes rail buffs like railroads is variety, uniqueness of carriers, and operations. Back Then, there were complex and busy junctions and yards, paint scemes, architectural design, china and corperate identity that was close to home. The railroad had a deep tie with the community and your dailey life. Today it is just another transportation mode that may roll through town. (maybe not if you had your rail line merged and ripped up).


I parked my cameras after 1980 and only reused them a brief stint when SP was about to be taken over by UP in 95-96....got some pix of Tennessee pass before abandonment. I wouldn't get caught dead looking ike some nerd with a camera around railroad tracks today, no matter what was rolling thru town. It was fun in the seventies though with so many local operations, active towers and variety of roads and schemes.

How many others have hung it up, when and why?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LuthierTom

Hey, Jim, I'd like to schedule a trip in your time machine to the 1950s to catch some N&W action, both steam and early diesel, but only if I can take 21st century audio and video/film recording equipment back with me to get state-of-the-art records of the action. Oh, and if I can schedule a 2nd trip, I'll go back to the 1967-72 time period with the same equipment and get state-of-the-art records of the Saturn V. [:p]

...and I want to bring back a '57 Bel Air convertable, a '59 Gibson Les Paul, a '60 Fender Stratocaster, a '65 Mustang convertable, and a '65 Fender Twin Reverb when I come back from those trips! [:D]

You know there are lots of things I would like to bring back too. There were many good steam engines that even though many were made none were preserved for future generations to see. The New York Central J3As would be one engine I would bring back. And lots of Alco engines too. And tons of other neat cars like the Model As, Ts, and you name it. Give me the 57 T-Bird and the 64 Mustang. Man oh man, we could go on forever. [:D] I think I will have to brake out in song, " M e m o r i e s, may be beautiful and".

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LuthierTom

Hey, Jim, I'd like to schedule a trip in your time machine to the 1950s to catch some N&W action, both steam and early diesel, but only if I can take 21st century audio and video/film recording equipment back with me to get state-of-the-art records of the action. Oh, and if I can schedule a 2nd trip, I'll go back to the 1967-72 time period with the same equipment and get state-of-the-art records of the Saturn V. [:p]

...and I want to bring back a '57 Bel Air convertable, a '59 Gibson Les Paul, a '60 Fender Stratocaster, a '65 Mustang convertable, and a '65 Fender Twin Reverb when I come back from those trips! [:D]

You know there are lots of things I would like to bring back too. There were many good steam engines that even though many were made none were preserved for future generations to see. The New York Central J3As would be one engine I would bring back. And lots of Alco engines too. And tons of other neat cars like the Model As, Ts, and you name it. Give me the 57 T-Bird and the 64 Mustang. Man oh man, we could go on forever. [:D] I think I will have to brake out in song, " M e m o r i e s, may be beautiful and".

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tjbjrvt68

My choice is the 1950's. I grew up on the C&O Alleghany Subdivision. H-8's, K4;J2a,J3,were all present in my earliest memories. We usrf to "meet" every Passenger run at reasonable hours of the day, some of the engine men would look for an awestruck 6 year old and lift me up into the cab.

Then came the "streamliners" which actually caught my attention more than the steam power. F7 ABBA sets on the freights, E8 A A A sets on the passengers. Then the GP7's arrived in force. A very exciting time to grow up.

Trains were frequent, many of the westbound steam were double headed indeed a very nostalgice time

Tom Blair
Hampton Roads, VA

WOW,

What a TIME!

I grew up around the C&O,and have long been very loyal to them.
I TRY to model in the 50's-60' era.

I was born in 1950,go figure.
To any C&O fans out there,Do the names Raceland&Russell
mean any thing. I've had the PRIVILEGE of being in the roundhouse
at Russell.

P.S. If anybody wants to respond,you will find me on the Train mag Forum.

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tjbjrvt68

My choice is the 1950's. I grew up on the C&O Alleghany Subdivision. H-8's, K4;J2a,J3,were all present in my earliest memories. We usrf to "meet" every Passenger run at reasonable hours of the day, some of the engine men would look for an awestruck 6 year old and lift me up into the cab.

Then came the "streamliners" which actually caught my attention more than the steam power. F7 ABBA sets on the freights, E8 A A A sets on the passengers. Then the GP7's arrived in force. A very exciting time to grow up.

Trains were frequent, many of the westbound steam were double headed indeed a very nostalgice time

Tom Blair
Hampton Roads, VA

WOW,

What a TIME!

I grew up around the C&O,and have long been very loyal to them.
I TRY to model in the 50's-60' era.

I was born in 1950,go figure.
To any C&O fans out there,Do the names Raceland&Russell
mean any thing. I've had the PRIVILEGE of being in the roundhouse
at Russell.

P.S. If anybody wants to respond,you will find me on the Train mag Forum.

[ClinchValleySD40]

1970's - during my RR career.

[ClinchValleySD40]

1970's - during my RR career.

[sebamat]

I really like the pre 1900 period, where railroads were an adventure shaping the world. It is (for an european) the typical, Western-movies kind of railroading we immagine for the USA. It was also a glorious period before starting loosing importance to cars &airplanes.
But I found it very difficult to model because of scarcity of commercial products, so I ended up collecting everything from 1880 to 2000..... with main focus on IC 1998, that is the one I meet during my study in the States.

Sebastiano from Switzerland

[sebamat]

I really like the pre 1900 period, where railroads were an adventure shaping the world. It is (for an european) the typical, Western-movies kind of railroading we immagine for the USA. It was also a glorious period before starting loosing importance to cars &airplanes.
But I found it very difficult to model because of scarcity of commercial products, so I ended up collecting everything from 1880 to 2000..... with main focus on IC 1998, that is the one I meet during my study in the States.

Sebastiano from Switzerland

[Anonymous]

The 1980's. Both EMD and GE were trying out new technology and using computers in locomotives to control certain functions, although older motive power was still used in mainline service. I know it was not a glamorous period for passenger trains and all but to me this era had a mix of everything.

[Anonymous]

The 1980's. Both EMD and GE were trying out new technology and using computers in locomotives to control certain functions, although older motive power was still used in mainline service. I know it was not a glamorous period for passenger trains and all but to me this era had a mix of everything.

[Anonymous]

I love in Darby,Pa. Thats out side of Philadelphia. When I became a Train lover was in the 1950's. This was my child and began teen age years. I could walk to the B&0 and PRR tracks. When I and a buddy of mine, Walk over to the other side of town to Watch the PRR four tracks, Today this is Amtrak's northeast corridor. The late great GG1 was the king of passanger loco. The B&O had F7's on its track. Today my model my HO Eastern RR is in the 1950. Love to talk about trains. Email me anytime.
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

I love in Darby,Pa. Thats out side of Philadelphia. When I became a Train lover was in the 1950's. This was my child and began teen age years. I could walk to the B&0 and PRR tracks. When I and a buddy of mine, Walk over to the other side of town to Watch the PRR four tracks, Today this is Amtrak's northeast corridor. The late great GG1 was the king of passanger loco. The B&O had F7's on its track. Today my model my HO Eastern RR is in the 1950. Love to talk about trains. Email me anytime.
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

I am a fan of the '20s. The era of high class on the high iron. These were the "Golden" years of railroading in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

I am a fan of the '20s. The era of high class on the high iron. These were the "Golden" years of railroading in the U.S.

[oltmannd]

I voted for the 1980's - mostly for personal reasons. I started working for Conrail in 1978 and watched the whole industry turn around in the 1980s. In 1979, it wasn't certain the industry would survive, but by 1990, thanks mostly to deregulation, the industry was in much better condition. The change was most dramatic at Conrail where a hodge-podge of worn-out lines and equipment was transformed into trim, efficient network in a good state of repair. And, despite a continuous stream of layoffs, the attitude of the employees mirrored the change in the company's fortunes.

[oltmannd]

I voted for the 1980's - mostly for personal reasons. I started working for Conrail in 1978 and watched the whole industry turn around in the 1980s. In 1979, it wasn't certain the industry would survive, but by 1990, thanks mostly to deregulation, the industry was in much better condition. The change was most dramatic at Conrail where a hodge-podge of worn-out lines and equipment was transformed into trim, efficient network in a good state of repair. And, despite a continuous stream of layoffs, the attitude of the employees mirrored the change in the company's fortunes.

[Anonymous]

Like some other fans, in America I would go for a Arfer! Arfer one decade and arfer another. The decades would be the thirties and forties as the US rail industry certainly moved the goods of war. In England It would have to be the Fifties as there was plenty of pre- nationalisation equipment around and the new British Railways Standard classes of Loco's and rolling stock were making their prescence felt. Puny diesels were making an appearance from a multitude of makers, most fell by the trackside!

[Anonymous]

Like some other fans, in America I would go for a Arfer! Arfer one decade and arfer another. The decades would be the thirties and forties as the US rail industry certainly moved the goods of war. In England It would have to be the Fifties as there was plenty of pre- nationalisation equipment around and the new British Railways Standard classes of Loco's and rolling stock were making their prescence felt. Puny diesels were making an appearance from a multitude of makers, most fell by the trackside!

[Anonymous]

I bet we have some new forum members who have not voted. [:(] [:0]

So I will just bring this back to the first page so they can see it. [;)] [:D]

[Anonymous]

I bet we have some new forum members who have not voted. [:(] [:0]

So I will just bring this back to the first page so they can see it. [;)] [:D]