Favorite Rail Road ?

[gizmodawg_55]

My favorite railroad NYC because my grandfather worked for them out of Ashtabula,Ohio. Haven't had much luck trying to get on the N&S or CSX though.

[BMRR]

Southern Railway.

Stan.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of living close to the tracks, a 1/4 mile away the LIRR runs past, love to hear the rumble and the 5am wake up call in the morning as it streaks past, only wish it was steam......[:)]

[FJ and G]

same as my cognomen (FJ&G).

[Anonymous]

hello guys. if i had to pick a favorite rail road. i would have to pick two of them.

my first pick have to be norfolk southern. because it's the only tran that runs through my home town of baxley,ga.

my second pick will have to be csx, because it's one of the few other trains that i see in south carolina besides norfolksouthern.

these are my top two picks for my favorite rail road.

[LL675]

I remember watching my Uncle's 2020 Turbine running around the Christmas Tree. Just thought the look of the Keystone on the boiler front was great. Also like the Nickel Plate and the NYC.

Dave

[Canondale61]

Have to be the Pennsy. We would visit my grandmother in Altoona and her house was 5 miles below the Horseshoe Curve. I would lay in bed and listen to the trains going around the mountain. My grandfather was a sign painter for the Pennsy. And he actual painted the K4 that went to the Worlds Fair. Have a pic of him in a suit standing in front of his work. Basically all of my grand parents worked for the PRR at one time or another.
Kevin

[twaldie]

I like all of the lines I've lived close to...... (and a lot I haven't lived close to)
As a kid in Michigan it was the Pere Marquette (later C&O)
I've also lived within a mile or two of the following:
South Kohala Sugar (small steam line, their engine now sits in the bottom of Mahukona Harbor, Island of Hawaii)
Northwestern Pacific (Petaluma, CA)
Escanaba & Lake Superior, CNW/UP (Marinette, WI)
UP/SP/BNSF (Klamath Falls, OR)
Providence & Worcester, New England Central (Ledyard, CT)
Norfolk Southern, CSX (Chesapeake, VA)

It's all a matter of buying the right house in the right town!

Tim

[Anonymous]

WOW how could I forget Lionel Lines!!![bow] ....been watching this line run for more than 20 years [tup].. Thanks for mentioning it [^]

[Jumijo]

Boston and Maine
Maine Central
Lionel Lines

[Anonymous]

Northern Pacific-specifically The North Coast Limited

[Anonymous]

1st B&O. My elementary school was next to it. The sadest sight was a Royal blue P7c been tansported to the scrap yard in the middle of a frieght! [:(] Around (1958)
2nd N&W
3rd PRR

[mickey4479]

My favorite is PRR and Santa Fe is second. I model PRR Steam era in 3 rail. I was drawn to the look of the PRR steam locos and there is an HO modeler here that has the Horse Shoe curve on his layout. There are many websites for historical referrence for the PRR and modeling PRR as well. I suppose that can be said for most roads. Here in Kansas City, there is quite a focus on Santa Fe, and I have made friends with several folks who are not only members of the Santa Fe modeling historical society, but those who currently work for BNSF. I know an engineer on the Santa Fe, now retired, who operated for over 50 years. What stories he has!
I hope to make it to PA to the PRR museum some day.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by felixg

Hi richard Well it seems that we are close neighbors I live in syosset. How about the LIRR. Felix Send me some email let's talk trains.

Howdy Neighbor[;)]
The Long Island Rail Road is what I have been trying to copy on my layout,And it was owned by the Pennsy so how can I go wrong!!![:D]

[dwiemer]

Thor,
It is good to have you here. The GWR is a class operation. I you get RFD-TV, they occasionally have a program on Steam Engines. A two part series (1 hour each) is on the GWR and Classic steam over the last century. They show film of a number of great engines actually working and then some that have been salvaged and put into special service. I am not sure what the exact title of the program is, but knowing it is out there, you may want to get a copy.
Dennis

[ARRCDSPR]

My favorite railroad is the last full service (freight and passengers) Class 2 Railroad in America. The only flag stop passenger train in America. It has 470 miles of mainline track that transverses extreme weather conditions and harsh environments. Last year we made 15.4 million in net revenues and more importantly we have had a 69% reduction in personal injuries since 1999. This year we are implementing a GPS collision avoidance system and hopefully expanding 80 more miles to Delta Junction. My grandfather was a boilermaker for 35 years, my father was a fireman for a brief time and I have had the fortune of being a conductor and now a train dispatcher. A great railroad across a great land, the Alaska Railroad.

[Anonymous]

My favorite railroad, both historically and for currently operating railroads, would be Canadian Pacific. CP runs through my hometown and it's what I grew up with. I suppose the fact that it's "my" railroad is at the root of my love for it, just as is the case for many of our other choices, but there are a million other reasons, too.

-CP was the first coast-to-coast railway in Canada.
-The building of the CPR was probably the biggest event in the shaping of Canada. The reason British Columbia joined Confederation was because they were guaranteed to be connected to the East by rail. A country as young and as large and diverse as Canada would not have survived had it not been joined together by a railway. There's a reason construction of the CPR is referred to as "The National Dream".
-Gorgeous and breathtaking lines through the Rockies that are an engineering marvel. This includes the spiral tunnels, among other things.
-CP's amazing luxury hotels built across Canada.
-The beautiful semi-streamlined Jubilee 4-4-4's and Royal Hudsons.
-The Canadian-need I say more?
-They are very proud of their heritage, using a version of their old beaver logo, boldly presented in gold on their locomotives, which is certainly more complex of any of the other Class 1's.
-Unlike CN and BNSF, who want to be known only by their initials, and CSX, whose name just is initials, CP is not shy about who they are, their equipment proudly emblazoned "Canadian Pacific".
-CP is the only other Class 1 besides UP who has an active steam program with their 2816.
-CP owns not only operating F units in their old paint scheme, but also a C-Liner.
-The Royal Canadian Pacific excursion train, with it's beautifully restored luxury heavyweights. The Royal Canadian Pacific also makes CP the only Class 1 who operates a regular passenger service.
-The CP Holiday Train.

In bragging up CP I'm not intending to put down anybody else's favorite line. The others mentioned are all fine and I love them as well!

[dougdagrump]

#1 B&O
#2 C&O
#3 L&N
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[krapug1]

For me it's the Long Island Rail Road, and the Jersey Central.

It's weird that so few LIRR models have been made through the years (hats off to K-Line). I say this as good, or bad just about everyone has heard of the LIRR, and through the years they have had more paint colors, and logos than
the Leigh Valley and the Rock Island combined.
Not to mention what passenger train anywhere in the USA still carries a drumhead?. During the peak season the Friday Cannonball Express carries the Cannonball Drumhead on the lead engine (the train itself runs Fridays year round). Yet no model train company has made a set of this train!

and the LIRR models have been some of K-Line's top sellers.

Ken

[brianel027]

For me, it is Conrail and Norfolk Southern all the way - the two most ingored names in the 3 rail hobby when it comes to low end affordable product. I have had a number of PRR and NYC locos and cars, but all locos and many cars have been repainted to roads that Lionel and K-Line just would not make. Beats me why.

Young people who see my trains all agree they want modern road names on low end beginer product. Last year was the first year in almost 15 years that there were 3 modern road names available in starter set train cars from Lionel.

[wrmcclellan]

NYC, GN, SF

[tmcc man]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ChiefEagles

There is only TWO railroads, Norfolk Southern and Canadien National [spelled in French]. Rest are nothing but short line RR's. [;)]

The correct sentence is: There are only two railroads, Norfolk Southern, and Canadien National [spelled in French] in my mind. The rest of them are greater than the two I personally picked[:0][:0][:p][:D][;)] Chiefie, I couldn't resist.

[Anonymous]

I'm a W.P., N.P., S.P., & U.P. guy only because my dad talked only of these. He worked for N.P. back in the 70's I think. not sure what he did though, but I remember him talking about it.

Cade

[Buckeye Riveter]

When I was a child we rode the B&O National LImited to Baltimore. On the trip home we got into a little trouble in West Virginia. See photo below.


The B&O in its prime was absolutely a great ride with the blue china and sterling silver in the dinning car. [:)]

I also rode the South Shore, Pennsy, NYC, Erie, Burlington and Wabash RR.

[ChiefEagles]

There is only TWO railroads, Norfolk Southern and Canadien National [spelled in French]. Rest are nothing but short line RR's. [;)]

[tschmidt]

I don't have any stories bout trains growing up because I didn't see many. if we did drive past Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna, NY I would see the South Buffalo RR moving steel around the plant. That's why I was thrilled to get a SBRR Beep to use with some of my Bethlehem Steel cars. Buckeye posted a picture of it about a week ago here on the "Coffee Pot." My dad boght me an HO engine as a kid that was an Atlantic Coast Line F3. I have collected the 2 ACL passenger trains that Lionel come out with over the years. The purple makes a nice looking engine.

Tom S

[tmcc man]

Favorite road would have to be the PRR, but I am to young, I was born a while after the PRR's disappearance, and was about 10 when the Conrail split up occured. I love the PRR because I belong to a garden railway club, and we happen to have members of the PRR Technical and Historical society. I learned so much from them, and a few even worked for the PRR. One guy who I always see at the train shows where I help run the club display always tells me about how he worked on the MOW trains. That is only something I can learn because I am only 15. Second would have to be the N&W, the NYC, Lehigh Valley, and the Reading.

[DCmontana]

Milwaukee Road, hands down! I grew up in Aberdeen, South Dakota and am old enough to remember steam very well. I also remember the diesels coming in and was disapointed by the lack of action. We had the M&St. L, The Great Northern, and the Chicago Northwestern, but the Milwaukee was the mainline to Seattle and Aberdeen, Washington. If you go to my Update Pictures post you can see a picture of my 2056 as a Milwaukee engine. Now I live in Broadus, Montana and they never had a railroad, but the stage still comes through![:D]
MTsteam, what store in Forsyth do you have the trains???

[MTsteamfan]

Northern Pacific is my favorite. My hometown, Forsyth MT, where I still live, was founded by the NP as a division point in the late 1800s. The railroad (now BNSF of course) parallels Main Street through the city, so I grew up listening to the trains at night (and waiting at the crossings for them). Lots of people gripe about having to wait for the trains at the crossings but I like to look at the 1:1 equipment so it doesn't bother me. At least 15 or 20 trains go through here every day, so we can pretty much hear/see the action any time of the day or night.

It's fun when the railroaders come into the store to look at our Christmas layout every year. They let me know if I have a car placement error on a freight train!