Favorite railroad

[BRAKIE]

I have several.

Fallen flags: C&O,N&W and Southern.

Shortline: Aberdeen & Rockfish.

 

Modern: Norfolk Southern.

[IRONROOSTER]

My favorite is the Maryland & Pennsylvania, but the WWF, PRR, B&O, EBT are close seconds.

I don't know that any of them are the best - whatever that means to a model railroader.  But one of the reasons I like the Ma&Pa is that it was running old equipment in the 50's - truss rod freight and passenger cars, 4-4-0, 4-6-0, 2-8-0, and 0-6-0.  This contrasts nicely with the 50's era and allows for modeling cars and engines from over a 50 year time frame - the Ma&Pa also had 4 diesels by 51 and of course all the newer cars from interchange.

Enjoy

Paul

[richhotrain]

Santa Fe.....................................All The Way.

[j610]

My favorite is the N & W.  I grew up in Roanoke and was exposed to it all through my early years .    RON

[jguess733]

I'm partial to the Fort Worth & Denver, the Rock Island, Frisco, Katy, T&P, Cotton Belt, Santa Fe, pretty much any road that served Ft. Worth.

[hon30critter]

My personal favourite is the Algoma Eastern. It ran from Sudbury, Ontario to Little Current, Ontario starting in the late 20's and running into the 80's albeit under Canadian National (I think) since the late 30's. It carried passengers and freight and mining ore. The track was torn up sometime in the 90's but the route is still maintained as a trail for hiking or SUV's. The most famous part of the AE was (and still is) the swing bridge at Little Current:

http://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=rogers-yhs1&va=Little+Current+Swing+Bridge  

The railway was laid through some very challenging terrain. Just south of Willisville you could wave to the engineer as the front of the train went east while the back of the train was still going west. The scenery is breathtaking. The tops of the mountains are white quartz while the lower strata are pink granite. If you ever plan on touring northern Ontario then you have to take Hwy 6 south from the Trans Canada Highway to Little Current. Spectacular scenery.

Now - a strange confession: I am not modeling the Algoma Eastern!

Why?

Great scenery but little action. Very few sidings. There is an interesting wye at Little Current but it would take up way too much space. I worked out the space required for an HO model of the swing bridge and it came in at just over six feet and several hundred dollars in brass.

I have decided to focus on my second most favourite. That is protolancing the Canadian Pacific in the late 50's with an engine servicing facility able to do both steam and diesel and a yard that will handle whatever the heck I want! Don't hold your breath for pictures - mortgage first!

Dave

[selector]

I feel about several railroad/railways that reflects my 'collection' of rolling stock.  I am all over the map.  So far, I have a demonstrable interest in the NYC, PRR, N&W, C&O, CPR, UP, and the Santa Fe.

Recently, with a first class edition of Classic Trains in the spring of this year,and the recent special edition on the 4-8-4, I have decided that my absolute two favourite locomotives (apart from just about any articulated steamer) are the Northern Class and the Texas Type.  And, after reading quite a bit recently about the Santa Fe, I have pretty much come to regard them as my fav.  This evening.

[tstage]

In the subject line you say "favorite" but in the body of your post you mention "best".  There is a difference between "favorite" and "best".  Thankfully, I managed to pick a RR to model that is both.

Seriously, I like and model the New York Central (NYC).  I like their roster and the significant contributions they made to the RR industry.  However, there are a number of other good and interesting RRs.  I just happen to have chosen the NYC.

Tom

[Don Z]

The Butte, Anaconda & Pacific.

Don Z.

[Texas Zepher]

gabeusmc

"obviusly AB&C railroad is the best"

and on and on...

Now what is yours? 

How could one possibly choose a favorite railroad.
There is:
the massiveness and innovation of the Pennsy, 
the business savvy of the Burlington,
the mountain scenery of the Rio Grande,
the interconnections of the TRRA,
the passenger trains blasting along the water line of the NYC,
the mystique that is Santa Fe,
the frugalness and planned design of the Great Northern,
the bizarre consists of Rock Island mixed locals,
the paint scheme variety of the MiniLou,
the history of the B&O,
the longevity of steam on the N&W,
the multi-railroad east coast passenger service of FEC, ACL, Seaboard, RF&P,
the character of the shortlines like Louisville & Wadley,
need I go on?  

 No way to choose just one

[twhite]

Three, actually. 

The Denver and Rio Grande Western, especially during their standard-gauge steam era.  I can't think of a mid-sized 'connecting' line that fielded such a large variety of handsome 'big' steam for serving only two states--Colorado and Utah.   And plenty of spectacular scenery to back it up. 

Southern Pacific steam.  They had as many locomotives in just one wheel arrangement (195 Cab-forward 4-8-8-2's) as some other railroads had on their entire roster.  And a huge variety of scenery in which to operate them. 

And my 'home-town' railroad, the Nevada County Narrow Gauge, which hauled over four million dollars worth of gold bullion from the Northern Mines of California to the SP connection at Colfax, CA, a total of some 22 miles, without ever losing a penny of it to robbery.  It also sported the highest steel viaduct in the West (the 185' tall Bear River Bridge) for any number of years.  A narrow-gauge railroad built to standard gauge specifications.  It's been gone for about 70 years now, but the railbed was so well manicured and ballasted that some portions of the roadbed still look as if the rails were just taken up yesterday, LOL!  

Tom  

[hobo9941]

I was always partial to the southern railroads, L & N, GM&O, Southern, because I rode freights all over the south back in the summer of 62. I'll never forget the smell of pine scented air, and the honeysuckle, and the smell of creosote, riding through the southern countryside on a steamy southern night in a boxcar. Or riding across  Biloxi Bay between Pascagoula and Biloxi on a narrow one track bridge, with nothing but water on either side, under a full moon, pulled by four L&N F units. Good times.

I never cared for CSX. It just sounds so corporate. As compared to Norfolk Southern, which sounds like a real railroad.

[CP guy in TX]

Ummm, my name says it all, but a close second would be the great D&H, of course.

[jmbjmb]

Let's see, it would be the Southern.  No, wait, Clinchfield.  Maybe Piedmont & Northern.  How about Colorado Midland?  D&RG?  BN?  AAAAAAH.  I love them all.

[Eric97123]

I am a CSX fan. It was the trains that came through my small south Georgia town when I was growing up. Now that I live in Oregon it is my little piece of my youth.

[tbdanny]

As you can guess from my avatar and signature, my favourite railroad is the Denver & Rio Grande Western Narrow Gauge, mainly because of the mountian scenery and good-looking K-27s.

Second favourite railroad is the AT&SF, this time for the paint schemes they used in the 50s.

[CTValleyRR]

I would hope that no one would be a big enough boor to get into a childish argument over whose line is best.

I'm partial to the New Haven, because it serves -- served anyway -- the area where I live.  It still lives on in the heritage paint schemes of Metro North and the Shore Line East.

 

And, you've got to love the Lyman Viaduct:  Then --

And now (bike trail -- although the NH filled it in before it became a bike trail):

[gabeusmc]

I can here the posts now.

"obviusly AB&C railroad is the best"

"The first guy is nuts, XY&Z RR is the best"

and on and on...

But I'll do it anyway. What is your favorite Railroad. Mine would have to the Carolina Coastal Railway. http://mlrail.com/CLNA.htm I love the overgrown track http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=357469&nseq=7 , http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=331184&nseq=12 and the locomotives http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=274679&nseq=54 i,ve always liked short line railroads.

Now what is yours?