Favorite Model Train Locomotives

[SooLine720]

My favorites are:

1. Kato HO DM&E SD40-2 #6360
2. P2K Soo Line SD60M #6058
3. Kato HO EJ&E SD38-2 #660
4. Athearn Genesis Soo Line GP9 #414
5. P2K Soo Line GP30 #720

List yours here! (I'm interested to see what locomotives the railfan community likes)

[Guy Papillon]

1-BLI NW2

2-P2K S3

3-Atlas Classic RS-3

3a-Bachman Spectrum 2-8-0 Consolidation

4-P2K GP9

5-P2K GP7

6-BLI 2-8-2 Mikado

7-Bachmann GP9

[JohnB.]

At this time I would have to say my favorite locomotives are my three Bachmann 2-6-6-2's.

John 

[Motley]

1.) MTH SD70Ace

2.) Atlas gold Dash 8 C44-8W

3.) Intermountain ES44AC

4.) Athearn Genesis 4-8-4 UP 844

5.) MTH Challenger

6.) Bachmann Spectrum EM-1

[hdtvnut]

1.   Rivarossi Allegheny

2.   BLI Q2

3.   P2K 0-6-0's

4.   Precision Craft Y6b

5.   P2K  Berkshires

6.   Bachmann EM-1

Would give most of my Athearn, P2k and BLI steamers honorable mention.

Hal

[rs2mike]

Atlas mp15 x4 in modified texas city terminal colors Atlas mp 15 x4 in csx, conrail, cnw and norfolk southern Atlas rs1 Atlas rs11 Proto rs11 By far my favourite manufacturer is atlas

[alexstan]

#1. Atlas Trainman GP38-2

#2. Atlas Trainman Genset

#3. Bachmann Berkshire.

[Santa Fe all the way!]

1. Bachmann Spectrum Heavy Mountain
2. Athearn Genesis F3 Santa Fe Warbonnet
3. " " F9 " " freight
4. Proto 1000 RS 2 with tsunami
This list would have included a BLI Big Boy, Proto 2000 GP9, and a Proto 1000 C liner with Tsunami, but due to an economic squeeze, I had to sell them to pay the bills. Ill get them back someday.

[BRAKIE]

I have several but, my top three:

 

 

 

 

[LIRRs]

Hi,

P2K: RS-27

P2K: E7

MTH: 4-8-2 L4b Mohawk

MTH: GG-1

Bachmann: 2-6-0 Mogul

All the best.

Reinhard 

[dstarr]

A Mantua Pacific kitbashed into a B&M P4.

A Pacific Fast Mail  B&M  b-15 Mogul.  A signature B&M steamer.

 A Bachmann 0-6-0 with a bit of detailing, wire grabs, a bell, cooling pipes.  This is before painting.  I have an after painting shot but it is not as well lit or as interesting.

Athearn "blue box" Blue birds.   I rearranged the lighting to only shine out the head lamps and numbers boards, NOT the cab windows.  I put in constant lighting circuits in all three.  To renumber I just painted over the factory number with B&M blue.  It matched perfectly.  Applied new  number decals from Microscale over the paint.  Other than that, they are stock.

And finally, a pair of Proto 2000 E8's in gold and maroon.  These will pull a B&M streamliner once I get the cars to go around my 22 inch curves. 

[don7]

My favorite locomotives are my CN K4-4-6-4 and my CN S2a 2-8-2,

These two have been converted to DCC and sound, They have had extra weight added and have been balanced. Either two of these can pull anything I have up my 2 1/2%  grades. I tried them once on a 3% grade that I had temporarily constructed on my layout and they would just start to spin on that grade with heavy loads. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Right now my favorites are my Bachmann GP7's, two Walthers GP9's that I've retrucked, a GP9 that's a bash of parts from Walthers, Athearn, Front Range and several other manufacturers. My heavy favorites (literally) are four metal Varney F3's that I repowered with home built drives. All are DCC.

[tatans]

Union Pacific   U-50

[CSXfan1995]

1) Athearn sd40-2 csx dark future

2) Athearn UP sd70mac

3) Athearn gp 40 IC

4) Alco S-2 Bachmann sound value

5) Athearn SD 70 Ace

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Forgot to mention my four Bachmann GP40's. One new and three are rebuilt. One is a Bachmann Plus unit and another is a standard PathMark Foods trainset unit. All have new or rebuilt 8 wheel drive DCC drives.

[UPinCT]

Here are my 3 fav's

Derek

[Texas Zepher]

SooLine720

List yours here! (I'm interested to see what locomotives the railfan community likes)

I've never been able to pick a favorite.   Then I fall into "favorite in what way?" over analysis.  Favorite for operating, to look at, sentimental. 

Its hard to beat a trusty yellow box Atlas S-2 for switching a yard, or a set of Stewart/Kato F ABBA units for pulling a 100 car train.   For looks it is hard to beat a Rock Island winged red and black RS3 or GP7. 

[riogrande5761]

Hmm... top five:

1) Athearn SP SD45T-2

2) Athearn SP SD45R

3) Athearn D&RGW SD40T-2

4) Athearn Genesis D&RGW GP9

5) Athearn Genesis D&RGW F7A modernized.

[Burlington Northern #24]

Texas Zepher

SooLine720

List yours here! (I'm interested to see what locomotives the railfan community likes)

I've never been able to pick a favorite.   Then I fall into "favorite in what way?" over analysis.  Favorite for operating, to look at, sentimental. 

Its hard to beat a trusty yellow box Atlas S-2 for switching a yard, or a set of Stewart/Kato F ABBA units for pulling a 100 car train.   For looks it is hard to beat a Rock Island winged red and black RS3 or GP7. 

probably right there with you texas, that and it's kinda hard to just choose one when all of my locomotives have taken specialized roles. 

[AVRNUT]

Right now I have 8 loco's in my fleet, with plans to add a couple more eventually. My favorites by far are my pair of Atlas/Kato GP-7's, Bangor & Aroostook #'s 562 & 570. Great pullers and they are so quiet you hardly know they're running. Smoothest running loco's I have too. I've run them practically at scale walking speed & they are smooth as silk. Love 'em!

I would have to say a close runner up is my Proto Baldwin BL-2, Bangor & Aroostook #57. Not quite as quiet as the Kato Jeeps, but still a good puller & pretty smooth runner. Bought this as "lightly used" & it had no couplers on it. Just got done installing a pair of Kadee #22's on her.

Still haven't weathered any of these yet. Didn't do a whole lot of work on the layout for most of the summer & just getting geared up to start some more serious construction.

Carl

Modeling The Bangor & Aroostook, Circa 1950's

[NILE]

1. DM&IR - Yellowstone (SOMEONE NEEDS TO MAKE ONE!)
2. DM&IR - Athearn SD40-3 (SD-45)
3. GTW - Atlas SDP35
4. GTW - KASLO SD60F shell on Athearn SD60 chasis
5. Spokane Portland & Seattle - BLI E-7

[mobilman44]

Hi,

Well, I've had / have a lot of locos and have to agree with Texas Zephyr - my "favorite" varies .......

- the sentimental favorite is the P2K E7 Illinois Central ABA (w/sound) pulling a string of Walthers IC passenger cars.

- for sheer steam power, its the BLI ATSF 4-8-4, which also has terrific sounds.

- for sheer diesel power, its the Stewart F7 ABBA Santa Fe, with all units powered - two with sound.

- for switching smoothness and detail, its one of the two Stewart ATSF Alcos (Kato drive).

 

[E-L man tom]

Well, I'm a lot like many others on this thread; it's hard to pick a favorite. But I guess my three favorites are my Atlas C424 and Atlas S2. I also have two "sentimental" favorites, they are both Athearn BB's: an SW7/9 which I painted and lettered/numbered in my free lanced railroad, and a GP9, custom painted in Erie Lackawanna livery.

Both of the latter two of these locos are in need of a good tune up as well as some work on the lights and maybe a few extra details but right now I've been busy working on the new expansion to my layout. 

[E-L man tom]

E-L man tom

Well, I'm a lot like many others on this thread; it's hard to pick a favorite. But I guess my three favorites are my Atlas C424 and Atlas S2. I also have two "sentimental" favorites, they are both Athearn BB's: an SW7/9 which I painted and lettered/numbered in my free lanced railroad, and a GP9, custom painted in Erie Lackawanna livery.

Woops! I meant TWO, not three favorites

[mobilman44]

YIKES, I forgot to mention.............

My favorite "Loco" to "look at" is in a display case.    It is a P2K ABBA Santa Fe PA consist.   The thing is big and absolutely beautiful.   IMO, it doesn't get any better than this!

[richhotrain]

mobilman44

YIKES, I forgot to mention.............

My favorite "Loco" to "look at" is in a display case.    It is a P2K ABBA Santa Fe PA consist.   The thing is big and absolutely beautiful.   IMO, it doesn't get any better than this!

I thought you were going to sell that consist to someone who would use it, like me.

Rich

[CSX_road_slug]

I guess I'm in the same camp as TZ and MobilMan - my 'favorite' varies depending on the type of train I want to run:

For long, loaded coal drags, I prefer my Stewart/Kato F7s in a 4-unit lashup;

For my Trailer Jet [intermodal], a trio of Atlas SIlver Series GP40's;

For my turnaround local, a pair of Genesis GP9's coupled back-to-back;

For pulling and shoving long strings of cars in the yard, a Proto2000 SD7;

I carefully picked out each of the 40 locos in my B&O roster for specific purposes, so in that sense they are ALL my 'favorites'.

[EMD.Don]

1. Athearn Genesis SD70ACe's with factory DCC and Sound.

2. Kato SD90 with custom/self installed DCC and Sound.

3. Bachmann F7a and F7b with factory DCC and Sound.

4. Bowser C630M in CP livery with factory DCC and Sound...one rare non-EMD unit on my roster .

5. Atlas U33 that I am currently detailing and converting to DCC is fast becoming a favorite...the only other non-EMD unit on my roster.

After that...my SD40-2's and GP38's are the work horses of the layout...kinda prototypical I suppose.

Happy modeling!

 Don.

[wojosa31]

1.  Athearn BB FM Trainmaster custom painted as CNJ 2404, with TCS decoder and LED lighting.

2. Proto 2000 Alco S3. Upgraded to DCC.

3. Proto 2000 Alco PA1 painted RR freight Upgraded to DCC.

4. Atlas/Roco FP7upgraded to DCC.

5.Atlas/Roco S2 upgraded to DCC.

Joe