Howard, At my club here in Massachusetts, the BAR is modeled by at least 5 members out of 60. These guys own at least 30 different models of BAR power (mostly GP7's, F3's, and GP38's), according to our register of locos.
I don't think you can call the BAR the "least modeled Class I" because the term Class I used to apply to over 150 different railroads. In the old days, you just had to have an annual income of over $1 million and you were a Class I. So railroads that I've never heard of like the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, the Charleston and Western Carolina Railway, and the Midland Valley Railroad (names picked at random from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Class_I_railroads), were all technically Class I's in 1950, even if today we'd call them a regional or a shortline. Heck, the successors of the BAR are considered regional RR's.
The problem with finding the least modeled Class I is that you really have to define the parameters more precisely, else you run into a whole bunch of almost never-modeled railroads. BAR is at least famous enough to have their red, white & blue "State of Maine" cars made by Lionel back in the day (my father had one...and still does, come to think of it). Probably can't say that about the Cambria & Indiana or a host of other Class I's.
As for most popular roads, the PRR isn't as popular as people think. Sure, it sells, but most popular eastern road today?
Several years ago or so, I compiled a list of all engines listed on the Atlas and Athearn websites (they used to date back to 1999). In roughly 15 years, Atlas made 40 PRR locos and Athearn made 31. By comparison the top three eastern roads Atlas made were: 110 CSX, 102 Conrail, and 65 Southern locos. Athearn's top three: 137 CSX, 83 Conrail, and 82 Norfolk Southern.
For the most popular western roads, the same listings showed that Atlas made 127 ATSF, 120 UP, 70 SP locos. Athearn made 237 ATSF, 187 UP, and 158 SP locos.
These are not ironclad numbers as it's just two manufacturers (albeit major ones), but someone's buying 'em. It means that there has to be a reason why Atlas/Athearn made 247 different CSX locos and just 71 different PRR locos.
A couple that have been mentioned have regional followings but not widespread. I guess it kind of depends when you live. I model Rio Grande but live in Southern/ Norfolk and Western territory- so feel kind of lonely. When we lived in Indiana the Hobbytown in Indy had one endcap devoted to Monon. Outside of that area it is unknown. Western Pacific has somewhat of a following- at least for diesels. However some has been dumped at low prices so who knows. Jim
I'm learning about the Central of Georgia. There have been a fair amount of models painted in their schemes, but I doubt that detail accuracy has ever been emphasized.
Present day Norfolk Southern has a nice heritage scheme loco running the rails.
- Douglas
I enjoy the Providence & Worcester railroad in the Northeast. Known that railroad for as long as I can remember. Love there Orange and Black paint scheme. I've collected as much as I can off the stuff that is out there and every once in a while a manufacturer will release something in that road.
I'd like to see some of the mainstream manufacturers, (like Bachmann or Athearn for example) come out with some models of Colorado Midland locomotives and rolling stock. I've seen a few brass models of CM locos, but they're nothing I can afford. So, I don't have any right now, but I've been hunting for locos suitable for conversion to a CM loco at swap-meets and my local hobby shop. My favorite popular railroad however, is Union Pacific.
At one point I seriously considered modeling the L&N, pretty low on the manufacturers' radar........
Sheldon
I suspect three of the least modeled railroads is the Western Pacific,Family Line and Seaboard System..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
You'll get half of your answer from this forum thread posted in Aug '18:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/271560.aspx
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I have always found the Keweenaw peninsula of upper Michigan to be a fascinating area. The smaller railroads that served this copper producing area were quite diverse and interesting. The Copper Range and the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic were two standard guage carriers. There were also several narrow guage railroads like the Mineral Range and Hancock and Calumet. Some of the mining companies owned railroads as well. One of the most popular was the three foot guage Quincy and Torch Lake. Although shut down in the 1940's, the railroad remained intact and virtually untouched until the mid 1970's.
I chose to model this area, but decided to add to the challenge by modeling in three rail O scale. Needless to say, it is not a scale model railroad, but rather gives the general feel of the area--at least I hope it does.
Karl
Any Bangor and Aroostook modelers out there..or Florida and East Coast steam era? Obvioulsly manufacturers and importers produce what sells and understandably so. But there are so many really neat modeling possibilities out there. How about the D&H with their water tube fireboxes on 2-8-0s and incredibly fine scenery the railroad traversed through.
My guess would be for the most modeled roads would be.....east coast....PRR; west coast...UP, and midwest...CB&Q. The least modeled class 1 railroad would be Bangor and Arrostook and Monon, albiet for a pacific and mike imported from Overland years back. Never modeled short line would be the Mississippi Central. I could be wrong as I have not researched this....only in my head.
HZ