For road jobs it has to be an ALCO. Nothing will get down and give you all its got like a 12 cylinder 251. Even the 16 cylinder 251s were decent as were the later 12 cylinder 244s.
But for yard service give me a Baldwin. That infinitly variable air throttle was perfect for getting just the right power to do the job.
If you need to get the mostest moved with the least power (number of units), a Baldwin 6-moter hood unit (such as an AS-616 or a 6-6-15) will do more for you than any other locomotive. They will keep their feet at less than walking speed. Fantastic heavy haul/lugging units. Railroads would put 2 GP-9’s OR one AS 616 on a train.
Passenger power? EMD’s E-8 and E-9. Getting started can be a problem (slippery), but once moving – get out of the way! Smooth riders. ALCO’s P series units certainly have well balanced lines - classy machines.
EMD’s 1st generation 6 axel freight units (SD-7, SD-9, SD-24 specifically) all rode like the best sprung luxury auto and as long as you can keep them at or above minimum continuous, simply won’t quit.
Freight - 1st generation and early second – RSD-5, RSD-15/27 (Aligator), C-628 and C-630 are my favorites except that they could have better sprung trucks - ride rather rough and a bit hard on the track and my back as a result.
Later second generation - SD-45 and SD-45T - they will simply march you down the road. GP 39 is the 4 axel version.
Favorite sounding motors are the 244 and 567-C – the Burble and Chant. GE’s FDL’s sound like a Ford Tractor spreading its motor all over the field.
Alco , Alco , Alco . I have others on my layout out of necessity .
MLW especially anything they built for CN! If it burbles ,smokes ,has a pug nose and a CN wet noodle on the ends with stripes on the sides then I’ll like it! Nothing else I’ve seen puts on a show like the ALCO/MLW units.[bow]
This from the person whose username is that of a famous EMD loco…[:-^][;)]
I don’t really care, as long as it’s a train, I’m happy![:D]
Ha Ha, I was wondering when somebody was going to respond to that wisecrack. In the 70’s EMD was overall the better product, although GE’s traction motors/alternators were a better design than EMD. Today, forget about it–EMD isn’t even in the same league as GE. In the 80’s, GM made a corporate decision to ignore EMD, and product design/engineering suffered. EMD has never recovered.