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.
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 m
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.
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
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]
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.
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
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!
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
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.
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…[:)]