Apart from your home country, which foreign railroad systems are you interested in?
What´s rising your interest in them?
How did you come across them?
Which foreign countries are your favourites?
Have you traveled foreign railroads? What´s your opinion?
Do you collect books about them?
Do you take photographs or collect them?
Do you read foreign publications on railroad topics?
Do you collect foreign railroad models?
What else? Many questions, I know!
Best regards
Tom
Canada, obviously – railroading in North America is a North American game, not a US game.
United Kingdom. The differences from North American practice are absolutely fascinating, and it’s very illuminating (to both) to see how similar problems have been solved in different ways, and how different situations give rise to very different, but equally good, solutions.
My foreign railroad tastes run primarily to Australia and Brazil, since they resemble North American railroading in appearance. Beyond that, it extends to almost any country where export designs of the North American builders are operated.
A major attention-getter is the continued operation of bulldog noses (mostly in Australia) and Alco flatnoses (World Locomotives).
Since I’m a stinckin’ cheese eater from France and since I’ve no great interrest in european railroading, the foreign (for me) railroads I like are mostly American (in a broad point of view: north america, ie US, Mexico and Canada, but also in a sense South America), but also Australian and African.
On the other hand I love the terrific look of all that deals with american railroading: SD40s, Dash9s, endless freight trains, etc…
And also all that is narrow gauge.
BTW all trains / railroads have appeal to my eyes provided they are mostly diesel or steam (ie not electric), and mostly turned towards freight operation.
But here in France / Europe, trains are mostly passenger and electric powered (or even worse : bullet trains, which are very convenient to travel with, but which are a shame from a railfan’s standpoint)…[:(]
Did you all notice that when an engine, ‘euro’ style, is overseas, we consider them ‘wimpy’? Who needs 2 cabs? Electrics? Yuck!
Now you put that same boxcab/lil Joe in MilwaukeeOrange and it is awesome. No argumenmt
i was europe this past summer and we got around with train, so much better and always fun with the speed they moved at in italy they got late a little bit the british always left on the time the train was ment to leave at, france omg that TGV pumps ur blood and just at a station when that past thru is was wondeful from the woosh of air that past u by and all the newspapers that flew up it was truly amazing
I always liked BC rail with thier beautiful scenery ,100% RDC passenger service,and all those ALCOs[:)][:D][8D][:p]!!! I also like the other Canadian roads,both large and small,especially the Quebec & Labrador iron ore hauling roads.
I also like the Mexican rail system,also because of the high number of ALCos,and other interesting motive power,including Farbanks Morse units,the last FTs and of course,they preserved the last of the PAs[:p].
Yes, I have a number of books on Canadian railroads,and a few on Mexican railroads.
Well, i’m in England so I have to say that I have a great interest in North Americian railroading, mainly BNSF.
I don’t understand why Joby think’s that European loco’s with 2 cabs are “wimpy” given the horsepower of modern electrics (8,000+).
Even Amtrak had US built AEM-7’s which are of a Swedish design in the 1980’s, shame they overcomplicated things and cocked it up with the Acela train sets.
Since we have all EMD diesels around here, I like US railroading since its most similar to what we have here, exept that it’s bigger.
Switzerland, Germany, and Austria for me. I enjoy the smaller but more numerous freight trains, the open access operators add variety. The Netherlands and the port of Rotterdam are also interesting, hopefully the Dutch Government will get their heads straightened on and fix the problems with the Beteuwe Route.
Living in Israel, obviously I am interested in local matters but still love all American railroading from tiniest short line and streetcars to Amtraks Acela and double stack BNSF and UP transcontinental trains. I never did really differentiate between Canadian and USA railroads, it’s all one big system anyway. Remember that the USA Government’s Steamtown uses ex-Canadian steam locomotives on its passenger services, and a Toronto PCC streetcar was pretty much the same as a Philadelphia PCC car, and a GO Transit double-deck commuter car is pretty much the same as one for Trimet in Florida. But excluding North America and Israel, I’d say may favorite country for railroads is Switzerland. Railroads are really the number one artform there. Like opera in Italy, food and wine in France, Beer and symphonies in Germany, and caviar in Russia, railroads are beautiful in Switzerland, the bridges, the designs of the trains, all seem to have been touched by artists. All electric? No worse than all diesel! And they do have some preserved steam including one cog mountain railway. Even the overhead catenary seems constructed with some esthetic sense instead of the mess in the sky seen on some electrifications, trolleybus lines, and light rail elsewhere. The electcric locomotives come in lots of varieties too. Think of the big and little allegator freight locomotives. And although timetable wise it is all one big system with beautifully timed connections and very regular hourly service on most lines, still there are private and canton railroads with their own distinctive color schemes and sometimes unusual and different equipment. Yes the scenery is matched along the D&RGW and the CP in the Rockies, but there is so much of it and its is so easy to see.
Spend a railroad vacation in Switzerland and you will be convinced it is a railfan’s paradise.
For something of the same sort in mineature, go to the Isle of Man, Great Britian.