One time I asked a group of friends the following question(s):
“If you were told that you could only pick one kind of pie to enjoy the rest of your life, which one would it be? And, would it be your favorite?”
Since I was the one who initiated the question, I felt obliged to also answer it. My answer? Apple. Why? Not because apple is necessarily my absolute favorite. (That belongs to rhubarb.) I would pick apple because I would miss it the most.
Okay, to make this train-relate. Say you were told to give up all the locomotives in your collection but one. Which one would it be? And, would it be your favorite? To put it another way: Which one of your locomotives would you miss the most?
Since I initiated th question: My answer? My Trix 2-8-2 Mike.
It brings a smile to my face to both see and hear it operate on my layout.
This is a hard question. For Steam, it would be one of my Bachmann Berk’s or my Bachmann WM 2-8-0 with DCC & Sound. For diesel, it would be my Athearn R-T-R RS-3 or my Bachmann LA Dodger FT unit.
I think My 2-10-0 Great Western locomotive #90. Because it’s My favorite and most expensive,I probably could never afford to buy another one again. Also because I painted and lettered it. It’s a brass Empire Midland import.
My locomotives were all carefully considered and identified as gotta haves. So, I am quite passionate about each of them for their own reasons and history. I like the Northern type very much, but have only the magnificent Niagara S1-b. That is likely to be it for that type.
I love articulated engines. I have three, the Challenger, Y6-b, and the newest, the H-8 Allegheny. I’d have to give the Y the nod here.
Like you, Tom, I really love my comparatively tiny Trix Mike. It is my only other NYC steamer.
My favourite, still, with the Y stepping on its heels, is the J1 2-10-4. With its immense bulk and huge 1000 mile tender with doghouse, this hulk generated as much tractive effort as the UP Challenger, and did it on only two cylinders. They were real bulldogs. [8D]
That’s a very good question. I’ve often wondered about which engine would be the one I’d want to keep if I had to give them all up but one. I think it would be this one, Cedar Branch & Western #103. It’s a perfect short line engine, runs super smooth, and has been a favorite for several years now.
Or, as one person put it, my favorite engine is always the next one I’m going to buy!
I love my Western Maryland, but those diesels all tend to run in herds. Give me this guy and a hand full of rolling stock and a caboose, and run a sleepy branch line out into the weeds somewhere.
Now that is a tough question to answer. I really enjoy my CN and ONR GP9’s and run them on my layout 90% of the time. I sometimes like to run a long freight and nothing looks better then 3 CP AC4400CW’s pulling a large freight. HMMMM, I think the one I would miss the most would be a 30+ year old Rivarrossi Big Boy my dad gave me “to use”. I remember him buying it way back then and I think that loco sort of helped me get into model railroading in the first place. The old girl doesn’t run that well and doesn’t pull a lot of cars but it would be the one I would miss the most. I hope he doesn’t ask for it back one day, lol.
