Afternoon,
I’m curious but whats your favorite railroad?
Mines CSX, I never knew why but the YN2 and YN3 paint schemes always appealed to me the most 
Let me know what’s yours!
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In modern times-The Norfolk Southern. In the 80’s-The Illinois Central Gulf.
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My favorite railroads runs the gamut from Frisco, MKT, Santa Fe, MOP (aka MOPAC or Missouri Pacific), and Rock Island mostly due to childhood memories. I also like shortlines that are based in Oklahoma as well.
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I like finding Ns high hood locomotives still working in yards. They used to run through my old hometown of Celina Ohio. The other railroad is the B&O. We were 3 houses south of the tracks when we moved to Defiance, Now I help out in Deshler. Crossroads of the B&O.
stay safe
Joe
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My favourite railroad has to be The North British Railway. Though no longer around some of their tracks are still around.
Corrour Station on the West Highland Line
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Currently my favorite railroad is the Rhinebeck and Connecticut. I enjoy local history and the area where I live has a lot. The private road I live on was one a railroad built by the Rhinebeck and Connecticut. I am also partial to the New York Central. That is largely passed down from my father. I would tell me about watching locomotives scooping water from the track pans and things.
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Union Pacific was/still is the local road when I was growing up. I saw a lot of their equipment working, and they had some of the most impressive power regardless of era, be it Challengers Big Boys and FEF’s, to the Turbines and DD series of locomotives. UP was my Favorite RR from a very young age, and getting to know a local crew and getting to go out with them many times in high school, didn’t hurt that favoritism any. I Hoped to hire on with the UP, but graduating from High School in 1983, was not a good time for seeking RR employment
Southern Pacific had a local presence, but not so much near where I lived, but SP also had a lot of Interesting power especially in the steam era, but they also dabbled with the Krauss-Maffei ML-4000’s, DD series and U50’s.
And the Daylight scheme, especially on the GS-4’s, which the still operating 4449 is not far from where I live. The AC-9 SHOULD have gotten the Full streamlining treatment and Daylight paint scheme, but sadly never did, but that Skyline Boiler casing still looked Great on those Beasts, so I have a strong secondary interest in the SP
Growing up in Timber Country, and being a RR fan, Weyerhaeuser is another that I have a strong interest in, especially their steam era and geared steam and articulated logging engines
Doug
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B&O followed by Chessie Systems followed by CSX.
They have financed all my activities since June 19, 1965 by employing me for 51.5 years and facilitating the retirement I have had for the past 8.5 years and counting.
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New York Central Harmon Line with the third rail. Make sure you have some decent O scale electrics. Ps, Ss and Ts are fairly easy to obtain. Qs and Rs are harder. Second place is the Warwick, NY based Lehigh and Hudson. To model it with diesels, all you need are ALCO C-420s and RS-3s.
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My railroad is Combo PRR- PC - CR starting in 1977 With the crew on the SWT -2 out Etna .They worked a local industry in Cheswick Pa. It was flour Mill that got covered hoppers every day. The crew watched me like I watched them. I was told to GITTUPHERE by the
Front brakeman . Got on lead hopper to the crossing at Cheswick .
From then on the crew watched for me. The local watched for me through my senior year. On graduation I rode with the crew, they had a card .
The crew bid other jobs to 43st yard . I followed them there,then as yards closed,
And as my friends retired by 1988 ,l had watched all my 40’s through early 50,s years railroad senior employees retire .After that people grew distant and NS took over and all was done.
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I like my Canadian road - Ontario Northland. Mostly for colour scheme but having worked in Northern Ontario, investigated a couple of instances they were involved in, and road them north to Moosonee a few times, they stuck with me. They are a resilient road and are trying to crack back into passenger traffic again.
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I actually have several that I model and enjoy reading their history. All time favorite is the CB&Q. I lived about 15 miles west of Chicago on the Q’s “Race Track”, as it was called. And so I spent a lot of time watching and photographing the Q in the 1960’s and early 70’s.
I also model the Great Northern, how can anyone not like the Empire Builder paint scheme, and the Northern Pacific in the Loewy paint.
As for digging into history, back in the late1950’s and early 1960’s, I came across a book on the Colorado Midland. I was hooked and gradually bought several models and almost every book I could find on the history of the rail line. I still refer back to it and reread the history and photos of this 1880’s railroad that ran through the Colorado Rockies.
RAY
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Conrail is my favorite. I loved watching their trains when I was a kid. To me the big blue diesels pulling trainloads of coal or a bunch of intermodal trailer and containers is the epitome of what trains are supposed to be. Odd as it sounds, I also like Norfolk Southern and CSX and don’t really bare a grudge for them buying it out since I always liked them too.
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N&W, NKP, C&O, NYC, Pennsylvania, B&O, Santa Fe, UP and CN. Most of them I love because I’m from Cleveland Ohio, but also because many of them had great streamliners and spectacular heavy freight locomotives in the steam days. (Y6’s, Berkshire, Kanawhas, Niagaras, etc.). Santa Fe 4-8-4’s were great but F units on the Super beat everything.
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Chicago Burlington & Quincy
Denver and Rio Grand Western
Western Pacific
My favorite railroad is CB&Q Chicago Burlington and Quincy. It was my first train set in the early 70s. All the other kids had Tyco but I was lucky to get an Atlas set for Christmas. Big quality and detail difference. China red GP35!! It was beautiful. I got interested in the California
Zephyr and that was that. 40 years later getting back into the hobby still digging it. I did read some books back in the day. Diesels West the Way of the Zephyr was a good one. I still have that book. Back then it was hard to get information. Now that I know that Western Pacific and Denver and Rio Grande Western were all part of the Zephyr I collect all three
However I saw the Kansas City Southern executive train roll by the other day pulled by a F7 Southern Bell and had to have one…….. is locomotive collecting addictive?
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Santa Fe and here’s why in the 70s they literally had one of the greatest rebuild programs in the industry. They literally took worn out F units that were worth less than nothing basically and remanned them into roadswitchers that some are still running 50 years later. They basically well I’m know I’m going to take flak for this redneck engineering to the extreme level.
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They weren’t ‘worn-out F units’ so much as lightweight car bodies with poor visibility that had a rich content – 567 engine and generator, trucks and motors, control gear – that could be gainfully reused when installed on a girder frame with road-switcher cab and hoods.
Equally important was the Paducah Geep project converting innumerable worn and obsolescent GP7s and GP9s into reliable smaller power – I think more of those may be running than CF7s.
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Oahu Railway & Land Co! High iron and high cane in a tropical paradise and the only bit of the Kingdom / Territory / State of Hawaii’s once extensive rail system still operating, albeit as a historical railroad. Besides being the only prototype we can visit, it has a fascinating history that includes royalty and presidents, carried guns to fend off an invasion that never came, served as the island’s industrial backbone, and whose physical legacy still emerges ghostlike from worn roads or in the form of barriers at public parking lots.
Aloha!
Eric
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Baltimore and Ohio. I grew up in Baltimore and was fortunate enough to visit the museum regularly. And the fact that they were innovators and willing to try so many new things is great too. Second would be the Pennsylvania, only because of the GG-1, the best locomotive ever built.
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Welcome aboard, @Shane_s_Drunk_Again