Question for British members: What is your favorite American Railroad?

[009 micro modeller]

1 hour ago, Johann Marsbar said:

The "Trolley Museum" at Clear Lake is defunct, as they had a fall-out with the owners of IT at some stage, though there are allegedly still some items stored there.

 

On aerial views they appear to have their own track as well. It’s difficult to see anything more specific though.

[Johann Marsbar]

11 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

 

On aerial views they appear to have their own track as well. It’s difficult to see anything more specific though.

They went or go by the name of "Iowa Trolley Park". According to the PNAERC online listing of preserved cars, there may still be a San Francisco PCC car, stored inoperable, in that building. The other 2 cars they owned had been disposed of by 2005. They had erected a circuit of track when I first went there in 2003, but it didn't appear to be in use - the same applying in 2011 as I drove past the place again then.

[GoingUnderground]

If we can stretch to including north of the 49th Parallel, mine is the Canadian Pacific with their Royal Hudson, and the late British Columbia Railway with their GF6C locos. Sadly the GF6Cs were withdrawn some time ago, and I think the only loco left is on static display at Prince George., BC.

 

[Nearholmer]

My H0 layout of c30 years ago was heavily inspired by the Belfast & Moosehead Lake, which was (is still, in very truncated form) an incredibly characterful line, in beautiful scenery. There were multiple other NE short lines too, all very different from the classic impression of US railroading, and I’m rather fond of “interurbans” that carried freight as well as passengers, with which there was some crossover.

 

TBH, US railroading is such a huge field, and it is all interesting in different ways, both historical and current, and the early history of electric traction in the US is well worth a study, if only because it became so influential on British practice between about 1900 and 1930.

[Gilbert]

5 minutes ago, GoingUnderground said:

If we can stretch to including north of the 49th Parallel, mine is the Canadian Pacific with their Royal Hudson, and the late British Columbia Railway with their GF6C locos. Sadly the GF6Cs were withdrawn some time ago, and I think the only loco left is on static display at Prince George., BC.

 

Well..if we're allowed north..

[Mike_Walker]

I'd put in a vote for the BCR too and was lucky enough to capture the electrics actually working.  The Tumbler Ridge project was surely one of the biggest white elephants of all time.

 

 

Other fallen flags, for varying reasons, include the Rio Grande and Western Pacific.  I also have a soft spot for the Long Island Rail Road (and Storm Door Company) for reasons I best not go into whilst those involved are still alive!  What is the Statute of Limitations regarding RR law?

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[Nearholmer]

OK then, in Canada:

 

 The Huntsville and Lake of Bays.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsville_and_Lake_of_Bays_Transportation_Company

 

And, the Dolly Varden Mines Railway.

 

Both as eccentric as they come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

46 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

If I read the intent of the OP correctly, he's thinking not so much in terms of freelance railroads, but freelance/imaginary locomotives, not based on any actual prototypes.

This is possibly easier with steam outline - steam locos were so specific to their owning roads that they could be quite unique even if built by an outside manufacturer like Alco or Baldwin, to the extent that some model steam locos are openly acknowledged to be 'generic' types, not detail-specific to any road. But really, for both steam and diesels, there is/was such variety out there in reality that there seems to me to be little need for totally imaginary locos to be invented for modelling purposes?

 

Fair point - I should have explained I was doing some extrapolating: with a freelance railroad there may be an incentive / opportunity to design / modify / redesign freelance locomotives to suit.  Two examples to illustrate:

 

I believe John Allen built a 4-10-0 heavy freight locomotive for his Gorre and Daphetid, but I think it was entirely freelance, there being no class of 4-10-0 locomotives to base it on (I’ve read that just one 19th Century example was ever built).

 

Bob Hayden and Dave Frary’s Carrabassett and Dead River Maine 2’ was based on the idea that the 2’ lines lasted longer than they did in reality, so they incorporated classes of light diesel that were never built for 2’ lines.

 

This is over and above the kind of road-specific detailing that can be applied to an existing (generic) class.  

 

On the other hand I was looking at a photo of a rare but real 2-6-6-2 Saddle Tank last night.  It was built by Baldwin.  
 

Apologies for encouraging thread drift - some great examples posted already: no doubt more to come.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Keith Addenbrooke

[John M Upton]

I started with a blank canvas and a shed about twenty years ago.  Bought an undecorated blue box GP of some kind (GP40-2 I think) and and Atlas RS-3 because I rather liked the look of it and a fictional short line, CenterWest was born (reporting mark CWRR).

 

I expanded the scenario to include CWRR having a Railroad Equipment rebuilding side line which allowed for some 'visitors' but I also have been a life long fan of the Steven Spielberg film Duel which features some prime SP motive power.

 

Once I got my first GP9 and a Tunnel Motor, I switched allegiances.  The CWRR are still going (in my scenario running over former SP metals) but am definitely now an Espee fan, mainly thanks to a combination of cheap spares/repair Proto 2000 GP's and this wonderful resource:

http://espee.railfan.net/espee.html

 

 

[GoingUnderground]

2 minutes ago, Mike_Walker said:

I'd put in a vote for the BCR too and was lucky enough to capture the electrics actually working.  The Tumbler Ridge project was surely one of the biggest white elephants of all time.

 

 

Other fallen flags, for varying reasons, include the Rio Grande and Western Pacific.  I also have a soft spot for the Long Island Rail Road (and Storm Door Company) for reasons I best not go into whilst those involved are still alive!  What is the Statute of Limitations regarding RR law?

 

Depends on your definition of a "white elephant". When it comes to hauling very heavy freight loads over steep gradients and through unventilated tunnels, electric locos are the best solution. One only has to think of the MSL/GCR Woodhead route for a parallel here in the UK.

 

I'd also like to put my hand up for another fallen flag, the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway on Vancouver Island.

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Apologies for encouraging thread drift

Heck, this is RMweb, no apologies neccessary - thread drift goes without saying!! 

 

If we're going in to favourite Short Lines territory, I have a few of those, too.

[Chris M]

The Rock Island’s last batch of GPS were interesting. They went from the rather smart red livery to a new “baby blue” and white livery and most (if not all) of them were named. My favourite loco is no 4345 - “Ivan the Terrible”.  I reckon this is the best name ever for a main line locomotive which is why I had to put that name on mine.

 

There is a nice story behind the naming of this loco. It’s named after a grain store manager who was a good guy but didn’t stand for anyone messing him about.  When the Rock Island asked if they could name a loco after him Ivan Summa said yes but please use my nickname rather than my proper name.

 

[EmporiaSub]

Hmmm....

'Emporia Sub'

Must be Santa Fe!

 

[RichardT]

Boston & Maine/Maine Central (first US railroads seen IRL, admittedly under the dispiriting Guilford ownership) plus all the Maine two-footers but especially the Wiscassett Waterville & Farmington whose preservation society are superb.

Edited July 12, 2021 by RichardT
Spelt “Guilford” wrong

[Mike Buckner]

 

The  MKT

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Not hard to guess for me, is it! 

 

[Legend]

As a little boy it was Santa Fe . The red warbonnet livery on a streamlined was superb . Second was Union Pacific which with its bright yellow livery was something different . I remember having Lone star loco and coach in UP livery . Later on the  yellow /silver then blue /yellow Denver and Rio Grande appealed . All very exotic . Glad to say I got to ride US rails , but on Amtrack coast to coast . 

[New Haven Neil]

I'd say the red and silver warbonnet Santa Fe livery is possibly the most iconic livery ever.

[friscopete]

8 hours ago, Jim Martin said:

The Frisco is a very interesting railroad.  For British modellers, it's unusual as one of the very few US roads with a significant number of named locomotives. They were good names, too. Like the LNER, the Frisco used the names of famous horses (mostly, but not all, racehorses) on its passenger fleet of E-units: Steel Dust, Winchester, Twenty  Grand and Gallant Fox, among others; not forgetting my personal favourite, Count Fleet.

Its steamers are rather splendid too with passenger stock in pullman green and gold doric stripes plus plated rods and cylinder covers .Some steamers were streamlined  too.i painted most Frisco brass for Victors but some Hallmark locos are not as good as some .The lovely 4-4-0 has  too small cylinders and the 2-8-0 doesnt like corners. 

[flyingsignalman]

Union Pacific, as my late uncle used to work for them as a Brakeman.

[Steamport Southport]

I was never a big fan of US railways.

 

But when I was modelling N Gauge a few years ago many of the Langley kits were designed for RTR chassis. A lot of which were American outline.  So you had to buy a US model for the chassis. Most of them were quite boring colours such as greys.

 

One of the ones I got was a GP40 in Santa Fe blue and yellow. I liked it so kept it. Still got it.

 

So that's the one for me!

 

 

Jason

[barkingdigger]

My pick is the Long Island Rail Road, where I grew up.  My interest runs from the late 1940s to about 2000 (the classic "diesel era"), and the location gives me free reign to run some locos from PRR and New Haven, as well as oddballs from Precision National, Bangor & Aroostook, and other "visitors".  Then there are a few coulda-beens from NYC etc that were too cool (or cheap) to resist!

 

On the fictional list I was a big fan of the Midland Road and Utah Belt - both featuring heavily in the pages of Model Railroader.  Then there was the Turtle Creek Central imagineered by the folks at MR with a logo bearing more than passing resemblance to the LIRR's Dashing Dan of the 50s/60s!  They made the mistake of including free decal sheets in the mag...

[davknigh]

My personal favourite is the Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo. Affiliated with the NYC, Pennsy, and Canadian Pacific they had some great steamers including some ex-NYC Hudson’s and the only Berkshires north of the border. Once the changeover to diesels happened they became a line that would be easy to model given they had only NW2s, SW9s, GP7s and GP9s

some pics:

http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/thb-nw2-53-switches-opposite-chatham-st-roundhouse

http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/hamilton-bound-thb-starlite-with-the-legendary-71-leading-401-and-77-passes-the-dundas-sub-connection-at-bayview-junction-on-a-much-earlier-than-usual-afternoon-run-no-71-a-gp-7-demoli

http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/thb-gp-7-73-and-nw-2-53-share-a-ride-on-the-chatham-street-turntable-on-february-28-1982-both-units-wear-the-roads-attractive-cream-and-maroon-paint-that-the-first-diesels-delivered-in-194

http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/a-ron-tuff-photo-posted-with-permission-long-ago-thb-53-on-hatt-street-in-dundas-ontario-on-the-thb-hd-branch-returning-with-a-couple-of-loads-from-canada-cut-crushed-stone

 

Cheers,

 

David

[doctor quinn]

10 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

My H0 layout of c30 years ago was heavily inspired by the Belfast & Moosehead Lake, which was (is still, in very truncated form) an incredibly characterful line, in beautiful scenery. There were multiple other NE short lines too, all very different from the classic impression of US railroading, and I’m rather fond of “interurbans” that carried freight as well as passengers, with which there was some crossover.

 

TBH, US railroading is such a huge field, and it is all interesting in different ways, both historical and current, and the early history of electric traction in the US is well worth a study, if only because it became so influential on British practice between about 1900 and 1930.

Has a very enjoyable morning when visited Maine, exploring Belfast before the road left town. Captain Bagwash of this parish built a rather nice layout based on the B&ML

[BR60103]

12 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

On the other hand I was looking at a photo of a rare but real 2-6-6-2 Saddle Tank last night.  It was built by Baldwin.  

Like this:

 

 

(Behind Mt. Rushmore)

 

How do I load a movie?  (sorry, not part of thread)

 

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by BR60103
more verbose