Favorite the Mighty Pennsy... mainly because of it's locomotives, it's 4 tracks mains, it's electrified mainlines, the spectacular projects it undertook (the Hudson River tunnels, Penn Station NY, the A&S "Low Grade" line, the West Philadelphia Elevated "high line", etc. etc.) but also because I am impressed by the fact that the PRR had an operating budget higher than that of the U.S. Government...

Second Favorite Conrail, because basically it is PRR reincarnated, and CR is the RR of my youth... but PC is also in there, what other railroad was known for trains derailing while standing still?

Yes, I will be modeling PRR as an interchange with my free lanced Potomac Line.

Dave

Which railroads are my favorites ? Guess I would have to say the various mid-western railroads in the Twin Cities during the transition/early diesel era. I like e.g. the Northern Pacific (NP), Great Northern (GN), Chicago and Northwestern (CNW), Omaha Road (CMO), Milwaukee Road (MILW), Minneapolis and St. Louis (MSTL) and the interchange/terminal railroad Minnesota Transfer Railway (MTRY).

Why ? Minnesota is "my" adopted part of the US. And I like mid-western urban railroading. Grain hauling (with interesting big elevator) was the big regional/seasonal industry, but there still was a nice mix of assorted other traffic - local manufacturing and distribution of incoming stuff. Lot of railroads interchanging traffic. Railroad cars from all over the US could be found in the mid-west. Nice (IMO) color schemes for the early diesel engines.

If I had to pick just two favorites, I guess I would pick the Minnesota Transfer Railway for sheer interchange appeal (since nine class 1 railroads interchanged with the MTRY), and the Minneapolis and St. Louis (for their very nice color schemes and for being such a presence in the milling district).

In the end, I decided to model the Omaha Road instead of the MTRY (since CMO had downtown warehouse handling, and I wanted very urban surroundings), but I also added to the pot some milling district type railroading stolen from the MSTL, and interchange visits from some of the roads that in reality interchanged with the MTRY : the CNW (parent company of CMO), MSTL, MILW, NP and GN.

Is the railroad I find most interesting my favorite ? Not sure I understand the question. I find a lot of railroads interesting. I could also e.g. have gone for e.g. the NYCH (New York Cross Harbor) or Bush Terminal RR as my prototype. Also very urban, but with a nautical flavor.

I know that e.g. Appalachian coal haulers or passenger runs from the East Coast to Chicago (which many find appealing) doesn't really appeal much to me as modeling subjects - partly because I don't have the space to do something like that justice, and partly because I find local switching of general cargo more appealing than watching longish "unit trains" (more or less) pass through the scene, take a siding, and then go on.

But if I had had a layout room about 9 times as big as I have now - say about 15 x 30 feet, and had been far better at landscaping, I probably would have enjoyed very much to run something like a semi-rural branch line with local switching in several small towns - say like like Dr Wayne's magnificent layout, or a branch line somewhere in the Pacific Northwest (say the Walla Walla Valley), or a branch line operation in the Imperial Valley of California, or somewhere in the area around White River Junction in the North-East - you get my drift.

Of course - given a lot more space, unlimited funds, a lot more energy and maybe a major crew of friends to help, one could also have gone totally wild hog in switching and tried for something like Chuck Hitchcock's Argentine Industrial District Railway - a huge urban interchange/switching layout set in Kansas City.

But I guess my main preference is urban switching for small rooms, agricultural/light manufacturing small town branch line for larger rooms.

Smile,
Stein

As far as modern roads I like NS and CSX..
I model both..My Columbus Belt & Terminal is a paper railroad own by CSX and NS...The CB&T owns no equipment..Locomotives is furinsh by CSX and NS on a monthly rotation..

As far as fallen flags its C&O and N&W.

For me it would be easy.

1. Canadian Pacific, why? Because the line I am modelling was absorbed into the Canadian Pacific.

2. Canadian National. Because my home town has CNR tracks running through it and they are about 1000 meters from my front door.

Quote:I never would have guess that the Long Island Railroad would be your favorite! I would expect somewhere rural with a logging type setting...not an east coast commuter road!

I spent the first 17 years of my life on the south shore of Long Island. I remember steam on the LIRR, and freight operations, although the outside third rail, MP-54's, took me into Manhattan, and home again many times.
The Sagaponack Montauk, was my first "home road", and interchanged with the LIRR. My life, and my travels, have widened my interests, and added logging, and narrow gauge to the picture.
The Shinnecock Hills Lumber Company, gets its name from Shinnecock Hills, L.I. N.Y., and there are no "forests" there!
The greatest influence on me was two tours of duty in Maine. (NAS Brunswick)

you know,i was actually never asked that question until now....i dont know....i guess my love for the C&O was talking to some CRRC members in tower A and actually being able to see C&O 614 run,what a beauty .and seeing the alleghany in the henry ford museum really pushed me into the C&O modeling world,the thought of that engine pulling a mile long coal train through the alleghanys just astounded me.now that i have no room for a C&O layout i just collect and build rolling stock and engines,which brings me to logging.i loved the thought of alot of railroad in a small vertically gifted layout that i could build and run homemade rolling stock and engines.i also liked the pioneer days with the true hard working men trying to scrape a life out of the rugged pacific coast lumber industry.well,thats about it --josh

Mine is the Florence and Cripple Creek. They were a proud little line that clawed their way upwards through some challenging and magnificent vertical landscape to serve the goldmines of Victor and Cripple Creek.

Couldn't include this image in the above. This cut was done with dynamite, by a master blaster who used a single shot. It is even more impressive when seen in person. That bridge, BTW, is still in service as a vehicle bridge.

Mine would be British Railways from 1948 to 1966, especially late-50s/early 60s. I also like the earlier British LMS (London Midland and Scottish Railway) and GWR (Great Western Railway).

Otherwise, I like CNR and CPR.

Rob

Well...here goes..
Milwaukee & Rock Island because I grew up on their mainline...Santa Fe because that was the mainline through Flagstaff...NS because it is the closest railroad to where I live, now...CSX because it's interesting...C&O/B&O because they were such grand railroads, in their day. Of course there's always NYC...and...you got it! Pretty much if it runs on rails, I like it!!

Conrail, because well.. Big blue always looked so bad-butt rolling around my town. I am a young'an compared to most others here. Conrail was the only RR running at my youth in my area, I rarely seen anything other RR on the lines, not even patched Eries, or LV locos, but various other rolling stock.

Conrail was also my first locomotive I've bought back in 1989, GP 38-2

Next I will say is PRR, just because of who it was, where it was, who it became, history, yada, yada, you get the point

Even though I used to work for them, I do not like CSX. I wanted to model something with some nostalgia to it though. Going back through the history of CSX along the line that I worked there is Chessie, which I thought was ugly and poorly maintained. C&O, which is my 2nd favorite, Pere Marquette, my favorite, and the Flint & Pere Marquette.

I find myself drawn to the PM for a few reasons. It is an interesting railroad because of the structure of it, it was a class I, but almost all of it's trackage was in 1 state. It was built out of sticks, and served the industrial revolution, and then the labor revolution. It became an extremely vital part of both world wars, the rise of the automotive industry, and the post war construction boom, and it was all born from a failing logging road.

Matt

Now my favorite is tough. You guys all know I would have trouble desciding. Um well I posted a pic of a PRR locomotive recently and everyone loved it. and I do have my J&M short line can I just say steam?

I'd say my favorite railroad is the KISKI JUNCTION RAILROAD. its a great place. the people are awesome people, the equipment is fantastic and they have given me opportunities to do things i would have never been able to do.



todd

Todd, I hope you don't mind, but I edited your post to create a link, so others can check it out, too.

It's one of my favourites, too, along with the TH&B, CNR, NYC, PRR, EBT, and just about any other railroad you can think of.

Wayne