# What is your favorite steam locomotive??



## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

just for fun, a litttle survey. what is your favorite locomotive (real, not your favorite model)???

mine is Rio Grande Southern #20, a shenectady built T-19 4-6-0 built in 1899. It was used in the 1950 movie, A Ticket To Tomahawk, painted as Tomahawk and Western RR #1, the Emma Sweeny. She will soon be finished her restoration to operation by the strasburg rail road, and the colorado RR museum.

so what is your favorite locomotive?


nate


----------



## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Nate;

Mine is the Reading Railroad's Pacific type classed as G1sas. These locomotives were power for the Reading Crusader train. The photo shows my HO scale model preparing for a run on Tom Harris' HO Lakeside Lines layout.










Yours,
David Meashey


----------



## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

Mine is the D&RG class 60. Followed closely by any shay.


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Only the N & W embraced these big little engines 
M1








John


----------



## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

My two favourite Steam Locomotives are: "Berkshire" and "Berkshire" (2-8-4). Lima's best ever! Thankfully there are 2 of these lovely beasts still running today. Pere Marquette 1225 in Owosso, MI and Nickle Plate Road 765 in Ft. Wayne, IN. If'n I had a bazillion dollars, I'd build a double track between Owosso and Ft. Wayne so I could race them against each other pulling identical general freight trains. The only problem would be how to make the track up-hill both ways!


----------



## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

My favorite is the N&W 611.


----------



## JoelB (Jan 3, 2008)

20-ton Climax. No idea why, these little guys have fascinated me since I was a teenager.


----------



## Reg Stocking (Sep 29, 2010)

It's impossible to say. On my tenth birthday I got to run SP 4457 for about a quarter-mile. And then the two new 4-4-0s on the Santa Fe & Disneyland made a great impression. It's a tragedy that all the NYC Hudsons and Niagras got scrapped; 5344 restored to original appearance would be marvellous to behold. And of course the UP and N&W 4-8-4s are superb. If we go across the Atlantic there are the Great Western 4-6-0s and various SCNF of great beauty and performance....


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

My favorite prototype railroad is the North Pacific Coast Railroad, a 3' narrow gauge line that ran from Sausalito to north of the Russian River along the California Coast. My favorite locomotive is NPC #21, built in the NPC's Sausalito shops in 1901. She's so ugly, she's beautiful. LOL!!


----------



## Bob Baxter (Jan 3, 2008)

Amen, Dwight!


----------



## 1111 (Oct 20, 2008)

The Timken 1111, later known as the Northern Pacific 2626


----------



## Mike Flea (Apr 8, 2014)

That's a hard question,

Top of the list would be any art-deco streamliner, I love the way they looked, and the engineering involved to make a one-of-a-kind looking loco that would stand out and bring passengers to want to take a ride. They looked like they were going fast while standing still.

Next, I have to agree with Rich B, any Shay, but also add, any Heisler, and Class A Climax, ugly engines, but true work horses.

Lastly, the Big Boy, just for sheer power


----------



## Lorna (Jun 10, 2008)

So many choices! Well maybe at top of the list is the poor selling Climax style Baldwin.


----------



## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I sit here asking my self what is the answer to this question and I really don't have one. I love going to Cass, riding the trains and hearing the whistle echo through the mountains, but I'm not that crazy about the Shays themselves. The train rides at Durango & Silverton along with the Cumbres toltec R/R were the best but while Like that style steam engine more than the Shays, I can't even say I remember what the locomotive number was on any of them. Well, one just popped in my head. The Southern Pacific's Cab Forwards. The second builds with the bulging fronts. Yea, if I could have any G gauge steam locomotive I wanted, it would be a SP Cab Forward.


----------



## Steve S. (Jan 2, 2008)

*Up Big Boy*


----------



## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

My favourite would probably be the Nord - SNCF 2-3-2 S 1-4 in their original streamline shroud with the smoke box hatched by a Bugatti like front, and the cinema at left and the lower headlight at right giving it an asymetrical look. Much more esthetically pleasing than the 2-3-2 U 1. Unfortunatly, as on most streamliners it got the "strip tease" treatment in the shops quite quickly, especially since it was delivered right after the German invasion of France. It is also unfortunate that it is nearly impossible to rebuild a U 1 into an S 1-4, because of the poppet valve drive , at least in its original form. 

But it is very difficult to say it is my favourite as there are so many that I truly love...


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)




----------



## StackTalk (May 16, 2014)

du-bousquetaire said:


> My favourite would probably be the Nord - SNCF 2-3-2 S 1-4 in their original streamline shroud with the smoke box hatched by a Bugatti like front, and the cinema at left and the lower headlight at right giving it an asymetrical look. Much more esthetically pleasing than the 2-3-2 U 1. Unfortunatly, as on most streamliners it got the "strip tease" treatment in the shops quite quickly, especially since it was delivered right after the German invasion of France. It is also unfortunate that it is nearly impossible to rebuild a U 1 into an S 1-4, because of the poppet valve drive , at least in its original form.
> 
> But it is very difficult to say it is my favourite as there are so many that I truly love...


Is this the one, Simon?










. . . Sans headlamp


----------



## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Yes Joe this is precisely the one and I tank you for posting it, as I can't post photos, alas. These engines had a bowie knife silhouette when seen from the side which may not be apparent from photos. They were supposed to come out in chocolate but as they were all delivered in the SNCF days, they came out green and black, they were also supposed to get streamlined tenders that never came due to the war probably. They were nearly identical to three 2-3-2 R 1-3 which were three cylinder simples, as De Caso who designed them had been very impressed by his footplate trip, at high speed, on one of the DRG stremlined hudsons. The valve gear looks like a Cossart gear and uses the same actuating principles but to actuate four Dabeg valves per cylinder. Because of many on the road failures, this was later transformed (1954) under the influence of Chapelon, no doubt, by using a regular Walshaerts valve gear to drive the same LENZ Oscillating cam valves used on the Chapelon, and maintained by the same shed. Thus they became very reliable, the R 1-3 were not transformed. These engines all ran until 1961 when the line to Brussels was electrified and they were retired with the U1. the engine had a novel trailing truck (same as U 1) which was without any pivot so as to leave plenty of room for the ash pan. The intention on the NORD had been to introduce some 175km/h running on the main Nord arteries, this was never implemented due to the war, then electrification. Especially since the SNCF management didn't want steam to establish speed records which they were not sure at that time that electrics could beat! Thus these magnificent beasts, never really ran at more than 120-130 km/h but with heavy trains. Actually there is a right hand head lamp and one also on top center of the smokebox hatch. As SNCF discontinued the use of the NORD "Cinema" (sort of rectangular train number light box seen on Chapelons for instance) it was taken off somewhere during the early post war years and shoppings, and replaced with a headlight. Most of the lower shrouding got the strip tease treatment giving these locos a much less graceful look. And of course they had the traditional Nord "tiny" cab, not good for the crews but great for hands on gauge one model operation!


----------



## StackTalk (May 16, 2014)

du-bousquetaire said:


> No need to re-quote the above!


It's Joe, from New York, Simon. 

I forgot to sign my post!

For a while, I thought I could tell the difference between any of the four "S" compound locos and the 3 "R" 3-cylinder simple locos by looking at the valve gear in old photos, but at some point I realized that Chapelon modified the gear and they became more difficult to differentiate by appearance, at least to the uninitiated.

Streamlined tender like this one?










Cheers,

Joe

Edit: I have not found any photos of the earlier R or S with Cinema.

Edit x 2: When one compares the two photos, with and w/o the streamlined tender, one notices an aesthetic mismatch with the standard tender, true of the later U1 as well.


----------



## Johnsop (Jan 5, 2008)

I'm with Greg on this - the New York streamliners look brilliant - my all time favourite. 

if only they could fit the British loading gauge because if they could then I am sure a new build would be on the cards! (lots of new builds underway here)

live in hope

Phil


----------



## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Yes thats what it should have looked like as per model at the museum des Arts et metiers model in Paris (in Chocolat Nord!) but that is a touched up photo unfortunatly. You can tell because it is the same photo as the first one you posted.
I like streamlined locos, many people don't. There are a few I don't go for but most I like. I love the Dreyfus hudson although I model Pennsy.
Ok Joe, I got it, I wasn't sure because of a lot of things happening in the winter. I got news from our Swiss friend so I am glad you two got in touch. If you would like to join us, I am holding my yearly steam up in Valmondois on my pike on the 28th of may, you would be most welcom. Lots of Nord and other french stuff will be running and hopefully we will put on a good US show too with PRR, UP and SP. French in the AM and US in the PM or vice versa.


----------



## Reg Stocking (Sep 29, 2010)

Streamlining is a debatable subject. Long ago it was said that railroad streamlining was originally intended to improve mechanical efficiency by reducing wind resistance. It soon came to improve revenue by reducing ticket sales resistance. The New York Central's experience supports this. The first streamlined steam locomotive was NYC 5344, which became the Commodore Vanderbilt or Flying Bathtub in 1934. The streamlining jacket was designed by NYC and the Case Institute of Technology; their work included wind-tunnel testing. The coal pocket in the tender had a cover to reduce turbulence. The next effort was by Henry Dreyfuss, who streamlined two Pacifics for the Mercury, which was made up of remodeled commuter stock. Then he was commissioned to do the 20th Century Limited. He wrote that he made a point of showcasing the magnificent working machinery, unlike the Mercury job which covered it over. I suspect that a NYC mechanical officer told him how much fun it wasn't to have to service the running gear when it was covered over. 

Then we get into Otto Kuhler's work for ALCO and various railroad companies. He did the superb Milwaukee Road Atlantics as shovel-noses but wanted to do the Baltics (4-6-4s on the Milwaukee Road were not called Hudsons) as bullet-noses. The Milwaukee Road insisted that they be shovel-noses also. Kuhler's favorite job was the single PS-4 he did for the Southern, but mine is the President-class he did for the Baltimore & Ohio's Royal Blue.

And then there is Raymond Loewy's work for the Pennsy. His GG-1 electric was superb, but the Pacifics were mediocre, at least to me, and the T-1s dramatic.

And then there were the homebrews. Southern Pacific's GS series were striking but peculiar. And N&W's J class were superb.

And on and on.


----------



## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I like streamlined steam locomotives like I like Marilyn Monroe in a burka.

(Okay, so I gave away my age there, but I don't know a modern name to mention in her place.)


----------



## StackTalk (May 16, 2014)

du-bousquetaire said:


> Yes thats what it should have looked like as per model at the museum des Arts et metiers model in Paris (in Chocolat Nord!) but that is a touched up photo unfortunatly. You can tell because it is the same photo as the first one you posted.
> I like streamlined locos, many people don't. There are a few I don't go for but most I like. I love the Dreyfus hudson although I model Pennsy.
> Ok Joe, I got it, I wasn't sure because of a lot of things happening in the winter. I got news from our Swiss friend so I am glad you two got in touch. If you would like to join us, I am holding my yearly steam up in Valmondois on my pike on the 28th of may, you would be most welcome. Lots of Nord and other french stuff will be running and hopefully we will put on a good US show too with PRR, UP and SP. French in the AM and US in the PM or vice versa.


Yes, Simon, you have it! 

I see you are about an hour north of Paris. I would love to take you up on your invitation and I did spend a little time looking at airfares and wondering about what else may be incorporated within such a trip. I am overdue for a vacation.

I am tentatively planning on a coast to coast driving trip for the month of July, so I don't think I will come over now, but I do very much appreciate the thought.

* * *

I did not realize when I found the rather poorly rendered photo that the tender depicted was not "the real thing," but rather a conceptualization of what the real thing may have looked like. One can definitely see an aesthetic improvement with the proposed or concept tender.

Generally speaking, I prefer steam era locomotives that have "all the guts hanging about," and neither am I a fan of art deco as a mechanical form, though I can appreciate art deco especially when people or figures are depicted. Here I am thinking Louis Icart and perhaps C.D. Gibson, et al.

So the Commodore Vanderbuilt and similar smooth but "finned" designs are not my cup of tea. (NW 611 is quite beautiful and, importantly, it is preserved . . . and lives to be appreciated.)

Yet, the 232 R S and U locomotives are beautiful to my eye. I ascribe this admiration to the fact that most of the mechanical elements and moving components remain exposed. 

So, no _Marilyn Monroe in a burka_ for me either. 

Cheers,

Joe


----------

