Favorite Locomotive


Greg@mnrr

Greg@mnrr

Section Hand
I was running my layout for Christmas guests and someone asked me how many locomotives do I have for my layout. My layout is modest by most means and can have perhaps 10 or 12 locomotives that are either working or "parked" on sidings or in the interchange. My entire inventory of locomotives is around 70 since. I'm addicted to buying locomotives and many are still "new in the box".

I wondered after everyone which locomotive was my favorite model.

The winner is an Atlas Classic ALCO that is painted for the SOO Line and is numbered #350. I installed DCC after I purchased the loco and have since weathered the critter. I had a bad habit of placing locomotives and rolling stock on the top of a water heater that shares my layout room. I set the loco too close to the exhaust vent and one side of the cab became distorted from the heat. Not too bad, but not in the modeling world it had a mishap and the management of the Milwaukee Northern decided not to repair the damage.

This old loco is a great runner and performs well as a switcher or local road engine.

This loco ranks above the many other DCC sound equipped and non-sound locomotives that I have acquired.


Here's a photo of my favorite loco coming out of the Saxeville tunnel.

SOO and cows.jpg

What is your favorite locomotive?

Thanks.

Greg

PS: Back to the layout.
 
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Greg@mnrr said:
What is your favorite locomotive?
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Very tough question, but I would have to say my favorite would be my very first loco that was not a hand me down. In 4th grade for Christmas I got a AHM true to blueprint Virginia & Truckee Reno 4-4-0. It has real brass details, traction tires. It came with a side gift of an MRC Throttle Pack, so I could run it without being in danger of electrocuting myself.
 
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I have an Atlas GP7 with a TCS decoder installed that is unbelievably smooth running. It can creep so slowly that you could fall asleep watching it. I have a LifeLike GP20 with a TCS decoder in it that is almost as good.
 
That's a tough one! I, too, have an overabundance of locomotives. Lost count at about 70 or so. But that's a collection of over 60 years! I have liked to kitbash Mantua steamers, and I have a pair of 2-10-2's, a pair of 2-10-4's (from Mikados), a 4-8-2 from a Mike and a Pacific, a 4-8-4 from a pair of Pacifics. None are DCC...yet, but I'd like to convert at least one to DCC and sound and another to just DCC so I can double-head them. I guess my real favorite, however, is a ConCor post-war #9900 Zephyr, as I used to ride the prototype when I was a kid. That one, sans the fourth car, is now in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I also like a Burlington Route E-5 that I kitbashed from a Walthers E-6, and some unaltered E-8/9's, which also pulled Zephyrs on which I rode as a kid.

Hope Santa was good to you. Here's wishing you a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous and Safe New Year!
 
No question hands down my favorite locomotieve is my Walthers D&RGW SD45. So much so, that I now have 4 of them!

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i think my favorite is my UP #806 4-8-4 Northern. It is, believe it or not, a Bachmann train set locomotive. (Am I allowed to say that here?)
It was from the Overland Limited set. I plan to upgrade the rolling stock eventually.
It came DC, but I installed a Soundtraxx Tsunami heavy steam decoder in it with sound. It will creep along so slowly you're not even sure it's moving! Has excellent sound and pulls very well. When I get the layout powered up (should be by the end of the week) the #806 shall have the honor of the first lap around the mainline.
 
That IS a toughy! I have not been doing it long enough to really have a 'favorite'! I've got a mix of Steamers and Diesels and right now I like em all!

For sound I like the Genesis SDP45, it's got a Tsunami in it. I'm glad I got a 'matched pair' with the same colors and number so I can run em together!

For running I gotta go with the Bachman DD40, very smooth at slow speed, very powerful, it pulls all I can get to stay together behind it so far 53 and some of em were DRAGGERS! It's FAST too! Bachman let me down hardcore on the customer service side concerning their sets but the four locos I have of theirs run like thunder, no problems at all. The more they run good the better Bachman's reputation gets with me. I'm having better luck with them than the MUCH more expensive loco's I got. I don't know if it's luck or what but BLI is falling behind on the 'run' roster, two out of four out with decoder 'bugs' is, if I may quote my Drill Sgt, "UNSAT!"
 
As I only buy what I like the look of, it's hard to single out just one, so a couple or 3 or 4 or, that have a certain je ne sais quoi about them. My ABBBA PA1 UP set (which I hope to put sound/deep bass speakers into), a P2K GP20 'cause it's a little quirky (might make it into an MRL GP9 substitute), another early purchase, a "Blueline" Alco RSD-15 (which is waiting on a DCC decoder) as another tourist train loco, and a Genesis CP MP15AC switcher 'cause it's red and has the Golden Beaver logo. Was also going to be an MRL repaint, but seeing the Atlas MP15DC I got is not an MRL but an SRY, they can play switching games together somewhere (which they prototypically do).
 
It's hard to have a favorite when you model Santa Fe late-70's - 80's era diesel locos. They all look the same! LOL My best runners are a pair (out of a fleet of 12 ) of Kato SD40-2's, which haven't been affected by the faulty wiring yet. The font on the cab numbers is also a bit too small. As far as looks are concerned, my "ugly duckling" CF7's (5 of them) from Athearn are my favorites, followed by my fleet of the various configurations of GP60's, GP60B's, and GP60M's, 11 total.
Willie
 
My favorite is a Bowser H16-44 with a metal body and an old Athearn drive. Pulls like a son of a gun and is noisy enough without all that DCC stuff in it.
 
PICTURES FROM THE DISK 571 (Large).jpgPICTURES FROM THE DISK 2098 (Large).jpg
I have 2 favorites. My HO Greater Winnipeg Water District 44 Tonner and my On30 Schnozzer built on a 45 Tonner frame.
 
For me the overall winner would be a Bowser PRR H9 2-8-0 with Helix Humper after market re-motor.
Smooth running, heavy, short wheel base. Steam.

I built one for a Hobby shop.
They ran it in the window 7 days a week for 3 years.
I only had to replace the valve gear rivets every year or two.
They went counter clock one month and clockwise the next to average out the wear.
Many Roads bought them used from the PRR.
 
My favorite locomotive has to be one of these Alcos. They are the older ones and I bought them when they first came out some time in the 80"s I believe made by Atlas. It's hard to pick out a favorite because they all run so great after all these years, still running like brand new. Custom painted them trying to get a "family" look.

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My favorite locomotive is one that works like it is supposed to, without parts falling off...
 
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