Most Beautiful Locomotive

[pdlethbridge]

And to see the J without streamlining is even more impressive

[SteamGene]

I have to agree that the N&W J Class is as nice as a streamlined steam loco can be.  But sheer beauty rests in some of the late C&O Pacifics with Elesco feedwater heaters, flying pumps, and low mounted headlights.  
Gene

[boomertom]

Gene,
 I remember those also. For many years there was a painting of the George Washington headed by such a locomotive in the Greenbrier Hotelin White Sulphur Springs.

As far as that goes the C&O Greenbrier is no slouch.

Tom

[Santa Fe buff]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRR_S1


Joshua

EDIT: Hot-linking, and trusted me, the different colors and text are only tolerable for so long.

[ripvanwnkl]

Altho' I'll stick with my first place vote for the N&W Class J, especially for steam,  my second pick (and first place for diesel) would be the Alco PA-1 "Spirit of 1776", decked out in bright white with red, white, and blue trim.   It pulled the seven car American Freedom Train through all the states (48 at that time) from 1947 to 1949.   See http://www.freedomtrain.org for pictures and history. 

[Jake]

And to see the J without streamlining is even more impressive

  Oh my! It looks more like a powerful brute than a speed machine without its streamlining!

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Jeff,
I also like the shorter cars. It's been a challenge finding "bashables". I shortened a 75 footer to make a 50' replica of this one.

http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00073806%2BMCC-3806

Bob,

That looks sort of like a Harriman-style coach. Is it?

Ordinarily I stick with open-platform passenger equipment, but I recently bought a bunch of old MDC/Roundhouse Harriman passenger cars on eBay. They seem to fit the bill for when I feel like running something a little more recent than the 1890s.    They look 20th century, but they're short enough that they don't look too bad on a small layout with sharp curves.

[Yampa Bob]

Yes, I believe it is. I closed off the end vestibules, as Yampa Valley Mail rarely ran more than one small coach, preceded by an RPO. During heavy traffic, such as Ski Season, they would use a longer coach. 

You were fortunate to find the Harriman cars. A friend sent me the one I mentioned, wish I had a few more of them. Too bad we don't live closer to each other, we could do some serious trading. 

[pdlethbridge]

The C&O did have some pretty engines, like these

[RAM]

It looks nice in black and white.

[Yampa Bob]

Please identify if you want it considered as a nominee vote.   

If others agree on a certain locomotive, adds to the votes for the loco. 

I'll have to play "Donald Trump", to tally and determine the winner when the thread dries up.

[rustyrails]

I have a color picture of this engine I took in the mid-50's in Huntington, WV.  The C&O was running some sort of PR train around and this loco was part of the consist, as was a steam turbine, as I recall.  If I can find the pic, I'll digitize it and see if I can figure out how to post it.

[Jim Banner]

Steam locomotive - CPR Royal Hudson.  No problem deciding that.
Diesel locomotive - a much harder choice.  As a type, RS-3.  As a colour scheme, Rocky Mountaineer GP-40.

I assume we are all familiar with RS-3s and Royal Hudsons.  There is a glimpse of a Rocky Mountaineer passenger train in the clip below, near the middle.  The rest of the clip shows the railroading I grew up with - CPR in Western Canada, from late steam onward.  Even though I now live on the prairies, this clip shows why my layouts all end up with mountains, grades, rivers and tunnels.

link to CPR video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7jUszDxdlg

link to Rocky Mountaineer photo  http://tinyurl.com/mmsw55

Jim

[boomertom]

Bob,
 C&O 493 is a L-1 Hudson rebuilt by th C&O Huntington shops from the F-19 Pacifics in May 1946.

The color scheme was similar to the M-4 Steam Turbine.

Tom

[JohnAH]

Hmmm.

With the greatest of respect, nothing touches one of these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQu8LNdg8C8