Something to make you think.
- Thread starter Bhorton
- Start date
I don't think the A3 is ugly but it is a bit uninspiring. But I like it better than the A4 which are just plain boring.
For some reason I've always preferred locos with side smoke deflectors. In particular, I like the West Country class without streamlining. When I was a kid I loved to watch them hurtle through Eastleigh on their way to Southampton.
For some reason I've always preferred locos with side smoke deflectors. In particular, I like the West Country class without streamlining. When I was a kid I loved to watch them hurtle through Eastleigh on their way to Southampton.
Railwoodman
Well-known member
How can anyone call a Steam Engine ugly, at least I haven't seen one that I thought was ugly. Ungainly but not ugly.
Good luck with that...
Im an American and while I don't think the A3 is the best looking locomotive, I didn't know it was based off the K4. However I never really liked the K4 much either. (Pennsy fans, I accept your scorn) I am in agreement with railwoodman, not ugly, just ungainly. Some more so than others.
Railwoodman
Well-known member
The PRR K-4 was a thing of beauty, as were most PRR steam. But I'll add I like most modern engines of the day also. Have you ever witnessed Steam fighting upgrade. Pure power
I have always thought as it happens (and with respect!) that most of diesel locos in America look clunky and ugly with the exception of the old streamliners (though clunky inside the cab dare I say?) But obviously a difference of traditional cultures and such in countries. A better attempt was tried in the modern Amtrak ones. Most folk tend in the world to have a soft spot for steam trains and much of that from their youth and indeed most model train set companies will stil have them on sale decades after their demise in practice. This subject has come up nefore and by all common sense should n not be a flame war but a reasonable exchange of views. Being practical however, I very un-spiritually will keep my fingers crossed on this one!!
I don't think it is ugly. I think it is just something I don't associate with because I never see it, or anything like it. The coupler system on American trains (no buffers) makes the biggest difference in appearance for me. Not a bad thing, either. Just out of place with everything I see over here. Like the Japanese steam locomotives, just different. Russian ones, too, are not ugly. If it all looked the same, there'd be nothing to talk about or relate to in difference. I'd have to say the Flying Scotsman still retains that more old fashioned look to me.
Paul
Paul
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I've always been partial to electrics, everything from Sprinters and Flirts to the various ICE and TGV units and not to forget the Bullets in Japan. Something about the sound, shape and speed is attractive. I remember clearly one day standing on the platform as an electric doubledecker departed. The smooth acceleration and sound of the steel wheels on welded rail that had a certain inevitability to it. No rattling, no swaying, just rock solid motion.
I remember seeing the Flying Scotsman when she arrived in Boston. I was 7 at the time and sadly didn't take pictures. Who does at that age!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOHqycaNjM4
Here's a film clip of the tour - brief bit of it anyway, with some footage in the New York and Philadelphia area where she passes a United Aircraft Turbo Train and some Metroliners.
After I saw her in person, I set about drawing British and European trains. I used to draw trains all the time as a kid, filling up paper with yard diagrams, maps, and side pictures. I was very fascinated with railroads growing up, and I suppose I still am! The main features I remember were the buffers, short stack and red pilot. For me there was both a fascination because she was different, yet there is that real beauty found in British locomotives that makes them stand so far apart from the US/Canadian as well as their European counterparts.
If only I could go back in time and visit the UK before British Rail and Beeching had ruined everything just like things were happening at the same time over here in the US. Gone now of course are my favorites PRR, NYC, NH, BM, MEC, CV, and... fill in all the fallen flags that made a boy who loved trains day dream about them.
John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOHqycaNjM4
Here's a film clip of the tour - brief bit of it anyway, with some footage in the New York and Philadelphia area where she passes a United Aircraft Turbo Train and some Metroliners.
After I saw her in person, I set about drawing British and European trains. I used to draw trains all the time as a kid, filling up paper with yard diagrams, maps, and side pictures. I was very fascinated with railroads growing up, and I suppose I still am!
The main features I remember were the buffers, short stack and red pilot. For me there was both a fascination because she was different, yet there is that real beauty found in British locomotives that makes them stand so far apart from the US/Canadian as well as their European counterparts.If only I could go back in time and visit the UK before British Rail and Beeching had ruined everything just like things were happening at the same time over here in the US. Gone now of course are my favorites PRR, NYC, NH, BM, MEC, CV, and... fill in all the fallen flags that made a boy who loved trains day dream about them.
John
cascaderailroad
New member
In Europe the designers were bent on stylishness and classiness, and art deco rounded cowling, hiding piping and ungainly looking mechanisms ... when they see our Big Boy with all of its unsightly piping (which we think is handsomely, ruggedly, manly, and totally knarley) ... they surely must say: "OMG ... How horrid and uncivilized looking" !
amigacooke
Well-known member
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
cascaderailroad
New member
That explains it ... my wife must be English ... (stylishness and classiness, and art deco rounded cowling, hiding piping and ungainly looking mechanisms) ... lol (BTW: she absolutely hatez Trainz)
Last edited:
Hi everybody
That is exactly it amigacooke.
To me a good-looking train is one that arrives at my journey start station on time and the coaches are clean and tidy. Its beauty is also then increased if I am able to get a seat and work (if required).
The train then wins the beauty contest for me outright if it arrives at my destination within five or 10 minutes of its scheduled arrival. The power cars and coaches of the train then become things of great beauty and desire.
An ugly train is one which is late, overcrowded, does not have the toilets working and its coaches are strewn with empty cups and half eaten sandwiches. Even though it may be a train in the same class as the above, or even the same train on a different day. It then becomes the world’s most ugly railway vehicle and one which all I want to do is to get off of as soon as possible.
UGLY then aint a bad enough word for it
Bill
That is exactly it amigacooke.
To me a good-looking train is one that arrives at my journey start station on time and the coaches are clean and tidy. Its beauty is also then increased if I am able to get a seat and work (if required).
The train then wins the beauty contest for me outright if it arrives at my destination within five or 10 minutes of its scheduled arrival. The power cars and coaches of the train then become things of great beauty and desire.
An ugly train is one which is late, overcrowded, does not have the toilets working and its coaches are strewn with empty cups and half eaten sandwiches. Even though it may be a train in the same class as the above, or even the same train on a different day. It then becomes the world’s most ugly railway vehicle and one which all I want to do is to get off of as soon as possible.
UGLY then aint a bad enough word for it
Bill
Last edited: