Whats your favorite locomotive?

Diesel? It just has to be the English Electric Deltic. They made one prototype and only 22 production models. The Prototype is in the Science Museum and there are 6 preserved production Deltics. 27% preservation rate shows how well loved they were. There are also several cabs preserved in museums.

In case anyone wonders why there were only 22 produced, it was a bad case of politics.
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Steam? Well either 6000 King George V that stole the show at the Baltimore and Ohio centenary. In the pageant there were many huge powerful American locomotives then came this comparitively small loco built to English loading guage. Famously Driver Young set the cut off for maximum expansion and shut down the regulator so this tiny loco cruised past the crowd pulling a long train in silence.

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Alternatively 3717 City of Truro. A small loco even by English standards this 4-4-0 could still haul long trains when she was an old lady but she was famous for being the first locomotive to exceed 100 mph back in 1904.

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In case anyone tries to view the prototype Deltic in the Science Museum in London, it is actually on display at the National Railway Museum in York.

Anyway, my favourite locos are the GMs made in the 60s for Iarnród Éireann. The 141,181 and 071. The 141 is below in my sig. I have to admit to being a steam non-believer, it just doesn't do anything for me.
 
In case anyone tries to view the prototype Deltic in the Science Museum in London, it is actually on display at the National Railway Museum in York.

Anyway, my favourite locos are the GMs made in the 60s for Iarnród Éireann. The 141,181 and 071. The 141 is below in my sig. I have to admit to being a steam non-believer, it just doesn't do anything for me.

Not even the Turf Burner? (CIE loco no. CC1) :hehe:

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Thanks for the correction about Deltic's current location.
 
In case anyone tries to view the prototype Deltic in the Science Museum in London, it is actually on display at the National Railway Museum in York.

And in case anyone tries to view the prototype Deltic at the NRM in York, it was actually moved to Shildon's 'Locomotion' museum a year or two back :D
 
And in case anyone tries to view the prototype Deltic at the NRM in York, it was actually moved to Shildon's 'Locomotion' museum a year or two back :D

My Fail... Hehe. I'm sure I saw it last year at the NRM. No, not even the turf burner though I did like the original Leader design when most find it ugly as sin.
 
For me it falls into 2 categories. Streamlined steam passenger locomotives and steam articulated freight locomotives. I love my new Pennsy T1 :udrool:

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Hi Everybody.
snip~Anyway, my favourite locos are the GMs made in the 60s for Iarnród Éireann. The 141,181 and 071. The 141 is below in my sig. I have to admit to being a steam non-believer, it just doesn't do anything for me.~snip

I'm with the PFX on this one. All the old steamers did was bring about the closure of railways all over the world due to their running cost. The diesels have brought about the re-birth of rail travel here in Britain and therefore my favorites are:-

Class 142 DMU pacer
class 156 DMU super sprinter.
The HSTs 125 and 130 which have been the backbone of intercity passenger rail transport since the 1970s and continue to do a fantastic job.

I love the class 142 DMU because there is no comfort in them, they are noisy with cheap bus style seats and there is often a strong smell of diesel when traveling. You often have to stand up because there are not enough seats and above 40 mph they always throw you all over the place.

Yes, with all the above they are great laugh to travel on as you rattle along the track to the clatter of the inevitable sound of the cracked wheel, but they certainly get you there and quick on local journeys

However, they are the face of a successful British passenger rail industry which is once more revolutionizing the way people travel here in the UK.

It is success in the future not failure in the past which should guide us in our favorite locomotives choice if you are a real rail fan and traveler.

Bill:D
 
Almost any steam loco is great but my all-time favorite is the Santa Fe
3776/2900 class 4-8-4s. I also reckon the Santa Fe E6 is pretty special.
Mike
 
Hi Everybody.
Not tablet failure then? : )

It was definitely not a Samsung tablet failure as that is doing very nicely thank you very much pfx.:D.

I was trying to post the picture of a class 42 pacer but every time I previewed the posting it just came out with a lot of gobbledygook. So if you could advise me how to place pictures into the posting I would be very appreciative. I know I am an expert in almost all matters, but posting pictures on the forum I am not:(

All I was trying to do was show everyone who is non-British just what a really good working DMU really looks like. Something that is a success.

I love the pictures of those huge American steam locomotives that burn a ton of coal per 10 mile and it probably took three hours to oil all those exposed bearings before you could drive it anywhere:hehe:

it was those type of engines that closed the railways down all over the world and made people take to their cars. So, let's have a picture of a good old pacer that gets the job done day after day with little maintenance.

Bill
 
Bill, are you sure you don't mean the Class 142? The 42 was the diesel hydraulic. By the way, we have RB-3 railbus at Downpatrick railway. It's really reliable... Not!

As for pics, you need to have a picture share account such as photobucket (fear not, it's free). Upload to that then copy the IMG code from the resultant pic and post it in the forum and Robert's yer mutha's brutha.
 
Hi pfx and everybody.
Bill, are you sure you don't mean the Class 142? The 42 was the diesel hydraulic. By the way, we have RB-3 railbus at Downpatrick railway. It's really reliable... Not!

As for pics, you need to have a picture share account such as photobucket (fear not, it's free). Upload to that then copy the IMG code from the resultant pic and post it in the forum and Robert's yer mutha's brutha.

You are right pfx, I should have stated class 142 Rather than 42. I did state that in my earlier posting on page 2 but missed out the digit in the last one. (Think I'm starting to lose my grip, that's two mistakes I have made in the last 15 years)

With regard to the 142, I believe no one can call themselves a real rail traveler in the UK until you have ridden on one of them. I do not believe anyone has created a class 142 for Trainz but someone has just created a freeware version in RW 2.

It is absolutely brilliant with bags of smoke coming out exhaust, brakes that squeal for half a mile coming into stations. It even has the inevitable cracked wheel sound and clanky, squeaky doors. Being a DMU fan you would love it pfx.

Going back to posting pictures, I have a Picasa account and I uploaded the picture of the class 142 on to it, but when I tried to reference that on this forum it just gave the printed http address.

Do you have to reference it in square brackets the same as you do with a quote?. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Bill
 
Hi Pfx And Everybody.
At last I managed it, a picture of my beloved class 142

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what a locomotive, what a workhorse. These are better than all those steam relics only suitable for museums or heritage railways. Just make sure you do not get on these with any loose teeth or they are sure to drop out with the vibration, swaying and banging about that goes on when they get above 40 mph.

These are better than any of your castles, Halls and dare I say it " yes a Berkshire"

A great one for Britain

Bill
 
Hi Again Everybody.
Here's another of my favorites:-

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A class 156 super sprinter. A bit more comfortable than the class 142 so they are normally operated on regional rather than local services. They have the advantage that above 40 mph you can still hear the person sitting next to you and have a conversation.

Regretfully, they do not have the " personality" of the class 142.

Bill
 
I couldm't help but smile at pfx's comment on the NIR railbus when at the Downpatrick heritage thingy. Unfortunately although I like the look of it and intend to have it eventually on Trainz he is sadly right!

From my recollection it ran for at least one summer on the Coleraine-Portrush branch - might have been two but not sure. I was staying at nearby Castlerock on the mainline and it was when a group of boys at annual summer camp there were going through to Portrush which meant changing at Coleraine. As much as it was fascinating it wasn't such a great thing to travel on and I would think that speed was worse. My memory tells me that in a subsquent year we seen it languishing in an old siding at Coleraine junction as NIR had went back to the old DMU.
 
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