When it came to beauty, not all steam locomotives were created equal. It so happens that I have the two ugliest streamline steamers on my railroad, the NYC's Commodore Vanderbilt, and the C&O's Yellow Belly. I do not have the streamlined Pennsy K4, or the Reading's Crusader yet, but these would also be in the ugly category.
As for the most beautiful steamers, the Dreyfus Hudsons and the N&W K & J Classes are at the top of my list.
It's ironic that the New York Central had the most beautiful steamers, the Class J Hudsons, and the ugliest steamers which were also Hudsons, the Commodore Vanderbilt and the Mercury. It's amusing to me that I see beauty in most all non-streamlined steamers, but the earliest attempts at streamlining steamers made them ugly!!!
As for diesels, the early hood units had style and were beautiful, but after those......UGLY Boxes! Only a mother could love the BL-2, the ugliest diesel in my opinion.
What say you all?
