My favorite Railroads....

Chessie System (B&O)(C&O)(Western Maryland)!!!!

I think most of us have a fondness for the railroads we watched as kids.  As a fellow Chicagoan, my favorites are the Grand Trunk, the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal,  and the Rock Island commuter trains.

@Jerry N.  You're absolutely right. I'm especially fond of the Rock Island. My Mom worked there and was able to retire from the Rock Island. She worked at the LaSalle Street station. She used to see celebrities arrive every once in a while. She really enjoyed working there.

Pennsylvania, Reading, New York Central, New Haven, Penn Central & Amtrak, in that order.

I’m a homer. I live a half mile from a csx (former b&o), so anything that could have run on that track are my faves. I also adore the ma & pa (live fairly close to the trail and see old run down depots/stations when driving).

Diesel:

The four that were in my current region where I've lived since '69: Frisco, Mop/Rock Island, KCS, in that order. (The Mop and Rock Island are tied for 2nd place.) Previous to that my region was KC KS/MO. However, the above were also at KC. In KC I liked all the railroads! (Still do.)

Steam:

WAY too many favorites to list. Almost all of them from the link n' pin eras.

Electric:

No thanks.

Andre

Western Maryland and B&O.

Well the pennsy is my favorite because it was so Diverse and also dominated the area where I grew up.    The famous "broadway" 4 track main is what everyone things about.    However, there were many single track lines and branches.     Southwest PA was covered with Branchlines and the PRR single and/or double track lines in the Mon Valley and the Allegheny valleys.    There is the Elmira Branch that ran from Williamsport in PA to Sodus Point on Lake ONtario in NY state.    It was a long "branch" of a couple hundred miles I think and ran through the Finger Lakes region of NY through a lot of beautiful scenery and had pullman service to Canandaigua into the 50s.

Another Favorite I learned about as studied more about RRs, is the East Broad Top.   It is by far my favorite narrow gauge line.

I also like WM, B&O and C&O.

Bessemer & Lake Erie, Erie Lackawanna, and Penn Central.........

C&NW, Milwaukee road, Wis.Central, Wis. Southern, Am Track, CSX

Though I had to model it in G-scale, my favorite railroad is The Uintah Railway. The narrow gauge railroad had a very interesting history during the early 20th century. It was built nearly exclusively to transport gilsonite out of the Uinta Basin of Northeastern Utah.

Here are mine:

Gary

Conrail and all it's member roads. The B&M, New Haven and the FEC.

Also, since they are in my area CSX and NS.

In order:

• CNJ
• PRR
• Amtrak
• New Jersey Transit / NJ DOT
• ATSF
• SP
• Conrail
• Penn Central

ATSF and SP are a little odd on this list I realize, but I adopted those roads when I started operating trains at my 3R club, the Paradise & Pacific, in Scottsdale AZ.   

The first two I predominantly now model in 2 rail O.  However, single largest group of locomotives and rolling stock in my collection is in Amtrak in 3 rail followed by PRR in 2 rail.   

The logic?  Most of my most formative train memories were from early Conrail and 1980's era Amtrak.  Why I model CNJ / PRR from circa 1953-1957 on the Jersey shore is a story I've told one too many times on this forum so I won't repeat it.  However, these photos are worth repeating as they represent what really gets me excited in O scale trains:

Grew up alongside the 4 track CNJ mainline so that is my favorite.  CNJ being what it was in the 60s i got to see reading, b & o, c & o, n & w motive power so if something shows up that is interesting ill consider additions to the fleet.  Lehigh valley also had a minor presence in bayonne a few block away so that rr also gets a nod.  I never ventured the 2 miles up to the prr hump yard, wish i had, that rr had an interesting assortment of locos but cnj remains my all time favorite.

In no particular order: Long Island RR, New York Central, Pennsylvania, New Haven, Penn Central & New Jersey Transit, MTA (NYC subways).

That is easy, I was born, raised, and matured in a town that back in the day was served by five class 1 roads and a bunch of subs.  We were a steel town only second to Pittsburgh in tonnage production. Those roads were the Pennsy, NYC, B&O, Erie, and the P&LE ("The Little Giant").  Plus dad was from Conway Pa. that we would pass at lease once a month visiting family.

Then in 1978 moved to Charlotte during the heart of the Claytor brothers steam excursions.  So naturally the Southern Railway and N&W came of interest. Plus in the day 40% of the N&W was owned by the Pennsy.

Ron

Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific is like a model railroad.  In the late 1970s if all its revenue equipment came home the R,S&P would have been hard pressed to find enough tracks on which to store them. John

Hey All....

I'm lovin the bits of history you all are sharing. Just shows that though railroads may have been in the background, they played a significant part in each of our lifes. Otherwise we probably wouldn't have favorites.

I'm also surprised on the number of postings this thread is getting. I think it's very cool!

And the various logo graphics are awesome!