Favorite railroads

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JHZR2

JHZR2

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Curious what your favorite railroads are. NYC Pennsylvania Station was before my time, but I love Grand Central Terminal, and have often ridden the rails north on the NYC lines up towards Albany and New Haven.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time at various spots along the Delaware Lackawanna and Erie main lines, and interestingly at a poi t where the Erie/ EL main line changed directions in the early 1960's due to abandonment.

I ride the Pennsylvania Railroad old electrified ways on the NYC-DC-Harrisburg corridor.

So my favorites are the Erie Lackawanna and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Yours?
 
Anything that gets you the monopoly while playing....Monopoly!


Best train I ever rode was the bullet in Italy. Fast, smooth and the scenery was amazing.
 
I model the Soo Line, so I guess that answers your question for me! This north country grain line also dabbled in pulp operations and mining.

As kids, we used to hike back to the "old bridge" and spend the day watching trains.....the whole boy-adventure is caught well in the movie Stand By Me.
 
ICE, baby! The Iowa, Chicago & Eastern.

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The Fore River Line going about 3 miles between Braintree and Proctor and Gamble, and the shipyard when it operated. It is still hauling tallow for P+G
 
Originally Posted By: css9450
ICE, baby! The Iowa, Chicago & Eastern.

004dne.jpg



I agree that line goes through my hometown. The Milwaukee to KC Route
 
C&NW....Chicago & North Western.

I used to hunt along a stretch of C&NW line as a kid in Wisconsin. Got my best ever dog from a den along those tracks (wild) when she was a couple days old.

Good memories!
 
Wow, you get a choice ? We have one rail line, and there is one 3 carriage passenger service a day. You can catch commuter trains in Auckland and Wellington, but they are just part of the freight network.
 
Reading Lines, baby! A buddy and I use to chase trains when I was very young. He lived north of me. One summer we had a system. When I heard a northbound ore train on the way, I'd call him on the telephone and just say "high ball". He'd quick bicycle down to the tracks and be able to see the train go by. When the empties were southbound, he'd reciprocate. I lived closer to the tracks, so it was much more leisurely for me to get there in time to watch the train go by.

Those trains, 100 or so cars, use to ROAR right through the middle of towns in this area! I look at the tracks these days, in such disrepair, torn-up in some places, I sometimes can't believe what they had carried...

Reading Lines had a logo towards the end: "Bee Line Service". I think it was for a program to pick-up freight cars within 24 hours of being called. Something to combat the inroads trucking were making in railroad business. It was a clever logo (the body of the bee was a "black diamond"), sadly, it didn't make a difference...

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Originally Posted By: Tim
C&NW....Chicago & North Western.

I used to hunt along a stretch of C&NW line as a kid in Wisconsin. Got my best ever dog from a den along those tracks (wild) when she was a couple days old.

Good memories!


Same here! But when CNW ran Steam engines on the tracks for folks that paid for the experience. Only lived 4 houses away...as a kid when that steam whistle whet off I was by the tracks. The coal/soot alone was memorable. Only in the 70's could that happen yearly.
 
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Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
Reading Lines, baby! A buddy and I use to chase trains when I was very young. He lived north of me. One summer we had a system. When I heard a northbound ore train on the way, I'd call him on the telephone and just say "high ball". He'd quick bicycle down to the tracks and be able to see the train go by. When the empties were southbound, he'd reciprocate. I lived closer to the tracks, so it was much more leisurely for me to get there in time to watch the train go by.

Those trains, 100 or so cars, use to ROAR right through the middle of towns in this area! I look at the tracks these days, in such disrepair, torn-up in some places, I sometimes can't believe what they had carried...

Reading Lines had a logo towards the end: "Bee Line Service". I think it was for a program to pick-up freight cars within 24 hours of being called. Something to combat the inroads trucking were making in railroad business. It was a clever logo (the body of the bee was a "black diamond"), sadly, it didn't make a difference...



Nice! Reading was a majorly profitable RR in its day as I understand it, because of the fast transport of anthracite coal.

The reading seashore line is still in use by NJ Transit (all diesel service, not electrified), to Atlantic City. It is a fun ride, but the difference in right of ways is evident since PRR had most of the tracks into Philly it seems. To cross from NJ to the Pennsylvania 30th st rail station, you have to go way far north and out of the way. Kind of stinks. Ecause it would be a nice commuter link, especially if they could run it to Trenton.
 
As a young lad in the late 50's at my home town in southern NY, I lived just one block from the railroad depot. The Pennsylvania Railroad & the Erie Railroad both utilized the depot where I spent untold hours just sitting on my bike near the tracks wondering where the tracks went & where all these people were going. When the trains would stop you could feel the heat from the engines & smell the fuel, just the size of the engines to a young boy was hard to realize. To this day I still have one penny I had put on a track to have a passing freight train flatten. Boy, that was a while back!!!
 
The E-L ran through the town I grew up in, and when Conrail took over and abadoned it, a shortline called the Erie Western tried to make a go of it. I remember sitting in English class and seeing the E-W train going by. I'm also somewhat partial to Conrail and the Rock Island towards the end, when they tried to improve their image with "the ROCK" paint scheme.
 
Chicago & North Western for me too. One of the CNW "Operation Lifesaver" engines has been going through town a few times recently, still in in CNW colors with a UP patched number on it. The newer engines looked good in those colors...

Also a fan of the Duluth Missabe and Iron Range (DM&IR). An Iron Ore Carrier on the Iron Range of Minnesota, never glamorous, but they hauled some heavy trains!. Don't let the small ore jennies fool you, they are heavy! They've now been folded into the Canadian National, along with the Duluth Winnepeg and Pacific (DWP, or Drink Wine and Puke railroad as my grandfather called it
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