Railworks America

So what is it and why?

Some may know, but my avatar is mine, the lovely workhorse of the NEC the AEM-7... .. Toaster! These will probably be replaced in roughly 5-10 years (if Amtrak gets there way). The fleet is 20-30 years old depending on build date, some are still in their original DC form, while others were rebuilt and upgraded to AC units which basically made them performance wise HHP-8's with a different body. While the HHP-8 is newer, and sleaker, reliability wise it has failed compared to the AEM-7 which has been carrying most of the weight of the NEC for over 20 years now. Love seeing them blast by @ 125mph.

I like any Geep and Road Switchers, however my favorite would have to be the GP38-2. Mainly because it was the first locomotive I drove in MSTS, and I like the Versatility of a road switcher.

Oh, Gawd. I'm a North American driver, so my fave is steam. The Big Boy is my new favorite, but the Challenger is right behind it. The Santa Fe Chief Warbonnet F7 is another fave. As are the High nose and Wide Nose. The DD40X is also a beast. I have screen shots of all of them in the screen shot thread. Lonewolfdon made a custom route I could drive them all on. How sweet can it get?

Found it viewtopic.php?f=10&t=626

I have to go along with Chris on the F7.
I rode the Super Chief from Chicago to L.A, twice. Once in '66 and again in '69.
Great trips both times.

Oh that would have to be G-traX Steam. The SPS and the NKP Berkshire are the best, hands down.

kin3 wrote:Oh that would have to be G-traX Steam. The SPS and the NKP Berkshire are the best, hands down.

I agree. I have been begging them for months to do a K4 Pacific or something similar.
Buzz

If we could get a Cab Forward for the San Bernadino to Barstow, I would be in heaven.

I thot yu already were being in SoCal.
Buzz

A couple of my other interests were the gas turbine experimentation.

UP had the daunting, scary, monstrous GTEL series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_GTELs

The UK had the awesome APT-E. Just another beast on rails: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_APT-E

Then the newest JetTrain that seemingly fell off the face of the earth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JetTrain

Many more but those were some of my favorites in design.

buzz456 wrote:I thot yu already were being in SoCal.
Buzz

Dude, So Cal is far away from Heaven. When I move back to Arizona next year, I'll be back to heaven.

I have a few favorites, mostly unique models

In the way of steam, I'm tied at a combination of the Pennsy's K4 Pacifics, and unique T1 (4-4-4-4) Duplexes for Passenger power; For Freight (steam powered) I'm also tied hands down on the Pennsy's Q2 (4-4-6-4) Duplexes, the I1sa 2-10-0's, and M1b 4-8-2's for freight. Although I don't mind Baldwin built 2-8-0s...

For diesel power, I'm tied between Alco PA-PB sets, and Baldwin's unique DR6-4-20 2000 Horsepower Passenger Sharks for passenger power, with freight being held up by Baldwin Centipedes.

I agree that AZ is much much nicer.
Buzz

For the period between the wars, and up to the 1950s a set of the USRA designs would be wonderful. Prairies, Mikados, Pacifics, Northerns, etc. Every railroad in the US had a sample or two of these locomotives. We have the switcher, and the Consolidation from that period already.

For me, easily my favorite diesel is the GE B23-7 used by Conrail for yard switching.

I happen to think this is quite pretty...

Paul