Favorite steam passenger power?

Well, what type?

  • Early stuff 0-4-0s, 2-2-2s, etc

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • 4-4-0

    Votes: 4 5.3%
  • 4-4-2

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • 4-6-0

    Votes: 3 4.0%
  • 4-6-2

    Votes: 13 17.3%
  • 4-6-4

    Votes: 5 6.7%
  • 2-6-0

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • 2-6-2

    Votes: 3 4.0%
  • 4-8-2

    Votes: 8 10.7%
  • 4-8-4

    Votes: 18 24.0%
  • 4-6-6-4

    Votes: 8 10.7%
  • Other (turbines, 4-4-4s, etc...)

    Votes: 8 10.7%

  • Total voters
    75

nkp174

Active Member
What is your favorite mainline steam passenger power? Both wheel arrangement and/or railroad/or class/design?
 

Bones

Member
36" Guage 2-6-6-2T Mallets on the Uintah Railway. Sumpter Valley made them famous, but Uintah designed them from the ground up.

And, of course, the 36" guage 0-6-2T locomotives that ran 'normal' passenger service over the same line.
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
my favorite is the C&O M-1 steam turbines,like the one in my avatar.it was meant to runa passenger train that never happened called the chessie.the boiler was backwards and the coal up front.it was fast and huge!--josh
 

TrainNut

Ditat Deus
K-27 Mikado
2-8-2 'Mudhen' narrow gauge

While it's primary purpose way back when was for pulling freight, today it's main purpose is passenger excursions!
 

nkp174

Active Member
But TrainNut, the "Sport models" pulled the San Juan! I think I prefer the K-28s for passenger, but the K-27s for freight. Also, I want the toilet seat logo on the tenders, green boilers, and Pullman green varnish...not that bumble bee yellow stuff.

But, since the narrow gauges weren't really mainlines (dependent upon your definition), their power wasn't mainline passenger power ;-) Same thing with 2-8-0s.

Padre, you forgot to mention which ones! I don't have a Led Zeppelin song as several are even.
 

eightyeightfan1

Now I'm AMP'd
Southern Pacific's "Daylight".
Had the Bachmann version, but gave it to my dad....
He sold it at a tag sale my parents were having....
 

TrainNut

Ditat Deus
But TrainNut, the "Sport models" pulled the San Juan! I think I prefer the K-28s for passenger, but the K-27s for freight. Also, I want the toilet seat logo on the tenders, green boilers, and Pullman green varnish...not that bumble bee yellow stuff.

But, since the narrow gauges weren't really mainlines (dependent upon your definition), their power wasn't mainline passenger power ;-) Same thing with 2-8-0s.
Now look what you did... You went and gave me a whole bunch of homework to figure out what your talking about.:confused: Went and made me feel like I don't know a thing about my favorite engine!:mrgreen: Sport models? Toilet seat logo? Green varnish and bumble bee yellow stuff? And I kinda goofed as well 'cause I think most of the ones active today on the Cumbres and Toltec and the Silverton and Durango are K-36's. So, maybe I shoulda just stuck with "Mudhens.":mrgreen: I'll try and look up all those things tonight and tomorrow I'll be a better educated person when it comes to toilet seats, bumble bees and sport models.:mrgreen: AND, you got me on that mainline technicality thing. Sheesh, I messed this one up all the way 'round!
 

rekline

New Member
There is only one in my mind the classic PRR K4. Every time I think of passenger travel in the 20th century, The lasting appeal of this engine designed which was designed early in the century, lasted until the end of steam.
 

nkp174

Active Member
Now look what you did... You went and gave me a whole bunch of homework to figure out what your talking about.:confused: Went and made me feel like I don't know a thing about my favorite engine!:mrgreen: Sport models? Toilet seat logo? Green varnish and bumble bee yellow stuff? And I kinda goofed as well 'cause I think most of the ones active today on the Cumbres and Toltec and the Silverton and Durango are K-36's. So, maybe I shoulda just stuck with "Mudhens.":mrgreen: I'll try and look up all those things tonight and tomorrow I'll be a better educated person when it comes to toilet seats, bumble bees and sport models.:mrgreen: AND, you got me on that mainline technicality thing. Sheesh, I messed this one up all the way 'round!

Sometimes there are details we all miss. I just noticed recently, having never really thought about it, that certain C&S engines were only used on certain lines (which makes sense since I already knew that was the case for other RRs).

The D&S has always used the three remaining K-28s as power for their trains. They've added the K-36s...which required some bridge upgrades...and attempted to add a K-37 which was too large...so they traded it to the C&T. They started out with them as they were the passenger power...hence sport model being similar to sports car...with they're flying pumps and larger drivers than the K-27s.

The toiled seat logo would be the scenic line of the world herald. I've always thought that was a funny nickname for it which is moderately wide spread. The Bumble Bee scheme was first worn by C-16 268...for a movie if I recall...and a K-28 wore it for a short period in the 50s. Until then, the passenger cars were all Pullman Green...the D&S's yellow scheme was derived from 268's scheme. By this point the freight power was all wearing the Flying herald on the tenders which had replaced the toilet seat.

Here's a picture of a Precision scale K-28 with the green boiler and the toilet seat herald...as well as one with bumble bee paint.

I've tried to use that technicality to create discussion about what people like...by having them think a little more and share how awesome certain engines are. It was a trick question :p
 

Triplex

Active Member
Northerns, especially NYC Niagaras. Naturally, smoke-deflectored FEF-3s come right after them, but lots of others are classic: CN U-2, NP A-5, N&W J, Soviet P36, South African condensing 25... The GS-series aren't favorites, though.

Hudsons do also achieve the same balanced look. NYC (unstreamlined) Hudsons managed to look good even rusting and badly maintained in the 1950s. The Japanese C62 is also incredibly elegant.

Then there's the UP Challengers, specifically the smoke-deflectored "greyhounds" of the late 40s.

There are some others I wouldn't have thought of, but this thread reminded me to think of "freight" wheel arrangements. The aforementioned Rio Grande K-28, and the Chinese QJ 2-10-2. Okay, these weren't built as passenger engines, but after all Chinese Pacifics were retired, 2-10-2s and 2-8-2s handled all standard gauge passenger trains.

In general, I don't like Pacifics much.
 

Bones

Member
Alright, alright. If you want mainline...

I'd have to go with the British Gresley Class A4 4-6-2s ("Mallard" and "Sir Nigel Gresley" are a few examples). There's nothing quite like those crude aerodynamics and ugly nose.
 

nkp174

Active Member
Alright, alright. If you want mainline...

I'd have to go with the British Gresley Class A4 4-6-2s ("Mallard" and "Sir Nigel Gresley" are a few examples). There's nothing quite like those crude aerodynamics and ugly nose.

I've got to go with Grey Fox as my favorite of them...

Regardless, here's some young kid whom financed his trip to England this March by not cutting his hair...or so I tell my parents...
 

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nachoman

My vote is for the 4-4-2 atlantic. They were really the first locomotive to sucessfully use a trailing truck, which led to the development of larger engines a few years later. They also weren't used for very long - 15-20 years before being eliminated by larger engines.

Kevin
 

CNWman

CNW Fan
I truthfully don't have a favorite type of passenger steam engine, but then again, Daylight engine 4449 is one of those engines that I'd be willing to run on my layout (set in Ohio) and NOT give a good reason why I have it on my layout, although it's an engine from my birth state (California).
 
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