Do you own/operate locomotives from railroads other than your layouts primary railroad?

Most of the year, no.  From Epiphany to Thanskgiving, I run exclusively Frisco, MoPac, and T&P.  Restricting myself to these roads keeps the number of trains I own reasonable and my wallet happier.  I *do* offer regular trackage rights to my boys with their foreign roads, however, so Strasburg, ATSF, NYC and Lionel Lines show up from time to time.

Over Advent their trains get the run of the road, including their Polar Express.  At Christmas, I get to run my childhood MPC Santa Fe Alco and Marx NYC 0-4-0.

The NG portion of the layout is all my wife's, and she runs what she has; at Christmas, that's a Yule Route C-16.

I have 3 main lines and I run 4 trains at a time. I have 8 engines on the layout total and they all get a chance to run.

Right now I am running on the upper level 2 UP's Dash 8, and 2 SANTA FE's GP60,s both pulling freight. Lower level I have Penn's K4 steam, CNJ Camel Back steam both pulling passenger cars. Sitting in the yards are Penn F7's ABA, Morristown & Erie RS1, Western Pacific F7's ABA and Santa Fe F3's ABBA. It's my railroad and I run what I feel like running.

For me, I stick to what Chico said in the fifties: "Santa Fe... All the Way"

But it wasn't always that way.  When I first got into O Scale I also bought Southern Pacific, Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific.  I have sold off all the "Pacifics"   and now am 100% Santa Fe.

Sure there are several other railroads that have beautiful color schemes.  One of the benefits of belonging to a club is that I get to see 15-20 different roads operating on any given day.

Can't beat that.

No rhyme or reason with me. If I like the look, I buy it.

Same here Spence.

My primary road is NYC but over the years I have acquired a few of the icons of Post War years plus a few others. Lackawanna Trainmaster, Warbonnet Super Chief, SP Steam Daylight, a few PRR shifters.

Pete

My layout is based on a fictitious town of Winterton which is the main railhead/logistic hub for Santa's work shops at the north Pole. It is a Joint CB&Q/Great Northern Operation. Pool power is provided by ATSF all year round. During Peak shipping months  February thru April (Easter) and October thru January ( Christmas/Hanukah and to a lessor extent Valentines Day ) It is not unusual to see motive power from ACL/Seaboard/SP. N&W provides the coal for the North Pole operations year round. 

Doug  

We have NO primary railroads. We buy what we like and are not bound to run a selective number of railroads. I think this is much more fun because of the variety.

I started out buying anything neat and affordable.

Now I focus on Rio Grande and assoc. lines. I Love my Big Boys so I am modeling the Ogden Exchange from RG to UP.

All Steam, All the time.

(OK I have a couple outliers there but in the main...)

My locomotives are limited to Texas & Pacific and MKT, steam and diesel, two freight and one passenger.  Rolling stock is limited to railroads west of the Mississippi, except for CB&Q which had lines in Texas and Oklahoma during the 30s, 40s, 50s & 60s.  No Burlington Northern as that was after the merger.  Foreign rolling stock is limited to railroads operating in the southwest during the period.  All is scale, except for the little T&P Mohawk that was my first locomotive.

When I was getting into o-gauge, my father and I joined the k-line collectors club.  They were offering a lot of PRR stuff, so that's what we ended up buying.  I got the GG1, A5 switcher, a set of 15" madisons, some freight cars, an operating passenger station, and I won a mikado at my LHS.  The rest of my colelction is mostly postwar, so I had to have a santa fe F3, and alot of my cars are from the all encompassing Lionel Lines   Recently I have been interested in Williams so I picked up a Canadian Pacific F3 passenger set.  now i'm looking at the Williams Js.  Do I get the PRR to match the bulk of my collection, or the traditional N&W?  Doesn't matter I suppose since I probably shouldn't buy it until I get the layout back up.  Anyway, PRR is my main roadname, so it gets the preference for new purchases, but it's quickly turning into whatever catches my eye.

I'm with Spence.  Besides I think running just 1 RR is boring and there are so many beautiful enginesout there.

My Railroad, the CBS is owned by Class 1 railroads KCS, BNSF and UP. So the CBS has engines and other equipment from those railroads plus the fallen flags of the 3 railroads, ATSF, MP, Frisco, NP, GN, BN,etc.

A few years ago I watching trains on KCS mainline in NW Arkansas I saw a total of 11 diesel engines, only 3 were KCS engines.  Sometimes it's hard to tell who owns the railroads tracks by the engines that are operating on them.

I have one foreign line locomotive -- an MTH Southern Pacific Baldwin-Westinghouse AS-616 road switcher (an a Sunset/3rd Rail T&NO caboose to go with it), which pulls the daily T&NO trackage rights local that runs over the Santa Fe through Caprock, Texas.

Now that Sunset/GGD has announced affordable Harriman passenger cars, I believe the big Baldwin might also be seen in the future on the T&NO passenger train to Abilene.

I thought I was only going to have Santa Fe and Chessie on the basement layout.

But Chessie turned into B & O, Western MD, CSX, and C & O.  

Then I saw a beautiful PRR K-4 that I had to have.

And an NYC Aerotrain.

And the UP 49er.

And the Rio Grande Ski Train.

And so on, and so on.

I have completely derailed my original plan and just buy what I or my son likes and what works well on the layout.

See this is what I love about the model train hobby.  So many different answers to this question.  All of them great.  Some people stick to one RR, others to three or four, and still others who own and operate models from a wide variety of railroads. There are common threads amongst most people in this hobby, but yet such variety at the same time.  Every one is able to make the hobby their own.  And I definitely enjoy learning about what railroads others like to run trains from.

I had to whittle it down to one road (with a few minor exceptions). When I re-entered the hobby about 4 years ago there was so much to choose from, I wanted everything in the catalogs. Something had to give. What a change that was from the selections of 30-40 years ago. Still amazes me.

My railroad is open to almost all railroads, or at lease it will be, as I have a very small roster at the moment. Since my railroad is not real, and I'm not even sure what part of the country its in (some mountainous region) anything that catches my eye can pass. If a rail line can link me to it, it can come to the layout. Also if the railroad operated in 1954 or earlier, it can make it down my lines, unless it has a flux capacitor (I think that's how its spelled)!!!

I'm  from Chessie country.  I remember as a kid seeing the beautiful Chessie livery in and around Baltimore.  My switching layout was going to be based in Baltimore, maybe incorporating the Canton RR, but things changed.  I really have had an affinity with Western Railroads, so I changed to the D&RGW, SP, UP and Cotton Belt.  So a majority of my motive power fly those flags.  I found an older photo of some D&RGW 4-axle diesels and right there in the middle was a Chessie GP40...so I'm covered!  Below is another photo of Chessie motive power out west.

TN Hokie,

    Living here in Churchill, Pa with the massive Pitcarin Train Yard & Union RR Roundhouse and all the different engines and rolling stock from all over the country, on the tracks, including our little Union Railroad stuff all over the place.   Most of the O gauge runners in this area have all kinds of different road names on their layouts, including the US Steel and Westinghouse trains and ofcourse the Steeler Super Bowl trains.  I have everything from the NASA Train to the PRR GG1's and the mountain Logging Shay engine also.  Because we have so many real trains in this area, everyone has so many different O gauge engines and rolling stock, in reality it covers about everything ever made.

PCRR/Dave

No primary railroad; have

Union Pacific

Southern Pacific

ATSF

Milwaukee Road

White Pass & Yukon

Denver & Rio Grand Southern

New York Central

Foreign

Southern African Garratt

A3 Flying Scotsman

Deutsche Bundesbahn

Deutsche Reichbahn

This.    I'm with Spence a the couple others who have mentioned it.

My motive power is from all manner of railroads.  I'm a "if I like the paint job I buy it" person.   I have PRR running next to Alaska RR, next to Santa Fe, next IC, etc...

I'm kinda tending to stay away from West Coast railroads for now. I have nothing against them, and I love many trains on the Southern Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande, but railroads on the East coast are much more closer to me.

I'm primarily focusing on the New York Central, as well as railroads that were close or later took over, including the Pennsylvania, Jersey Central, Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley, and ConRail. Though, the Nickel Plate and Southern are sometimes sprinkled in.

I'm with these guys. I love all kinds of railroads and different paint schemes and could never narrow down to one railroad. Plus, after hundreds of hours watching trains roll through my town, you never know what you will see. Railroads borrow engines from other railroads all the time. We have seen an engine from pretty much every large American railroad roll through Mississippi.

Prefer those which run/ran thru our home town (Suffolk, Va). That is a bunch. Emphasis on N and W as grandparents from Roanoke, I was born in Bluefield, W Va and went to Va Tech. All have N and W connections.

Oher railroads do pay a visit. My wife got a Big Boy for Christmas and our grandson a gold Polar Express (to use here - he got Legos to take home).

WOW, we have the exact same interest.  I do however run a few Pennsy GG1's since they also ran next to the WM here in Baltimore many moons ago.  As you stated "Big Boy's, N&W J's, and other great engines will never be on my layout".

I have a choice of 11 or a combination there of:

CNJ

SIRT

B&O

C&O

Chessie

MILW

NYC

PC

LIRR

ERIE

EL

When I got back into the hobby in the early '80's, I was buying anything that struck my fancy.  I wound up with engines, rolling stock, and passenger cars from many different railroads (certainly over 20).

I am mostly interested in more modern (i.e. diesel) engines.  I have a few steam engines (MTH Big Boy, Vision Line Challenger, Legacy SP Daylight GS-4, and Legacy Polar Railroad K4) just because every model railroad needs at least one steam locomotive.

I've now cut back and focus on Amtrak and Norfolk Southern. But, I do buy some other eastern equipment: CSX and FEC.  I also have a soft spot for Southern Pacific (love the Daylight colors and love Tanktrains).  And, I like Canadian trains: CP and VIA.

I'm in the process of selling a lot of my equipment from other railroads since most of the engines are conventional, and I have decided to go 100% command control.

Chessie System

B&O

C&O

WM

Coast to coast (all three) for me.  Any US railroad - plus Lionel Lines - has trackage rights. 

Funny subject, for me at least.

I started in O-Gauge by inheriting my grandfather's postwar sets which included a W&A General, a Lionel Lines 0-4-0, 2-6-2, and 4-6-4, a UP FA-2, a Seaboard NW-2.

I decided to add each of the major 5 that ran through my hometown of Cleveland:  NYC, B&O, NKP, PRR, and EL. 

Then I saw my brother-in-law's beautiful blue Wabash GPs and had to have those.  Then I realized that no O-Gauge layout is complete without a Santa Fe Warbonnet.

Just when I thought I had drawn a "hard line" at 11, I realized I "had" to have a Chessie coal hopper train.

I think 12 is my limit.  Until I find something else I like. 

I model the Lionel Lines Railway Company. While they have their own engines, they always seem to be short on power and rolling stock. So, they loan power from any railroad they can. This is why I have a Reading Consolidation and UP Big Boy waiting as my LNE Camelback or my NYC F3 ABA passes by.

That back story on my railroad lets me run anything I like, and even maybe a couple things I don't.

The New York, Ontario, and Western Railway will always be my favorite, but I also own some Chessie power and cars just to mix things up a little bit.

I primarily model ATSF/BNSF.  Being a Kansas City (MO) area resident I also have KCS and UP.  I run CB&Q due to family ties.  Wouldn't mind Norfolk Southern.

Just because I like it, I have an NKP Berk.

I model the '30's through present day.

I have ADHD as my wife will attest, and I'm scattered and so are my road names. I'm primarily eastern railraods and New England. I also like UP and Big Boys. Whatever tickles my fancy . I was told when it's time I can't take em with me so enjoy them all now..

I model the New Haven but I live in CA.  I have lots of western railroad equipment.

Joe

My stuff has been all over the board since I was a kid.

 A 2037 Adriatic wasn't even an actual loco anywhere in N America.

(I know of one story of a logging 2-6-2, temp fitted with a booster, then a 4 wheel trailing truck, but documentation on the owner is slim, let alone the loco, or gauge)

I thought about a  NYC, and Michigan Central focus because it made the most sense with what I had stock wise.

Then my brother let me at his S.Fe Hudson. A RI&P "General", and a TMCC Virginian rectifier coal train gift showed up, with an apology "they" couldn't find me a decent PW GG-1 That's OK! 

 A PW Hudson rolls in, a "happy" MPC Rock Island dockside & a Kickapoo, partially for the bobbers,

But I had to have a GG-1, or two...or three with a dummy, and a K-4 slipped in, causing a lean to PRR focus, but that only lasted those purchases.

A Coast Guard set, to support my now military 2037. A new green US Marine rocket launcher is moved to the mostly green & black 2037 train, and the PW launcher fits the CG trains color scheme! Cant forget the soup can roofed Scout pulling military "junk" to shoot rockets at! Cool! Cheap! Mine

Assorted Scouts roll my way.. LLRR, Lionel Lines!

Along comes an orphaned C&O "Sound of Steam" 4-4-2 to match my 2 loose cabooses. Then I couldn't say no to a TMCC Berk jr., except it was a C&O Kanawa when it arrived . So now some pretty yellow Madisons are needed. Oh no..an observation car! Now I need a loco for the loose caboose. But I buy Erie & DT&I SWs. and another RI&P 4-4-0 so I can double head, 2 chrome Americans. 

Somewhere in there I saved a garbage canned SFe SW for when I finally get my red War Bonnet Alcos.

 Great Northern & NH electrics, CP & Soo Alcos, or a SP steam Daylighter are weaknesses I wont deny.

On30 could drag me into narrow gauge at any moment. 

 I cant even keep focus on this continent, a Krock, a Japanese bullet train, Russian steam for the huge sand domes if nothing else.

And finally, I have a Martian line, attacking the Earth....

nope no loyalty to road names here, just to fun.       

My take is southeastern railroads.I try to stick with seaboard coast line what I saw as a kid.But you never know what might show up.While on my way home my mother.I saw a green locomotive in the freight yard in monroe.Turns out in was a southern railway gp9.I also saw l&n and clinchfeild.Since I like steam I have up,sf,nw,co and nyc,erie npr.Nyc mohawks now repainted for seaboard.Fine mountain type locomotives.In real life and in this hobby.Never say never because theres always the exspection.There was a time alot of frissco power came through on the seaboard.