Engines with a face only a mother could love

Well, I never ever liked the GG1.  I realize I have just offended half of all the people who like electrics, but to me with a big catenary rig on top and that round body it reminds me of a big insect. 

 

I also think some of the big articulated Garret steam locos are very ugly. 

Lee, what if it was painted in Santa Fes warbonnet scheme?

 

Jerry

Gotta love those GE P42DC's

There are many who think that the Southern Railway Q1 class is the ugliest locomotive ever built. I happen to think that they have a certain charm about them, but I fear that I am in the minority. Apart from their looks, which were mainly designed for easy cleaning and ease of maintenance, they are the most powerful 0-6-0 steam locomotive ever made in Great Britain.

 

Oh PLEASE! That "Triclopse" is much better looking than these....

 

 

this reminds me of a lory on rails! YUCK!

 

Some people should have their design engineers license REVOKED! 

 

 

 

 

 

The door maybe functional but it just KILLS the looks!

 

 

So much for aerodynamics!

 

The "Afterthought... Oh yeah we should have...

 

Even colorful new paint can't hide Butt Ugly!

 

 

Mom, I lost my rods.

UGLY!

UGLY!

Pretty much anything with a Coffin feedwater heater.

Anyone who thinks that a Lima B&A(NYC) 2-8-4 is ugly just isn't right! Best looking

Berks ever, matched only by - maybe - the P&LE A-2.

 

The GM&N/GM&O decapod that you show is one of my favorite locos - so much so that

I BUILT one (brass, 3-rail, Samhongsa Mikado-based/extra axle, command). Big Decapod; one of the largest in the US. The Coffin FWH was made from a PVC fitting from Ace hardware.

 

Oh, as to the Coffin FWH dis, you do know that the revered scale Lionel 700E was modeled after the NYC 5344 J1e, do you not? That Hudson had - that's right - a Coffin FWH.

 

'Course, they buried it in the smoke box. Image how the NYC 4-6-4 would have looked with its Coffin hung out front as on the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Decapod? (The GM&O had

several large Decapods in this class, but only two were Coffin-ized.)

An F40 with its face punched in?

 

 

Lee, I do like the GG1, but I think you're spot on with the rig on top. It's if somebody electrified a Diesel engine, and yes it's turning the thing into an insect.

I think mr. Loewy's philosophy came to a limit, in concealing all rivets and techy parts he just had to live with the catenary.

 

Kieffer

Nicole, what about the Dutch/Belgian Fyra, the engine? To my opinion it looks like somebody tried to make a design that equals the French TGV, but with a lesser budget (or talent)...

 

Kieffer

The GG1 was a streamlined work of art for its time. Certainly an aesthetic improvement over the more typical utilitarian boxcab electric locos. Anyone who bad-mouths a GG1 here is askin for trouble!  LOL 

 

Some locos just have to be appreciated for their no-nonsense functionality.

 

 

The leech-mouth is rather revolting. Or is that a jet air intake?

Hi Ace,

 

there's a white flag waving already on top of my fox hole, no I wouldn't dare to fight the GG1!

The Fyra: the thing is it's not only an ugly duck but it doesn't run well too.

It's supposed to run faster then ordinary Dutch railway transport, and you have to pay more too. Technical and financial not the greatest success of the century, they sometimes allow travellers to board the beast at normal costs, when it's late again...

Thanks for the picture!

 

Kieffer

Nicole, I've never seen this before. To me, it's butt ugly.

Hi Dave,

If you'd like to see more, here's some film of them in action.  

 

Thanks Nicole, well it didn't get any better, that' the ugliest loco I've ever seen. I've always loved British locos, but that one's a shocker!

Maybe some lipstick would help???

 

O gash no!  Lipstick would not be enough.  Maybe eyeliner, too . . .

 

that is one ugly locomotive.  Looks like an escapee from Chugginton . . .

Streamlined steam...PRR Loewy K4 unattractive, Dreyfus Hudson OK, NY Central Empire State Express great looking.

I' m glad I'm not the only one who thinks that! And I used to think that GEs were the ugly ducklings of contemporary railroading. When this thing appeared, GE became the pageant queen!

Well, there was a war going on at the time, so they had to cut down a bit on the decorative bits. 

Nicole,

 

it does not look any better in the movie either. I vote that this 0-6-0 be made the winner of the ugliest locomotive ever built, lol.

It should be understood that the Q1 class were designed and built during WW2, and were intended to be purely functional and efficient in use of materials. They were sometimes referred to as "Austerity" class.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Q1_class

 

The SR Q1 class is a type of austerity steam locomotive constructed during the Second World War. The class was designed by Oliver Bulleid for use on the intensive freight turns experienced during wartime on the Southern Railway network. A total of 40 locomotives were built. Bulleid incorporated many innovations and weight-saving concepts to produce a highly functional design. The class lasted in service until July 1966, and the first member of the class, number C1, has been preserved by the National Railway Museum.

 

Some locos just have to be appreciated for their no-nonsense functionality!

I didn't think anyone else thought of the GG-1 as ugly, but since Lee came out I'll chime in too.  I grant you that they were excellent, useful engines but they should have covered it with a sheet!

You can put lipstick on a BL-2, but it's still a BL-2...

 

Cheers,

Ken

Two I especially dislike tend to get a lot of love around here, but a GG1 and a Shay are two things I'd never care to have on my layout. Also, the things Amtrak runs now are pretty ghastly.

You nailed it in 1 with the BQ23-7.

 

Also, I never like Brit trains, but the Q1 class has got to be one of the ugliest anything I ever saw.

1.) The GG-1 would be at the top of my list for ugliest. It looks like a malformed tennis shoe.

2.) The modern era Genset won't win any beauty contests.

3.) The FP-45 looks like EMD tried to meld several locomotives together in a Franksteinian expertiment with the same result, a monster that shouldn't have seen the light of day.

4.) The GP-30 made my list in my thread about the 5 best looking diesel locomotives. It looks like a mutant buffalo. Ugly, yes. But in a muscular sort of way that I like it. But still ugly anyway. I know it doesn't make sense to most, but it does to me.

5.) The GE U-25 and U-30 series locomotives. They look great till you get the the front end with it's ridicously short nose. They're like a girl I once knew, she was a knockout if you put a bag over her head. GE may " bring good things to light ", but this abonimation wasn't one of them.

Dishonorable Mentions:

- FM Tranimaster- A rolling brick.
- GE Genesis- Rolling brick 2.
- GE 70 Tonner- Not quite sure which way it wants to go.
- Dash 8 Narrow Nose- Another creation by Doc Frankenstein.

 

Dont forget about this one!

You're right Andrew! I forgot all about GM's exercise in bad design. It would have made my top 5, booting out the GP-30. Let's also pay "homage" to the Turbotrain. It looks like Mothra from Japanese monster movie fame decided to metamorphise itself into a locomotive.

I agree with the BL-2.........ugly.

What is that??? Ugly, true, but it kind of makes me laugh too... so I kind of like it in spite of it's "looks."

 

Cheers,

Ken

Keith

Think you win