If you had to choose just one

GP7

Nathan

MTH Imperial Bigboy.

Modern diesel ?  SD70ACe in O gauge and real life, hands down. Steam >>  In both categories - love them all.

F3's

Actually with the older diesels there are so many to pick & like and all the Fs are right up there with the Alcos, and  a bunch of the other EMDs for looks and getting the job done.  The SD 40 has to be a favorite, too.

Pennsylvania K-4 Pacific. It's a classic steam locomotive. Mid sized, powerful versatile, a good all around locomotive. Second choice would be a H-10 Consolidation for similar reasons.

With just one, it would first be the D&RGW narrow gauge (3') Mikados.  These workhorses are still chugging on, on the Silverton and the Cumbres, and probably

elsewhere.  In standard gauge, it would be the Great Western Decapod, which,

too, is still working, on the Strasburg.

Fantasy locomotive ownership:

Forgetting the desires of EPA, I'd have to chose an ALCO RS3 with its loud burbling engine sounds and enough billowing black smoke to kill all the mosquitoes within five miles. I could walk up and down the length of the locomotive, stand at the front, or stand at the rear. Or sit in the cab and hammer the throttle, just because I could.

If I could post a picture,mit would be GE EVO ES44AC Hybrid Diesel....Its a WOW IN MY Opinion.

As for a real locomotive? Probably a Lima built 2-8-4 Superpower loco. I was born and raised near Lima, Ohio so anything from Lima Locomotive Works becomes an automatic favorite! 

A very easy question to answer. The 3rd Rail N&W 2300 Steam Turbine Electric. If the house were on fire, I'd grab this if I could.

Gilly

Lionel Milwaukee Road S3 Northern. Pulls freight or passenger, it's a good-looking steam engine, and it says Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific on the tender. Second choice would be the Weaver version of the same engine.

Santa Fe warbonnet F-3, no question about it.

Art

Pennsylvania GG1 by far!

GG1

I must stress my favorite, the DREYFUSS HUDSON. Elegent, unique, and powerful.

Just my 2 cents.

Santa Fe F-3 Warbonnet

Thanks,

SantaFe28

EMD E7

I have seven pairs of these (all Williams).

My favorite is the B&M.

The last remaining original at the PRR Museum in Lancaster:

It would be the NYC J3-A Hudson. I just love the proportions of that engine and have two on the layout now.

The F3/7 in models, real, Santa Fe F3 hands down.

F3 and F7's any road, however truth be said any any first gen diesels or late steam, I been running the wheels of an H10 I bought from Mike Taylor latley.

John

N&W Class Y 2-8-8-2

I love Mallets, and any articulated locomotives!  I was fortunate to buy an MTH PS2 Y6b from a Forum member about a year ago.

DM&IR  Yellowstone, I love my MTH

I grew up with and like the early ALCOS...

Ouch!.  That would really hurt, to pick just one.  But it would be an easy decision.  My favorite loco in the rea; world, and on my layout, is the ATSF 2900 class Northerns.  

I have a 3rd Rail model of 2929 at work, but it is mounted in a display case and for display only.  My favorite is a Legacy-MTH hybrid I made of ATSF 2921.  It's the body and tender from an early PS1 MTH 2900 series ATSF Northern with the guts of a recent Legacy ATSF 3750 Northern transferred to it: the drivers were the same size and spacing on the smaller 3750 and the larger 3765 and 2900 Northerns, so I just transferred the entire Legacy chassis, drivers and motor, etc., from a Lionel Legacy 3750 Northern to the MTH body and then used the MTh model's pilot trucks and such, and took the MTH tender and put the the legacy speaker and boards inside.  

The 2900s were monster non-articulated steamers that look very handsome and have gobs and gobs of "gravitas."  The photo below shows mine with a 3750 - itself a big Northern, for comparison.

Hard choice, but I agree with the GE EVO Es44AC. That's what got me to forget about steam and go with all modern diesels for my layout a few years ago when re-entering the hobby. (Space, size and prices also influenced the decision.) However, that leaves many other diesels tied for 2nd place!

NYC Hudson - but even that is not clear, because do I grab the J1e 5344 or one of my

Lionel J3a's, and if it's the J3a, do I go for plain or streamlined, and if streamlined,

is it the Century Dreyfuss of the Empire State Dreyfuss?

Then how can I just LEAVE the Niagaras? And the Mohawks?

So, as always, this recurring question remains unanswerable.

the M1s were fantastic.

Hands down, the ATSF 3000. The nicest steamer Lionel has made to date.

Southern Ry Lima-built Ms-1.5 Mikado.

What is your go to locomotive?

In "real life", it's a toss up between NKP 765 and UP 844.

However, I still think the UP 844 is Lionel's finest steamer....so that's what I would go with on the model side.

K-Line Hammer Head, no question.  Jim

Thanks to all for all your really cool postings as well as the pictures. Someone mentioned the RS3 and that is also one of my most favorite diesel locomotives. I love the way they look when they come around bends and turns. They just have this certain look. Even my G gauge RS3 Rio Grande looks cool when coming around the turns. I don't, as of yet, have an O gauge RS3, but its early.......LOL.

The AC6000 in Norfolk Southern livery or CSX livery is pretty cool, but the "war bonnet" BNSF theme is by far the most beautiful in my opinion.

Also, I love the Challenger and Big Boy as well as the 0-4-0 and slop back tenders both in scale and in reality.

Thanks to all. Pete

My favorite real loco is probably the Southern Pacific  SD 45T-2 tunnel motors.  My favorite model loco would be the AtlasO SW8-9 switcher, reliable and smooth runner at low speeds

 ( the SHS /MTH version in S is about the same thing) ...DaveB

Tunnel motors are very impressive locomotives. In scale or in reality, they look real nice.

I have a lot of favorites, but if I had to choose just one...

Jeff C

Shark nose diesels......are totally cool. I love the look in any color, but once again, the Santa Fe paint schemes look the best in my opinion. Blue or red. Really nice picture too.

For a scale model, F3/7 ATSF in Warbonnet livery.

For real, N&W J by a long way over anything in second place.