Most Beautiful Diesel Ever Made...

GM's Santa Fe F-3 ABA, the "car body" locomotive designed by a GM designer whose speciality was designing the hood ornaments for GM passenger vehicles!

Burlington Zephyr

hope we aren't going territorial …….

+1 for the Alco PA’s, in any color

Rusty

It is hard to find a more beautiful diesel than the Lionel Icon: Santa Fe Warbonnet F3’s.

And there is a case for the ALCO PA’s in Santa Fe Warbonnet colors

Rusty Traque posted:

Rusty

Love those EMD E3-6 Slant-nosed Engines

The Daylight colors don't work at all for me. 

I still love Alco PA's, but now that I'm firmly in crotchety old guy territory I find the famous EMD bulldog nose more attractive.

Jeff C

Oh golly...    SO many contenders

For Patrick

Why has no one made this beauty in O gauge?

'Almost' a diesel  :-)

c.sam posted:

Oh golly...    SO many contenders

'Almost' a diesel  :-)

I'll run with bottom one Sam!......thanks!!……...Pat

Miss Phoebe

I am a SP fan.  Sorry, Daylight does not do it for me.  Now Black Widow....

Did any road do a diesel in two tone grey passenger?

ATSF.  Did an interesting job on the Warbonnets, but it seems they forgot about the rest of the train;  BORING!

I like this one, too, especially since my scale Lionel version is one of my best runners ever on the layout, making an interesting throbbing sound as it progresses down the track.

FrankM

I am long time admirer of Alco PAs especially in D&H paint but for the most part I would vote for  FP7s in CPR grey/Tuscan 

Al

As we first heard during the 1960's, there are different strokes for different folks.  We are each sure that we have the correct answer to the question posed in the header of this thread.

It seems to me that there are three factors at work here:  The design of the locomotive;  the design of the paint scheme;  and the personal bias of the beholder.  Of the three, the last is the deciding factor.

For example, the EMD E8 is generally regarded as a good-looking industrial design.  It came into being when a lot of effort was also invested in the design of paint and graphics applied to the locomotives, and the E8 survived to wear single color "dip" paint schemes on several railroads, some of which also did not spend much money on washing their locomotives.

So, to some from California, the best-looking E8 might be SP 6018, in sparkling Daylight red and orange, while, to others who came of age in New Jersey or Pennsylvania in the 1960's and '70's, Penn Central black might be stimulating.  In either case, I suspect that the locomotives of our youth and young adulthood will always be the ones that take us to happy places in our own minds.

You can probably guess my own favorite, but I have a lot of admiration for many others.

I’ve always liked the E1. It was meant to be eye catching.

The Grande, as shown above under the Royal Gorge pedestrian bridge, but not necessarily the single stripe version, and on the PA.   The black ones are correct for my era modeled. Early E's in Rock Island red are my favorite diesel color.

I love the fact that this little gem has been running on the Wilmington & Western (nee B&O Landenburg branch) since the 1940's! It has never left the very rails it serves to this day (except for restoration). She may not be the most beautiful but the story is one of the best in modern railroading.

Well said Tom, which is why 5 gold stripes on Brunswick Green is my kind of elegance.

I first went to Utica, NY in 2003 on a railfan trip and saw these beauties for the first time.....

At the time I was a huge Passenger fan but after seeing this locomotive and others like it in the YN2 paint scheme I became a huge fan of CSX and the SD80MAC. The SD80MAC is my all time favorite diesel ever, even in NS paint.

Plus 2 on the Alco PA in any color except Nickel Plate.  My favorites are Warbonnet,  DRGW Bumblebee, SP Daylight, UP, and maybe 5 stripe PRR - in order.

Tough.

D&H was always pretty for me.

An ex-Con (class lights and all) on the move

For me it is this locomotive.  I have never seen one in person, but the proportions, curvature, and lines of this locomotive are the most beautiful in my mind.

Old photos from my collection:

I have to concur that the PA (and to a lesser extent the FA) have the most beautiful design. Amazing, considering how far back the design goes. For some reason, modern diesel manufacturers seem to start out well with their passenger diesels, then find some way to ugly them up at the last minute.

Handsome engines, standing tall,                                                                                                                                                  Who's the fairest of them all?

Now here are a few serious contenders from the GN fleet !!!

The GM EMD TA diesel in Rock Island decor gets my vote. With "full rocket" decor, this 1939 train is an art deco classic.  Thankfully, Sunset Models recently offered it in O-gauge with Lionel's TMCC built-in. My order is in!

Let's not be limited to American prototypes...  

Mitch 

You guys forgot this amazing loco. UP 1943.

PA's

The Santa Fe gets my vote and I'm from Michigan.

Dennis

My vote is for the various versions of the EMC/EMD E Unit, regardless of which railroads purchased them.

Everyone had great insight and choices!  My favorite is the F7.  My favorite livery is the SP Black Widow, but I like it with any railroad.

For the US, the GP-30 followed by the original SD-45:

For foreign, the class 66:

SteamWolf posted:

winner winner! chicken dinner!