What Locomotives Do You Find Ugly?

 

Actually, Winan's were CAMELS, NOT CAMELBACKS.

 

Development[edit]

The camel and the camelback design were developed separately by two different railroads in different eras. Though the name is often incorrectly used interchangeably, they had little in common other than the placement of the cab. Unlike the later Camelbacks, Camels had cabs that rode atop the boiler. Camelbacks have a cab that straddles the boiler. While Camelbacks have the same idea of moving the cab forward, they had it for different reasons. Winans wanted to put as much weight on the drivers as possible to increase traction. Camelbacks were developed to allow for the use of larger fireboxes, such as the Wooten, which could not be encompassed by a cab. Camelbacks were particularly known for being used on the Central of New Jersey.

 

 

Doug

 

I forget for sure, but the track may have been 3-rail(attachment)

If ugly was tractive effort, camelbacks would rule the universe !   

I remember these when they started showing up as I lived by the what is now the UP north line to Kenosha. I had always wondered about them. I wouldn't call the them ugly as they have a resemblance to the FP45. Its to bad they did not use the same windshield design as it would of looked better..  The Rock Island also had converted E8B units witch looked like a Doodlebug on steroids.

 

 

Been thinking about this topic for days.  Can't come up with anything.  I've never seen a train that I did not like.  

 

If the topic was most beautiful, my pick would be the GG1 hands down.  

       
       

It's that triclops look!  This, the DL109, the SD60M, and the F59PH all suffer from it!  (The F59PHI look fine, though.)

Take a look at this thread... https://ogrforum.com/t...-good-looking?page=1

If you want ugly engines, then I give you... the portal to their homeworld!

GCRailways, thanks for the great website: 

Extreme Steam- Unusual Variations on The Steam Locomotive.

Truly, the home of the appearance challenged.

Electric:  I didn’t notice it listed here yet, but I’ve never cared for the Milwaukee Road Bipolars.  The GG1 is the best looking by far.

 

Diesel:  GP30 is the worst.  Alco PA1 or slant nose EMD E unit the best.

 

Steam:  Didn’t realize there were any ugly ones till I read this post

I believe that this engine was built in Czechoslovakia. The design looks clearly European.

Well, I own a BL-2 and want to buy a J.  I really like both!

I suppose I'll chime in here.

First off, any non-American locomotives.

Honestly, I never was a big fan of any articulated steam locomotives. Maybe I'm just not that big into mountain railroading or out west.

Anything with a tank tender.

The P&LE Berkshires.

Also, and do let me know what you think about this. I've always found many of the PRR steamers (Decapods, and the Mikados) in particular and to  a lesser extent the J1's to be very bulky, something about the boiler maybe?

I think this is an "Ugly Duckling"

 

 

 

ALL steam switchers with 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 wheel arrangements.

 

They just don't look right without the front pilot and the rear truck.

 

RipTrack Hal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely form following function there - talk about no frills. I believe this animal is 'Cloud', built for the Mt. Washington Cog Railway in 1870. There were about 4 or 5 of this type built. Plain ugly working girls all.

Anything Penn Central or Conrail.

 Ugly by Paint? Consider that its always there, to protect the build integrity. So to not accent its looks pleasingly along the way, makes little sense without purpose. I see only lost opportunity at a low cost chance to be something other than the "ugliest by paint design"

Though "any publicity is good publicity", and ugly can stick in memories, ugly is ugly.

 

When they unveiled the new paint design for Conrail, I thought it was a joke.

 Literally a "con" till they could find something better. I was in ad graphics at the time thought "Hey maybe they are having a design contest". I looked into it. No such luck. 

I'm thinking the news release I saw was also in the first week of April.(?)

  PenCen's logo was much better graphically. But it destroyed the GG-1s by being plastered on the all "flat black on white-wash" looking paint, that seemed to highlight every dent in the things. Nothing to capture the eye but the logo. I've wondered before if this was to push recognition of the new logo, or a purposeful attempt to make this icon uglier, preceding their eventual mothballing. Why? To prepare for the public outcries of protest they knew would accompany the move away from them. Even when it was finally done, that protest was kinda loud.      

   I love the Loewy GG-1. An odd looking thing, made to look like a million bucks by some of the best graphic accents ever applied to a locomotive. Definitely the classiest . The War Bonnet is the only thing that beats them hands down, but with "wow" factor. Daylighters & GN "Greenies" a close 3rd&4th, both with more class than the bonnet.

  

Anything PC or BNSF  destroyers of great railroads!

The Alco DL-109. UGLY!!!

Knowing what a beautiful work of art this used to be prior to unsightly conversion, it has to be at or near number one!

 

A lot of interesting reading and photos on this thread.

As usual I will go against the majority.  I find none of them ugly, I am a fan of the BL2 and the aero train and m10000.  Maybe it's because I like old cars with curves and fins.  A lot of the diesels and streamlined steamers that some find ugly remind me of old cars that character.  Unlike the cars of today that have zero styling.

 

-rog

Cab Forward ..  

These come to mind right now:

 

Any Garratt locomotive.

 

The A5 0-4-0 switcher or "shifter" 

 

GG-1 - yes I know, I'm the only one on earth!

 

The Baldwin Centipede

Whoa! The A-5 switcher??? Who doesn't love that?! Nothing more symbolic of the Pennsylvania Railroad than its switchers and the GG-1.

 

Just my opinion, though!

 

Tom

I didn't say I don't love it. I have several of them.   But I do I think it is ugly.  It is the ugly duckling of model railroading in my eyes.  You love it in spite of, perhaps partly because of, its squat, short, skinny little runt of an appearance, and its work ethic: it showed up every day, worked all day long, and got none of the glamor of the T1s and such.  Hardly seems fair.  An underdog, specifically an under(sized) (yard) dog.

Any of those high-speed trains that look like they crawled out from under a rock...

Like the Cloud, I waited in an attempt others a chance, but high speed is my cue....