Pre nationalisation preferences....

we may have done this before.....which is your favourite? You could add a post with your fav Pre Grouping line too if you want...

 

LNER for me but if asked on pre grouping it would be the NER.

 

Gotta agree with LNER. The only railway with a single image.

 

GWR for me, as you'd probaly guess. The most beautiful locos in the world, with Wales and the South West as the icing on the cake.

 

S&DJR so I can't vote

Steve

 

yes you can...if its locos you are into vote LMSR..if its Coaches/ operating dept vote SR.....

 

LNER because of the incomparable creations of Herbert Nigel Gresley, followed by the Southern because of the wonderful if idiosyncratic Bulleid Pacifics.

 

I can't vote Talyllyn - never included in the grouping. Or Bishop's Castle, the pottiest and most endearing railway to exist...

 

very difficult!

S&DJR for one, and NER for another maybe pipped to the post by GWR, but there is also the Festiniog!

hhmmmm.... I shall have to ponder a while longer!

 

SR for many reasons: Best long term vision - full electrification, Best Marketing - clock-face services, etc, and not least some great locos.

 

too all talyllyn, Festiniog, bishops castle, leeds Urban tramway co etc fans....

were they not around pre 1923 then? you were invited to add them in a post if you wished...

 

lms, simples, no contest.

 

There is only one way, and that's the Southern way (and I'm not talking about the journal!). A perfect blend of pioneering management, cutting-edge technology and ancient dinosaurs (the Beattie Well Tanks, Adams Radials, Terriers). Absolutely incomparable!

 

Guess which way I voted!!!
But a close second is the LMS thanks to Sir William with his adherence to the aesthetic GWR appearance of his designs. if in some cases under powered.
For instance Halls v Black Fives or Castles v Jubilees.

 

So a Hall is underpowered compared to a Black 5. You're beginning to see the light at last.

 

Err sorry.Every one knows that a Hall is far superior when it come to sheer power.
However I must admit that the footplate of a Five is more spacious and it has doors. But what's the point of a ballroom without the orchestra?:behindsofa:

 

Who needs doors? - just there to trap fingers & feet of the unwary? - or is the ride so rough you need them just to keep you on the footplate!!!!!!!!!!

 

That's why 5972 has been known to creep up to Ribblehead/Ais Gill with 9 on, whereas 45407 can bark along at a good 35 with 11 in tow...

 

Marginally GWR but I can find something I like in all 4.
Pre-grouping would be Cambrian - spent some great summers working within sight of Barmouth Bridge, and discovered quite a few long (semi) forgotten tracks including ones like Solomon Andrew's tramway as part of the abortive Mawddach Crescent development.

 

35? My zimmer frame is quicker than that!