I do

I like the Lehigh Valley "Black Diamond". If I ever get my "dream layout" started that's the passenger train I'd like to have. The LV will have trackage rights over the NY, V & N Rwy. Someday.

Bernd

Empire Builder

My dream train is Great Northern's post-1955 (around 1962 precisely) Empire Builder. To that end I have acquired a fairly lengthy GN passenger consist over the last few years. The only problem with having a passenger train that is 19 cars long is that I need a dream layout to operate it!

Size

At one time, I had planned to model the City of San Francisco, pulled by at least three UP E-units.  I had a decent start on the Rivarossi and American Model Builders smooth side cars, as well as the locomotives.  When I realized that each car was going to cost $50+ in parts (adding up to about $1K for the train, not counting engines) I put the project on hold.  I ended up swapping the train to a friend, where it currently sits under his layout, still unbuilt.  In the end, it was just going to be too much work to accurately model each car, and I didn't have the motivation.

As for space, that's why it'll have to be a shelf queen.  Even then, it'll be a long shelf!

Durango & Silverton

Fun to ride, fun to watch. I probably should be sending regular checks to Blackstone, but I have no room for a layout that would do it justice.

pqe

Amazon or Wizard

I have recently been contemplating a model of a Great Western 4-2-2, most likely the Amazon or the Wizard, since I like the names  HOb7 anyone?  S gauge scales out to almost 6 1/2 feet--perhaps good enough.  The only challenge would be getting the flanged 8 foot spoked wheels...with no mounts for piston rods.  Everything else looks very viable.  THAT is a locomotive that would catch some attention in HO!

Rio Grande Zephyr, between Salt Lake City and Denver

My Dream Train is the Rio Grande Zephyr. I loved to chase that train up to the East Portal Moffet tunnel. I moved to the Boulder Colorado area in 1981, Shortly after settling down there I went to a meeting about starting a model railroad club in Loveland,Co. It was at this meeting where I ment Brian B. Wasn't long before we started chasing trains and boy did they have em. We had UP running their steam program. Colorado Railroad Museum had   D&RGW No.346. Then there was the Georgetown Loop.

One day Brian said we should chase the Zephyr. To me the Zephyr was the most awesome passenger train I had ever seen.

Broad gauge - i like it

I like the way you think, IrishRover!  As for the wheels, I note that Alan Gibson makes some that might be suitable.  They have 28mm wheels for 4mm scale, but not without a crank pin.  The closest without a crank pin is 26.6mm, which scales out to 7'7"

Flordia East Coast Train 29/30 The Daylight Express

This train also was called various names but this is how I remember it in 1959-60. It was a true local all stops Miami to Jacksonville and operated over the "old mainline" that went from St. Augustine to East Palatka and returned to coast area at Bunnell. It went through towns like Spuds, Hastings, Armstrong, Orange Mills, Yelvington and Dinner Island. 

The train was usually one E unit usually an E6 or E7 with mail, baggage and express cars and one or two heavy weight coaches. 

This would be a fun train to model watched load/unload passengers, etc in my hometown of Lake Worth many times. Too bad I was too young to have a camera or appreciate the need for one.

Bill Michael

Gotta love the red and yellow of Florida East Coast

I'd do the SP oil cans climbing up and around Tehachapi loop

in Proto 48 with sound in all 12 SD45's .......DaveBranum

Dreams can be fantasies, too

Hmmm... I have a couple that I'd like to do - both freelanced.

First, a streamlined container train with articulated cars... backdated to the time period of the late 1950's or so, drawn by a Raymond Loewy - inspired Big Boy.  Just imagine that...

< ---< < <

... as a honking big 4-8-8-4, maxed out to Plate K!

Second... an all-American version of a Shinkansan, sleek, slick and fast, with double-deck articulated cars. Something faster than anything Amtrak has ever fielded, that could compete with aircraft on trips of less than 500 miles.

I'm working on the second one now, to be 3d printed. It's gonna take a while.... 

Still Dreaming Southern +

When my parents were in graduate school at the University of Tennessee they lived right next to a section of track where the Southern and L&N mainlines ran parallel through Knoxville. Some of my earliest memories were of headlights and Mars lights beaming into my bedroom. From the late 1940s through the 1950s I got to ride several Southern trains to and from Knoxvile and Memphis and Knoxville and D.C. including trains 45 /46 the Tennessean.

So I naturally gravitated to modeling the Tennessean and have created consists in both N and HO scale. The Motive power for the Tennessean included the double stripe EMD E6 & F3 AB and Alco 109/110 AB diesels and N&Ws Js (through Virgina) steamers and Southerns streamlined 1380 Pacific steamer (from Northern VA into D.C.) all of which I model. The Tennessean was envisioned as an all streamlined train-set but do to the lack of available Pullman streamlined sleepers shadow-line / silver painted heavyweight sleepers were substituted for various sections of the route.

HO Brass Model Train - OMI 6919.1 Southern Ponce De Leon DL-109/110 Diesel Set #6400

Number two on my list would be the excursion trains of the Little River Railroad. Lots of odd steam power and old wooden coaches running up into what is now portions of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

If pushed for a third, either the L&N Flamingo of Southland would be included.

Puzzeled--but thanks for the heads-up...

I'm not familiar with what 4 mm and 7 mm scale actually mean.  Never mind--found that info!  And as I drift towards possibly DOING this--and an article to go with it--I'd need to know how the flanges might work on HO or finescale S gauge track.  Hollywood Foundries produces wheels that will work for the tender and non-driven wheels, and  a mechanism.

I must be nuts with the uncommon sale/gauge combos--perhaps HOn30 wasn't quite rare enough?

4mm wheels

I can't say anything intelligent about the 7mm wheels, but the 4mm wheels should work without any problem.  After all, that's OO, made to run on HO track, and I'm pretty sure the Alan Gibson wheels are available with RP25 flanges.  You might even be able to get them mounted for use with S gauge (or even custom HO 7' gauge) axles.

North Coast Limited

My favorite train is the North Coast Limited. Growing up in Montana in the 50's, there were no interstate highways, air travel was for the wealthy, also not available in many areas of the state, so we rode the train. I had relatives working for both the Milwaukee Road and the Northern Pacific and we used both roads, but my preference was the NP. The trip was part of the vacation. Great amenities, fantastic food and friendly train crew.

A mail train

I would love to see a company like Walthers come out with a new dedicated mail car every month for two years. Yes! a 24-car mail train. They ran on all major RRs. To me, mail cars can be universally accepted on my New Haven line as well as someone's Santa Fe RR. There are several offerings out there, but not enough. Mail trains are among the most interesting and least modeled in our beloved hobby. Speaking of mail cars, we have enough lightweight cars, there is a void for quality Ready to Run heavyweight cars such as the ATSF 57-79 series RPO, Harriman Baggage cars, PRR horse cars, theatrical scenery cars, and 40 and 50 foot express boxcars from all walks. The Railway Express Agency book by Vic Roseman would be a good place to start.

My dream train -

I finished it last year  - The City of Miami (Cover July 2013 MRH).  Almost finished with a Panama Limited to go with it!

Now, I am working some freight to match the era.

Valley Flyer

The Valley Flyer was a Santa Fe passenger train run for two years (I think between 1936 & 1938).  It featured a semi streamlined Pacific type locomotive @ the size of a USRA light pacific, but the boiler and details are quite a bit different.  It pulled four heavy weight coaches, a baggage car (rpo car?) and I think a combination dining lounge car.  It was painted silver with the red, yellow, & black stripes that were the precursor to the famous "warbonnett" passenger scheme that first appeared on the "spot" units with the advent of the Super Chief in 1939.

San Francisco built Treasure Island to host the World's Fair or the Pan American exposition in the late 1930's and the train ran between Bakersfield and Oakland to take visitors from the California Central Valley to and from the fair.

When the fair closed, the train was discontinued, but the locomotives and car sets were then used on the San Diegan for a couple of years.  Finally the cars were repainted in green and used in general service on trains other than the Super Chief.  The locomotives were used in helper service on Cajon Pass and perhaps Tehachapi and were left in Valley Flyer colors for quite a few years after being replaced for passenger service.

With all of the locomotives that the Santa Fe donated to various municipalities when they dieselized,  I wish that they had saved one of the Valley Flyer locos and the "Blue Goose", but all three were scraped.

OK, mine is different

http://www.google.com/search?q=central+aguirre+images&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=8C9CUuLyL4nS9gTL04GADQ&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=998&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=atBMtQpvGtQ33M%3A%3Bp5_3ZGOqRGZ2NM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%252F3502%252F3720167595_3863030c89.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickriver.com%252Fplaces%252FPuerto%252BRico%252FSalinas%252FCentral%252BAguirre%252Fsearch%252F%3B500%3B317

The sugar cane trains of Puerto Rico

Cane Train

Would you settle for Cuban Cane trains? My next excursion might be to Cuba.

Post WWII PRR Broadway Limited.

I may not every finish it, and I've got no where to run it. But I think it's a very elegant train. Especially under the wires with a GG1 at the head end.

Variety

I'm glad to read that there is a good variety when it comes to what we fantasize about.  Passenger trains seem to dominate so far (Because they're hard to justify modeling?  Because they're more typically thought of in terms of trains instead of individual pieces?  Because they stand out more than the low-key freight trains?), but I'd love to see any or all of them modeled.  Those cane trains have always intrigued me, but then again, I've always have a taste for the odd and obscure. 

I have mine already!

The Canadian, circa 1976:

It really is neat to see everyone else's though, and maybe at some point some of those become my dream train.  I've always liked the Empire Builder, too, but also a steam era wood passenger car train would be something else I'd like.

Passenger trains more distinctive.

"I'm glad to read that there is a good variety when it comes to what we fantasize about.  Passenger trains seem to dominate so far (Because they're hard to justify modeling?  Because they're more typically thought of in terms of trains instead of individual pieces?  Because they stand out more than the low-key freight trains?), but I'd love to see any or all of them modeled.  Those cane trains have always intrigued me, but then again, I've always have a taste for the odd and obscure."

Think the reason for the passenger trains being favorites is that the passenger trains typically had ceretain dedicated equipment for each train.  Probably the only other trains that I can think of that would be as individual would be mail trains.  I would like to model Santa Fe #11 & #12.  If I remember correctly #11 would be the mail train East bound La to Chicago and #12 West bound.  Sometime during the 1950's Santa Fe took a bunch of obsolete heavy weight passenger cars and cut off the superstructure making them flat cars.  Then they built a bunch of  containers and each car would carry 4 containers.  I think the containers were loaded for specific mail distribution centers and all of the containers on each car were for the same destination.  That way, as the train traveled East (or West), the car with mail for Kansas City would be dropped at Kansas City, those for St. Louis at St Louis, etc.  They still had an RPO car on the train for sorting and distributing mail picked up and dropped along the way.  

The problem with modeling freight trains is that most have a different consist of freight cars every trip.  The exceptions that I can think of would be dedicated unit trains like the S.P. "oil can" tank train running between the oil fields around Bakersfield, Ca and the refineries in the Long Beach/Los Angeles harbor areas.  We do have some modelers in the modular club that I belong to running ice bunker reefer blocks usually in PFE behind U.P. power at club set ups, but to most people most freight trains are very generic.

Dream Trains/ Many are available

Many of the Dream trains listed have become available in the last few years.  I managed to get the Walthers City train and most of the Santa Fe Stainless train along with the BLI Zephyr and Daylight by MTH.  Yes, they do cost money!!  AF