Category:US and European Locomotive Outlines (display)

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14 - US and European Locomotive Outlines (display) Arch Two
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Models based on US and European locomotive and train outlines.

Some of these trains were made by US manufacturers such as Lionel, others were made by European manufacturers for the US market, either by modelling US trains directly, or by selecting or adapting existing European locomotive shapes to meet the perceived preferences of US buyers for larger, heavier trains with a lot of protruding external rails, pipework, and other attachments (things that would be referred to in the UK as "bells and whistles").

Design differences

"Traditional" US steam locomotives had tended to differ from the European designs in the use of "bolt-on" external features such as cowcatchers, whistles, tall spark-catching smokestacks and large external headlights, whereas in the UK and Europe, the need to run on existing lines though tightly-packed urban areas and in "legacy" tunnels had produced a design aesthetic that put more value on integrated features and smoother more compact lines. The results of early German experiments with streamlined high-speed steam locomotives were eagerly taken up by some of the British engine-builders, but most of the seriously-streamlined UK locomotives later had their streamlined cladding removed to make access easier for servicing.

In the US, the classic modern steam locomotive was the big, clunky, powerful-looking Hudson.

The US streamliners

When US train designers embraced streamlining they were no longer looking at steam, and the buzz of excitement that came with the appearance of streamlined (steam) trains in the UK, was in the US associated with internal-combustion locomotives. Early US locomotive streamlining was associated with bodywork that was sometimes bare silver aluminium or stainless steel, and the classic American streamlined trains were post-steam, with rolling-stock designed to match the locomotives. In the UK, railways had already flirted with streamlining, and to locomotive enthusiasts, the appearance of diesel locomotives wasn't associated with any especially exciting developments. Although UK diesels had a decent design aesthetic, their polite lines never really caught the public's imagination in the same way as the brasher silver Pioneer Zephyr or the red and silver Santa Fe Super Chief, which screamed modernity and new technology.