Our brains are wired to see faces in everything, including trains! While many locomotives and MUs are a joy to behold, many, though of course functional, have the archetypal "face that only a mother could love". We instinctively feel a train looks "happy" or "sad", "weird" or just plain ugly! Here's my personal nominees for the most egregious offenders. Look forward to seeing your suggestions too. CATEGORY 1 - DIESEL HYDRAULIC There's something about the sad looking face of the Class 42 "Warships" that don't quite do it for me: CATEGORY 2: DIESEL ELECTRIC No question about it: the Class 20: CATEGORY 3: HSTs The HST prototype...what were they thinking CATEGORY 4: ELECTRIC LOCOS No contest: sorry, 76
CATEGORY 5: DMU Some of these look like carriages that someone has just carved windows out of. The Class 126 just edges it over the Class 128:
CAT 6: EMUs This sadly has rich and varied competition. Here are some of the worst offenders Over to you
Over across the pond we have some of our own. Passenger Diesels: No doubt the new Siemens Charger SC-44: Also the F125: In my personal opinion, I do like the look of these more than the Charger. Freight Diesels: In history we did have some oddballs, though most have conformed to a pretty elegant widecab form. BQ23-7: Built in the mid 70s as a way to conform to crew sizes after the removal of cabooses. In the end it was deemed useless as the crew size changed instead to simply a conductor and engineer. BL2: Ugly little thing... nuff said. GP15D: Weird switcher (shunter).
I always thought that looked rather continental: a very different design from typical here. Don’t think it lasted very long though, or the 07s.
Just came across this stronger contender: The 126 on the left almost looks like it’s a coach wearing a mask, pretending to be a MU!
I read that the not in-house BR, design company who were designing the HST coach interiors suggested they redesign the of the front end of the HST. Thankfully BR adopted it. I like the idiosyncratic variety of so called ugly trains. Let's face it, nostalgia is part of the appeal of TS. They might have been aesthetically challenged but were a welcome sight on a cold platform in February.. My vote for the ugliest train is the Class 175.
Not a big fan of the Southern 455/8s with the metal plating replacing the gangway. Looks like surgery that has gone wrong. Feel it's a very harsh some of the ones picked but I do agree with some of the those first gen DMU choices and the warships.
As much as I enjoy driving it, I can't be the only person who thinks the class 68 looks like it's been punched in the nose, surely?
I’d never heard of this one till today, thought it was another type of diesel hydraulic, a baby ‘Baby Warship’ (Class 42), but it’s a Class 28 ‘Loaf’ - Metro-Vick Type 2 - a rare Co-Bo arrangement.
The 28 was available on TS, made by IronHorseHouse who made the classes 27, 33 and others that are still available. DTG now hold the IHH library. Myself and others badger DTG to update and re release some of that library but to no avail. Personally I like the 28 because of its idiosyncrasies.
If you compare it to the V 200, which isn't particularly nice to start with, it feels like some kid tried to draw one, and this is what happened. At least that's my first thought At least I hope the visibility is good. ... and so, what about everyone's favorite literal railcar, the Aerotrain? Okay, it's not excessively ugly, but total weird. If somebody would release a pink physical HO version, I would have to buy it simply to capture expressions when I proudly present them my newest family member.
It wasn't ugly by any means, but was a horrible design, they rode rough and were very uncomfortable. They also had issues tackling grades as well, as this photo from Cajon Pass shows....
Trev - that's just an experimental maglev one though isn't it? (Still ugly though IMHO) The line's not yet complete. However, some of the newer Shinkansens have that ugly snout.
Can't hold a candle to the JR500 however, but we are now digressing from ugly trains. The JR500 is a thing of beauty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Series_Shinkansen
All these high speed multiple units look the same. About as much character as a fridge, or a washing machine.
Yes, it is. I saw a program on TV about them and the Japanese were experimenting with them something to do with the air pressure when going into a tunnel at high speeds.
From my understanding the traditional design of older Shinkansens cause noise disturbances entering and exiting tunnels, the newer nose designs are supposed to reduce this effect.
I was getting a bit confused here (it doesn't take much) because I had nominated the Q1 and Class 70 and mentioned the link between bullet trains and kingfishers but it seems there's two ugly train discussions.
Function over form - it's ugly but efficient for its purpose. a bit like the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the F-35, but that's for a completely different forum
I was reminded of this thread after I came across another photo of what must surely be the most haphazardly ‘designed’ and least aesthetically pleasing cab end ever made. Take a bow, class 126:
This just appeared on my YouTube app. Looks like a telepod mishap akin to that in The Fly - a loco and a carriage had their DNA mixed during teleportation! https://youtube.com/shorts/eB5HcSpeXXU
I'm with you there. More used to them now but I remember actually recoiling the first time I saw a picture of one. It reminds me of what pilots used to say about the Shackleton- a good old 'bus but ugly as a box of frogs.
The 126 looks poor when you see them after the end corridor was removed but they were not always like that The front is not much different to a 4 Cep/Vep/Cig etc
Honestly, I can’t characterise that as much of an improvement, Peter! Looks like it’s been hit in the face with an iron!
I guess it has a certain symmetry and proportion. Disclaimer: any ‘ugly list’ is naturally entirely subjective and not to be taken seriously!
You want Ugly trains? You should see some of the things we have in Australia. Mostly locos though as I think our EMUs are pretty good - but they vary from state to state. Victorian Railways M Class Diesel-Hydraulic shunter 0-6-0 - Not sure if it still exists - ran on Irish 5'3" gauge. Pacific National 88 Class (CSR Qishuyan SDA2) - Usually hauls sugar in the north of Queensland on 3'6" cape gauge tracks Pacific National PB Class (NRE 2GS16B-AU) - Port Kembla Steelworks Shunter - Standard gauge. UGL Rail/Pacific National PH Class (UGL PH37ACmai) - The Aussie version of a class 70. The locos are in services but can't find any decent pics, so here's one in works condition. As you can see, it's not easy on the eye, so someone came up with the brilliant idea to photoshop an extra letter onto the end of the company logo. Note those are works bogies, it's a 6 axle loco running on cape gague track. And the last and probably the ugliest of them all, is this thing - a GT46CU-ACE Gen 3! Used for hauling coal on the new Adani Coal mine in Central Queensland.
I am reliably informed that this is a KiHa 261-1000 DMU on a Hokuto service: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/KiHa_261_series