One North American railroad that I considered a favorite, was the Northern Pacific Railroad.

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Aside from the fact that the Northern Pacific was a late user of steam locomotives in to the mid to late 1950's, and had actually preserved several of them, the NP also had this very stylish and yet utilitarian color scheme on their diesel locomotives. The main color wich looks like it could be black, was actually a very dark and murky shade of green. Combined with the gold ends, frame and markings, these diesel locomotives were indeed a class act.

On March 2nd 1970, the Northern Pacific along with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, The Spokane, Portland & Seatle, and the Great Northern...had merged and became the Burlington Northern Railroad. For the first few years of the BN's existance, former Northern Pacific diesels and equipment could be found at the BN Clyde Yard in west suburban Cicero Illinois, or on the 3 track former C,B & Q mainline passing through Chicago's western suburbs like the towns of Brookfield and La Grange Illinois.