So I have been torn between the likes and dislikes I have of all the disney railroad (Hong Kong's almost an entire whole), so my question is.. what are some things you like about a specific Disney Railroad and some things you dislike, and then how it compares to the other parks and their iron horses (or gas guzzlers like in HKDL!)...

Of the three resorts I've been to, I didn't get the chance to go on the rails in Disneyland Paris but I have in Disneyland USA and Tokyo Disneyland (and I suppose in Tokyo Disneysea if you count the electric tram). Mine is more of a cultural perspective than a technical one, which is about par for the course with me. I'm more interested in the steam era than the steam engine per se. Anyways...

The DLRR has the insurmountable advantage, as does the whole park, of being the original... the park Walt built, the rails he rode. You can't beat that kind of historical cachet. I also have a sentimental attachment to the dioramas: somehow, on my first trip to Disneyland in 2005, knowledge of Primeval World totally escaped me. I love dinosaurs just about as much as I love steam age transportation and Jules Verne, so to get the surprise of seeing them from a steam train blew my mind. It only improved when I got to do the Grand Circle Tour aboard the Lilly Belle. Furthermore, the Grand Canyon Diorama provoked me to take an actual trip aboard the Grand Canyon Railway (and the return from that trip had a long enough layover in LA to visit Walt's Barn, kind of bringing things full circle).

The Western River Railroad was alright... it's hard to go wrong with steam trains and dinosaurs... but it had that problem of A) being a copy of the DLRR (a problem shared by the whole park relative to Disneyland USA to some extent) and B) only having the one station, making it a ride-ride rather than a form of legitimate transportation. Thematically, it starting in Adventureland creates an incongruity that works against it as well.

-Main Street and the engines have a more Victorian era styling. I guess DLRR does too, but it all just seems a bit more lavish here...
-The engines are bigger, and are mostly main line designs, so the railroad has a more mature look and feel
-Main Street is accessible!
-Frontierland's depot is nicely western styled and wooden! Definitely an improvement over the last one!
-Nice new Fantasyland station, and it is near Tomorrowland, so no need for a stop there!

cons:
-Main Street seems relatively sparse, they have a train bulletin and some nice WDWRR stuff on the walls below the station, but I think those would look better in the station itself.
-Only one 4-4-0 engine! This engine, they seemed to go for a Baldwin 8-18c styling, making the 1916 or so built engine look a little odd...

WDW has the largest engines, and, as far as I know, the only mogul and ten wheelers. I like their engines, with a few reservations. I'd prefer:

- the cowcatchers be longer,
- the whistles be mounted atop the steam domes,
- the feedwater plumbing be re-done as more historically conventional.

There's more, but the listed items would go a long way to improve the looks of the engines.

Somehow only part of my post is up... Here's the whole thing:

Disneyland Railroad:

pros:
-The two 4-4-0's are very nice, my favorite engines!
-Really like how the Santa Fe sponsored the railroad! They made it seem like it was part of the Santa Fe railway, and the steam engines once belonged to the ATSF!
-Main Street has the Lily Belle replica on display, not to mention that nice map and other little displays!

cons:
-Main Street station is still not accessible! Come on, Disney!
-The other three engines, though just as nice, are more of switching or industrial sort of engines, which make the railroad seem less like a major road...
-Frontierland station is just a sheltered platform, and is not even in Frontierland! They could've done better there...
-Tomorrowland station. I guess it is convenient, but it just seems out of place

Walt Disney World Railroad:

pros:
-Main Street and the engines have a more Victorian era styling. I guess DLRR does too, but it all just seems a bit more lavish here...
-The engines are bigger, and are mostly main line designs, so the railroad has a more mature look and feel
-Main Street is accessible!
-Frontierland's depot is nicely western styled and wooden! Definitely an improvement over the last one!
-Nice new Fantasyland station, and it is near Tomorrowland, so no need for a stop there!

cons:
-Main Street seems relatively sparse, they have a train bulletin and some nice WDWRR stuff on the walls below the station, but I think those would look better in the station itself.
-Only one 4-4-0 engine! This engine, they seemed to go for a Baldwin 8-18c styling, making the 1916 or so built engine look a little odd...

Although Disney may have originally acquired them in that sort of configuration, the Gurley and Kimball are local passenger service engines. Either of them could have been used in suburban service, or on an el or (cough, choke) subway.

The Marsh paint distinguishes it from similar engines which might have been used in industrial service. These small engines were also used for light-duty service by common carriers.

Hmmmmm, I guess you know better than Walt what his railroad should look like.

There was a reason no one ever posted on this topic for months.

By the by, if anyone is interested in the Western River Railway, you tube has 3 full circle tours from start to finish. The engine look just like Marsh, but with different names and colors. The cars are all excursion style. It is odd seeing the train load above the Jungle Cruise. I like how they did a cut out in the walls of Big Thunder so you can watch the cars scream by. It is actually not a bad ride.

Exactly, local passenger service or otherwise light duty services, rather than the heavier, long distant sort of engines the WDW engines represent.

Walt Disney world railroad con......no cab rides!