Some of the best posters arent necessarily hugely prolific posters, so may not get the attention that someone posting a hundred times a week does. Shame, as theres always something to learn from people like... (in alphabetical order to avoid bruising any egos!)
61653 HTAFC
90019
Ainsworth74
AM9
Anvil 1984
Bald Rick
Chief Planner
Clip
Class 377/5
Edwin m
Flamingo
Jimm
Joseph Locke
LDECRexile
Leki
LNGW Joint
Midnight Flyer
najaB
Pumbaa
Sprinterguy
SWT passenger
The Grand Wazoo
The Planner
Watcher Zero
Wolfie
Ive not always agreed with them, weve maybe crossed swords in the past (or theyve put me in my place on subjects where my knowledge was a little lacking), but they are people whose knowledge and opinions I log onto the Forum for (and mean I dont need to buy every magazine in Smiths each month to find out whats going on!).
In terms of best newcomer (which such awards sometimes have a category for) then Id recommend
Dale Cooper and
lejog.
I would nominate tbtc for making the longest posts with dozens of replies sometimes. Which are hard to quote and is usually highly negative
Interesting
Theres been dozens of posts on this thread, but only one person has taken the time to directly criticise another poster... does this say more about me or does this say more about you?
I have made 18
.036 postings on "The next station is" quiz...
Were any other poster to make such a claim then I know who'd be along to question them over the "point zero three six" post that they made...
the whole NW electrification lot for their tireless efforts to document the exact installation date of every piece of OHLE infrastructure north of Manchester. The two threads they have make for a brilliant read
Agreed. Thats an excellent example of where this Forum works really well. Lots of people chipping in with their time, contributing various amounts to make a mosaic of a large project. If there were to be a
Thread Of The Year category then Id nominate this shared effort to recognise the hard work and dedication of the main people involved in it.
Makes me wish we had such facilities fifty years ago, to record newly built fleets of diesel locomotives entering service/ the final days of closed branchlines etc whilst some people were there to record things, the lack of a central database to share these things meant individual efforts/ knowledge went unrecognised.
The collaboration on the Chat Moss thread, the willingness to share information/ pictures, the shared appreciation/ frustrations have been really interesting to read (as an outsider). Its the kind of thread you can read when you need to remember that enthusiasts are meant to be enthusiastic about things, showing the appreciation that people have for this strange hobby of ours, showing how much more can be achieved when people work together.
Compare and contrast to most threads about north west England, which are full of moaning/ north v south arguments, scornful comments and other petty grudges (e.g. the amount of scorn over the last couple of years about Northern Rail not providing a DMU to run on the Todmorden Chord, when Network Rail hadnt even finished building the line or finalising the signals...)...
...you get the impression that a significant number of enthusiasts have little actual
enthusiasm for the railway and are only interested in it because it gives them a chance to sound scornful and roll their eyes at so called experts/ bleat on about common sense and how good things were fifty years ago. In their eyes all modern trains are all rubbish, modern engineering is rubbish, those in charge dont know what they are doing... I wonder why so many people with such views bother logging on to an enthusiasts forum when they seem to dislike the railway so much?
Ideally wed have more threads like the Chat Moss one, where people stick to facts/ sharing information/ collaborating and fewer of the petty frothing about how hard done by everyones local line is (or Crayonista stuff, daft ideas for 442s, immature name calling about DafT / Vermin Vommiters/ Worst Group/ Nodding Donkeys) etc etc but I appreciate Im in a minority here!
Also tongue out of cheek entirely it's extremely refreshing to see a gentleman of your age so interested in continuing to expand your knowledge of various subjects, while also sharing a life time of experience. A most productive contributor. 
