Hey Railfans.
I am looking for information on the Eastern Alabama Railway. It is a shortline the operates from Sylacauga Alabama to Talledega, Alabama. It is owned by Genesee and Wyoming and interchanges with NS (south end) and CSX (north end). I found a website for the line and know it has been around a long time. I am interested in finding out more about their locomotive rosters. In particular, I am interest in the late 70s/early 80s era.
Thanks for any help you offer. BTW, I am modeling in n scale and if you can point me toward appropriate locos/rolling stock, that would be helpful as well.
From American Short Line Railway Guide (4th edition) by Edward A. Lewis:
"The Wellington-Anniston line was built by the Anniston & Cincinnati Railroad, incorporated January 31, 1887. The Sylancauga-Talledega line was built by the narrow-gauge Anniston & Atlantic Railroad, established on May 24, 1883. Both railroads came under control of the Louisville & Nashville and on July 19, 1889 became part of L&N's Alabama Mineral Railroad. The lines were sold on November 26, 1990, to the Eastern Alabama Railway, a division of the Natchez Trace Railroad, which is a subsidiary of Kyle Railways."
That book (1991) lists the line as using four GP7s: #1510,EMD sn14573, blt 9/51; #1511 EMD sn17979, blt 4/53; #1550 GMD sn A417, blt 8/53; and #1551 GMD sn A414, blt. 5/53.
Richard Prince's Louisville & Nashville Steam Locomotives (1968) centers on main line routes and gives only limited mention of this line (page 21): "... The Alabama Mineral RR rebuilt this road to standard and operated three locomotives when acquired by the L&N. These engines were renumbered to L&N's 400 series." It appears that these were 4-4-0s.
Operations in the '70s and '80s would thus be with L&N power, as it wasn't spun off as a short line until late 1990. GP7s would clearly be the way to go. No photo of these locomotives is provided in Lewis' Shortline book.
Bill
I'm hoping that you have discovered the photographic roster at RR Picture Archives:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=EARY
Bill, thank you so much for the information you provided. That is a big help. I am new to researching prototype information. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Doug
I model in HO and don't follow N that close, but I believe that there are some quality GP7/9 models in N scale. I don't know if any are offered with the chopped nose seen on at least one of these locomotives. That Eastern Alabama paint scheme will be difficult to copy in HO or N and won't be something that would have been offered painted by the manufacturor. Good luck.
Of course, L&N did operate some nice 4-axle Alco locomotives for many years, so there is a nice excuse to run some of them.