any of you know of any photo's of Escanaba & Lake Superior rolling stock [boxcars]. the E&LS web sites only show loco's. i realize it is an ore carrier mostly. thanks, mike.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Actually, the ELS moves little to no ore, and never has.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/search.pl?display=short&marks=ELS
These are some other cars painted and lettered with return information identifying them as assigned to paper service on the ELS:
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=kwt4525&o=kwt
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=msdr195147&o=msdr
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=msdr195285&o=msdr
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
They are not a ore hauler. The owner is a rail fan of sorts. He has the last 2 ex D&H Baldwin sharks, a Milwaukee skytop observation, a Milwaukee full dome, a Shay, a set of Soo 1906 passenger cars and at least 6 Baldwin road switchers. Also several SD 9s and 5 F units. Main power are GP 38s and SD 40-2s.
Jim
I know this is somewhat off topic. Sorry. But I was wondering about the condition of those two ex-NYC RF-16 Sharks, or any future plans for their long-term preservation. Just curious. My two Bachmann NYC lightning stripe RF-16's are numbered for those two engines. I chopped off the "back porches" to make them couple at a prototypical distance.
Tom
They have been stored inside a secure building since at least the late 80s. Prior to that the 1216 was operated in freight service on the E&LS.
The 1205 had a lower engine failure prior to arriving on the ELS. It was sent to to a rebuilder in MN by its then owner, Castolite but for whatever reason, the repairs were not completed. I seem to remember the MN rebuilder had financial issues. The unit then returned to the ELS and could be seen at the round house.
Both units were then purchased from Castolite and after the infamous break in where Baldwin builder plates, service manuals and other rare items were stolen, the owner of E&LS changed from a wide open door policy toward rail fans to off limits.
The Sharks were moved to a more secure E&LS facility and were briefly shown in the Trains magazine video titled first generation diesels in the mid 80s. Finally they were moved indoors and have been there since.
Cosmetically they could be easily restored. Power wise, as the E&LS has one of the largest stock piles of Baldwins anywhere, they certainly have the means to rebuild them but I believe the owners primary focus is on the day to day running of the rail road. Compared to the Mexican PA which was restored, this would be a cake walk as they are complete units and not hulks.
That's really good to hear. Thanks for brightening my day.
Hi ratdogsoo, I am from Escanaba and I will be going up there to visit in a couple of weeks. If you would like I can take a bunch of pics of the freight cars. I know where a bunch of them are. Hoppers, ore cars, box cars etc. Message me and I can send them to your email or text them to you, take care.
I am from Escanaba and will be going up there in a week and a half. I can get pics of some rolling stock for you if you would like. I know where they have all sorts of trains and locomotives.
Bayfield Transfer Railway Actually, the ELS moves little to no ore, and never has.
Actually they did once upon a time.
For a brief shining moment from when they took over MILW's line until the plant closed in 1981 they served Hanna's Groveland iron ore mine near Felch. They handed the pellets off to CNW near Iron Mountain. CNW took them to Escanaba.