Hello everyone!
Ive recently been working on my model railroad and I feel I have choosen the best Era for it to be set in. I was origionaly going to go with a more modern era, but after my grandfather passed away I decided to go with the 60's to late 70's since his favorite railroad was Erie Lackawanna. I grew up watching his trains and now his collection has been passed down to me. I want create a semi-realistic layout for his trains to run but my knowledge of the 60's/Late 70's is pretty vauge so any usefull information would be greatly appreciated.
A few questions off the top of my head.1. Did railroads share each others loco power?2. Did reefers still use ice or did they switch to mechanical?3. What kind of locomotives (F3's, GP7, etc) could be seen running during the 60's/late 70's?
Thanks and have a wonderful day.
Fortunately for you, the E-L has been very nicely treated by the Morning Sun color book folks: http://morningsunbooks.com/collections/erie-lackawanna
Those books should address what locos ran in what eras on the E-L. I believe there is also an historical society for the Erie Lackawanna and those are great resources for accurate information.
I can't speak much to the E-L specifically but I'd say in general there was less run-through power and power sharing back in the 1960s. When I watched trains back then it was always home-road power (except for locomotives from acquired railroads that remained in original paint schemes for a while -- so for example I do not know when the last genuine Erie or genuine Lackawanna locos were repainted)
There were still ice bunker reefers in the 1960s but clearly they were on the way out. Because such reefers need dedicated icing stops and facilities, they seemed to congregate where there could be a critical mass of cars needing icing rather than an isolated ice bunker reefer here or there. You may need to research actual reefer traffic patterns on the E-L (again where historical societies have published articles on just that sort of topic).
Dave Nelson
http://dlwrrhs.org/
http://www.erielackhs.org/
Both of those organizations are very helpful.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Hi, and...
One of my first "real" passenger train rides was on the Erie-Lackawanna from Cleveland to Hoboken back in 1965. I have been a fan of E-L ever since.
I always thought of the E-L as one of the "I could'a been a contender" railroads. Not as big as the PRR or New York Central or B&O but every bit as capable and certainly a worthy railroad to model.
The manufacturers have tended to shun E-L to some extent. I'd sure like to see Walthers do the Phoebe Snow as their next passenger train!
Here's a video of films that I shot in the 1970s of the Cleveland to Youngstown commuter train.
This train lasted right into the ConRail era (just barely).
Beside the book Mr. Nelson suggested, I have enjoyed the Green Frog video of E-L and it shows a variety of the equipment running through the era you plan to model.
http://www.greenfrog.com/ErieLack_dvd.shtml
Have Fun, Ed
In the late 1960's and early 1970's, I remember that 6-axle engines dominated the through freights, although F7's, RS3's, GP35's, U-25B's, and Alco C-424/425 units were often seen. E8's and PA's were used on freight trains after the elimination of passenger service. There were a few big 6-motor U-boats, but the through mainline trains were mostly in the hands of SD45's, SDP45's, and SD45-2's. I'm pretty sure I recall some MILW units on run-throughs in Akron, and I think I recall seeing red Rock Island U-boats, but they weren't too common. Other visiting units might have appeared too. It was rare for a mainline train to have fewer than three units. This may have been insurance against breakdowns.
Switchers that I saw in Northern Ohio were mostly Alcos, although I understand E-L kept running EMD, Baldwin, and possibly other makes for a while.
Tom
Thanks Dave,
Ill be sure to check out those books. I did check out some videos on YouTube and you seem to be right about the lack of power sharing. I recently bought a Alco C-430 in NYC paint (First loco with sound ) so I guess Ill have to find it some friends to run with haha. Ive finished most of the track work but maybe I can fit in a small icing facility somewhere.
Have a fantastic day.
1. Did railroads share each others loco power?
There were 'run through' pools in the late 60's. E-L had a pool arrangement with the CB&Q that pooled GP35 and SD45 locomotives...
2. Did reefers still use ice or did they switch to mechanical?
Ice bunker reefers were still around untl the mid 70's for sure, but once a railroad got enough mechanical reefers, the older ice car left rather fast. No one wanted to maintain both types, unless there was some inter-line arrangement that forced the use of ice cooled cars.
3. What kind of locomotives (F3's, GP7, etc) could be seen running during the 60's/late 70's?
I was stationed on NJ in 1970, and E-L had lots of 1st generation locomotives in service.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Thanks everyone,
Im new to this site and I really appreciate the help. I've really come to like this era of railroading, though I personally didnt live through it. It just seems to have much more diversity in engine power than todays railroads and the amount of railroads makes for interesting scenes. Also can't forget about the Caboose! :D
Im going to Akron for school and it sure has changed over the years. I wish it looked more like it did back then Akron RR ClubAkron 1971
Here are some photos of my Layout. The frieght yard has been completley filled with freight cars that did not have boxes.Trains on my Layout
Have a Wonderful day!
If the Akron area interests you, you probably ought to know that B&O, Erie and ACY used Alco switchers, and PRR and A&BB used Baldwins in that area. AC&Y was still using FM's on road freights in the early 1970's. It was a pretty colorful time. There are videos that show activities in the area, available from Revelation Audio Visual (contact them through members of the Akron RR Club). Your PRR K4s is a bit out of era, but the PRR did use K4s on their Cleveland-Columbus overnight passenger train as late as about 1951. Your NKP 2-8-4 is a good match for the Berks that NKP ran through Mogadore on Canton-Cleveland freights as late as 1957 or 1958.
Good luck to you.
I enjoy browsing the thousands of photographs at the Yahoo Flicker site.
Once you get the hang of navigating the site you can find a wealth of photos here, many from top-notch photographers.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1309538@N25/pool/
https://www.flickr.com/groups/605752@N25/
Take a look...
Ed
A couple more links that will help-
First is George Ellwood's fantastic site- http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/el.html
If you go to the "Locomotive Information" page it lists every diesel the EL ran, you can click on each type and bring up a page of pics and at the bottom of each page is a list of the final dispoosition of each, it can tell you when they were traded or scrapped and when it happened.
And the other is the Railfan.net EL page- http://el.railfan.net/
Lots of good links here too!
Good Luck!
Al