EMD E7 : Are there any today?.

[AntonioFP45]

Recently was in a friendly debate with fellow modelers and railfans.

Debate Topic:
According to what I've read in the past, ALL E7s have (unfortunately) been scrapped except for the one Pennyslvania unit that's preserved in a museum. There was disagreement on this one. I went to Railfan.net and did a search on EMD E units and checked the dates on the photos. MANY E8 and E9 photos are dated after the year 2000.
I could find NO E7s!
[%-)]
For those not familiar, the E7 had a bulldog nose and square windows along the carbody. The E8 and E9 models had portholes along the carbody.

Do any of you know if there are any E7s still in existence in any type of condition? Would be wonderful if there were! These engines were very popular!

[Anonymous]

I visited a museum railroad about 8 yrs ago that had an operating and very well
maintained E6 in Rock Island "Rocket" colors (#630 I believe - same number it carried in Rock Island service - I have a B&W photo of it in revenue service and
photos I took of it at the museum). The museum is/was located in a suburb of
Kansas City and I wish I could remember the name.

[Anonymous]

The Rock E-6 #630 is on the Midland RR just west of K.C. in Baldwin, KS. They also roster E-8 #652, IIRC, the Rock's Bi-Centennial unit.

[UPTRAIN]

Yes, I remember the RI unit i think it still exist in Kansas or something.

[espeefoamer]

There is one E7 preserved in a museum in Pennsylvania.There used to be an E7 in a museum in Indianapolis but it was scrapped quite a few years ago.[:(!][:(]

[AntonioFP45]

Does anyone know excactly where the museum is that has the E7?

[UPTRAIN]

Why would a MUSEUM SCRAP A HISTORIC LOCOMOTIVE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[locomutt]

There is E-6 at the Ky Railway Museum.
Unfortunately it is not running,display only[:(]
It is in L & N paint in reasonably good condition,
at least it was when I last saw it a few years ago.

And according to the web, No.152 Is down for maint.
and the rest of seasons schedule is to be diesel
powered[sigh]

If anybody wants the address,it is www.kyrail.org

[UPTRAIN]

The 152 is the only steamer that operates in KY right?

[UPTRAIN]

The 152 is the only steamer that operates in KY right? Is the museum in Chattanooga or Louisville or something?

[Anonymous]

Antonio-

The E-7 is at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg, near the Starsburg RR.

UPTRAIN--

Check out locomutts link. It describes the location of the 152's line, it is owned by the Kentucky RR Museum.

[daveklepper]

Note also that the E-7 had side very plain ventilation grilles, usually painted the carbody color, but the E-8 and E-9 had stainless grilles.

[AntonioFP45]

Rebel,

Thanks for the good news. Does anyone know if this is the only E7 left in existence?

[cherokee woman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

The 152 is the only steamer that operates in KY right? Is the museum in Chattanooga or Louisville or something?

The museum is in New Haven, KY. It used to be here in Louisville, but they moved it
several years ago[:(][:(!] Check the museum website for instructions on how to get there. It's about 25-30 miles south of Louisville.

I'm not sure if 152 is the only steam that's been operating at the museum; and right
now, it's down for maintenance.

As far as any more steam engines in KY., I did know that Southern 4501 WAS at Stearns, KY (I think K&T).

If anybody else has any further info, PLEASE let me know.



locomutt (on cherokee woman's screen)

[Anonymous]

The 4501 was purchased from salvage in Stearn's, KY by Paul Merriman in the late 60's. He rebuilt it and moved it to TN under its own power and donated it to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (tvrail.com) in Chatanooga where it went into excursion service. It's a wonderful story about a man's conviction to keep steam alive. Find the book "Locomotive 4501" by David Morgan in 1968. Great reading and lots of pictures. I picked a few copies up at abebooks.com

Currently the 4501 is under shed in need of a new boiler. Quite pricey. Apparently trackage rights have been limited and there would only be two excursions a year that the 4501 would even be fired up. Not a lot of opportunity to recover the expense.

The last time the 4501 was under steam was for the filming of the movie October Sky in 1999. It was painted in the black livery for the movie.

[eolafan]

The earlier mention of Rock Island E units 630 and 652 brought back memories of my first time living in Chicago metro back in the 1970's when I used to regularly visit the area near their Blue Island, IL yards. I vividly remember seeing a big dead line which included, you guessed it, both units 630 and 652. I also remember that 630 had a "gold" eagle "statue" mounted right on the lower headlight casing (the one in the nose door)...wonder if it is still there or was stolden, etc. The 652 at that time was in the "Route Rock" bicentenial scheme of light blue with a very large white star (strange colors for a Bicentenial unit I thought). I also remember seeing a promotional train which included three Route Rock GP-7/9 units and about twenty Route Rock matching box cars and a Route Rock caboose (WOW did that thing look great!) Oh, the memories, now the roundhouse is long gone, the yard is weed choked, and all you see is some regional line stuff and Metra. Jim in Aurora, IL

[UPTRAIN]

I've seen October Sky..is that when they take the rail up and the 4501 somes around the curve and trhey are trying to flag it down to stop and it goes the opposite way when it hits the switch and the old engineer waves?

[kenneo]

I don't know what the engine was, but O. Winston Link did a cameo as the engineer. That's him waving at the boys.

No more. RIP [:(]

[UPTRAIN]

THAT WAS LINK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[rrbrewer]

Check out the museum's page for the E-7, it says that it is the last. Lots of details

http://rrmuseumpa.org/about/roster/e7.htm

rrbrewer

[kenneo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

THAT WAS LINK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

That ancient looking person sitting in the cab on the engineers seatbox. Yup.

[M636C]

While not directly relevant, I saw a "Rocket" go through Blue Island behind two E-7A and one E-7B (all in plain RI red) back in 1977. They were the loudest passenger units I'd ever heard, and the train came through at at least 60 MPH, despite the fact that commuters were all over the tracks from a recent arrival on another track.

Fortunately nobody was killed, but the scene has stuck in my memory.

Peter