Great thread guys. I'm surprised, but not, on how many of the ATSF fans are in here, and I'll confess I'm the same way. E-L's my favorite eastern road, and I went to school in Jamestown, NY 1974-1977 and got to see the before, during and after of the Conrail absorbtion. NY99 and NY100 were incredible watching them roar by at 65mph + during that time; and the last EL shot I took was the night before Conrail day of NY99. I then later moved to Jamestown in 1983, lived within 1000' of Waterboro Jct (WO) on the main. I had the WONDERFUL priviledge of riding on the Phoebe Snow between Corry PA and Dearborn in 1966 I think; my very first time overnight in a Pullman (age 8), and transferred over to the ATSF Grand Canyon the next day. So ATSF gets all the glory on my layout but EL got me there. I've got several EL cars on the ATSF layout and a couple renegade Kato SD45's in the display case.....have to admit that too. During 1974-76 I spent all the time I could in Meadville, Jamestown, Salamanca, Olean, etc.... Yeah, I'm more than a closet E-L fan. Scott, you've got the look right. But what I loved about E-L was the combination of no money and fast service, which is why you regear E-units for freight and put F7B's behind SD45's. You NEVER saw superelevation like EL had on the Niobe-Bear Lake-Columbus line curves. My company had the priviledge of doing the historic restoration engineering on the Jamestown, NY Main St. railroad overpass, and put that "ERIE RAILROAD NEW YORK CHICAGO" in concrete, right back to the historic photos where it belongs, just like new. If you're in Jamestown you want to see it.
Guys, I did make it by Kenvil Hobbies a couple of weeks back and got to see Scott's SD45, F, and caboose in person. I must say that I was floored by them. They look GREAT. The open hood door on the SD45 and open front door on the F really add to the realistic look. The weathering is very well done. Great work Scott!!!!! Hope you can get some pics of the SD45 to post here so everyone can see what I saw.
Good for you Rich.I'm still waiting to see them.I can't wait to see the SD-45.I was hoping to see it yesterday,but he had to work.:tb-hissyfit:
Finally got to take a few pictures of the SD45. I was over at Rich's today and got to talking about it with Rich at Kenvil Hobbies. Reminded me I needed to take the pictures. Here we go. I bashed the horn from some at last horns, built the mount and mounted in that god awful location (from an engineers standpoint anyway), Completely detailed the pilots with grabs, MU hoses, brake pipe, coupler lift bar and Z-scale coupler, shaved all the molded on grabs and add the BLMA ones, added windshield wipers, opened the cab windows and added the cab arm rests, added sinclair antenna, opened some of the long hood doors and added BLMA hood doors, added number boards and weathered the engine. The engine is molded after the early 70's EL look which is pretty gritty. Scott
Dude! Check out the EL SD90MAC at the diesel house! Cool! I'd believe it. I wasted a load of electrons in photographing my F45 project, before I had the right photo with decent light. I realized I needed to leave the shutter open longer. (after the majority of the build was documented with cruddy, poorly lit pics) Beautiful job on the Flare 45, Scott! I grew up just west of Youngstown, OH, so that may have been EL country at one time. My grandfather worked for PRR/PC/CR for 27 years before he retired on disability. I have a soft spot in my heart for a few NE roads...
