Nostalgia & History > F-Unit Friday - WM 240

In the early-to-mid 1970's, the N&W yard at Brewster, Ohio often looked like "Little Hagerstown" because of the number of WM locomotives that could be found there. I had seen up to eight or more WM F's in Brewster at the same time not counting other WM units that also showed up there. Still my favorite WM F-unit shot taken there was WM 240 on 04/05/1976. Soon the WM F's would no longer visit Brewster, but this is how I'd like to remember them.
Bob

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Great photo.

For WM authorities, does anyone know why this railroad went with two Nathan M5 horns on their F's.

I suspect that the locomotives were delivered with two single chime horns, either Leslie A-200s or Wabco E2s.

Typically, when railroads went to replace these older horns with mulichime horns, they either left the single note horn
facing the rear and replaced the front facing horn with a multi chime Nathan or Leslie product or plugged the air supply
for the second horn and had nothing there.

Western Maryland for some reason deployed two five chime horns which must of been rather expensive and quite loud.

Any information would be appreciated.

Regards, Jim Evans

Coupled to a yard slug?

>Western Maryland for some reason deployed two five chime horns which must of been rather expensive and quite loud.

WHAT? WHAT'S THAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

- a former engineer with a 45db hearing loss

Thanks for sharing. I'm too young to remember the WM F units running between Connellsville and Brewster, but I DO remember all the Black and gold and circus scheme SD's and GP's mixed in with Chessie yellows and B&O/C&O blues. It certainly was a colorful railroad back in the late 70's and early 80's.

Great looking -- I always liked F units in freight service.
Brian Stevens

When I was visiting Brewster, the party was over (NS).

Why were WM locomotives cut-off at Brewster and not Bellevue?

Did Reading and CNJ locomotives make it to Brewster?

While I did see WM locomotives headed to Bellevue, for some unknown reason they tended to congregate in Brewster.
Bob

I know nothing about loco horns, but I did ride some of these locos on WM's East End and to Cumberland, in the 1960s, mostly with permission. WM was just a first class railroad, if they felt a certain horn was louder and better to protect their crews and equipment they would use it even if it were more expensive. The F units that lasted the longest on the new 'Chessie' system were WM's F7s. I think I have pics of some in Wilsmere DE in the early 70s.

I have a slideof one of he "Circus" WM F7s on a freight near Albion, Indiana on the Chessie mainline in the 1970s but it was not leading.

tp117 Wrote:
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> I know nothing about loco horns, but I did ride
> some of these locos on WM's East End and to
> Cumberland, in the 1960s, mostly with permission.
> WM was just a first class railroad, if they felt a
> certain horn was louder and better to protect
> their crews and equipment they would use it even
> if it were more expensive. The F units that lasted
> the longest on the new 'Chessie' system were WM's
> F7s. I think I have pics of some in Wilsmere DE in
> the early 70s.

Within a couple of months after your photo, WM's F-Units were renumbered into the Chessie System arrangement.

Thanks for all the comments and for all the information.
Bob