Nostalgia & History > SOU, RF&P, and SCL E8As at Ivy City

I've posted photographs taken at Ivy City, Washington, DC before but they focused on B&O and C&O E-units. Today I'll start a series focusing on Southern E- and F-units. Ivy City is a small neighborhood in northeast Washington dominated by the engine terminal of Washington Union Station. I made a pilgrimage there several times in the 60s and 70s to see the Es, Fs, and GG1s resting between passenger runs.

The following are all E8As.

1. SOU 6915 and 6911 resting on December 17, 1968.

2. SOU 2929 and RF&P on April 29, 1970.

3. SOU 2928 with SCL 590 and 575 on April 26, 1971.


Enjoy,
Marty Bernard

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Did the Southern E units have oversized fuel tanks to force the air reservoirs to be mounted on the roof? If that's the cause, were they the only such E's to have that arrangement? That Ivy City terminal always had a great display and it helped that they were so easily seen from the street there.

The Southern and RF&P units always looked very classy and seemed to be well kept up to the end. Much better looking than the SCL units for example.

Thanks for sharing.

Milwaukee Wrote:
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> Did the Southern E units have oversized fuel tanks
> to force the air reservoirs to be mounted on the
> roof? If that's the cause, were they the only
> such E's to have that arrangement? That Ivy City
> terminal always had a great display and it helped
> that they were so easily seen from the street
> there.
>
> The Southern and RF&P units always looked very
> classy and seemed to be well kept up to the end.
> Much better looking than the SCL units for
> example.
>
> Thanks for sharing.




I'm no Southern expert, but judging by the pictures, they appear to retain the original sized E8 tank, but there appears to be two oval shaped tanks placed where the air tanks should be. What they contained is beyond me.

Where SR's E-8s delivered in green or black? If they were originally green when did they get black paint?

Thanks,

Dave

Those were great days when you could park in the lot along New York Avenue and stroll over (across two main lines) and get all the shots you wanted in the engine terminal without anyone bothering you or giving the matter a second thought. Try that today!

Art House
Gettysburg, Pa.

> Where SR's E-8s delivered in green or black? If
> they were originally green when did they get black
> paint?

Delivered green. Southern went to black-and-white in 1958. Surviving E8s were put back into green in 1972. A small number of surviving FP7s also got green in the 1970s, but most of them went to scrap still in tuxedo.

For more info see http://www.hosam.com/srr/passpnt.html

onequiknova Wrote:

>
> I'm no Southern expert, but judging by the
> pictures, they appear to retain the original sized
> E8 tank, but there appears to be two oval shaped
> tanks placed where the air tanks should be. What
> they contained is beyond me.

Water capacity was as big a concern as fuel, the oval tanks are for water.

The Southern had a real eclectic assortment of E and F units for passenger service. I got to know the railroad around northern Virginia in the mid-60s when it was all tuxedo. I'd have to look at a roster, but I think they had more F3s,F7s (a few B unts I think) and FP7s than E units. In the early 60s the SOU had quite a passenger operations, over 40 seperate passenger trains each day, but they were declining. Most were secondary trains which got mostly F units. The higher priority trains like the Crescent and Southerner got the E units usually, but they did mix them up. By the second time they went back to green on the passenger units after Claytor most of the secondary trains were gone