Nostalgia & History > EL E8 units departing Marion

March 76

Four E8 units are at the westside of the Erie Lackawanna Marion,Oh yard departing west.
The lead unit was the only ex-Erie one in the bunch.
The second unit was 810 , one of the E8 demonstrator units built in 1951 and purchased by the Lackawanna.
In pic 3 I don't know why the crew looks surprised, plenty of photographers decended on Marion in the last few months of the EL.
I went west and got one more shot of the train (already posted) and that was it.
This was the last EL train I saw.

Gary

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Quite the scene captured. Seemed like the EL had life extension on their E8s. Thanks for sharing another great series.

First-class images and a great set of last EL photos.
Bob

If it had to be the last ones, you went out with winners!! I was there in March 76 as well, but I went east on the road all the way to New Jersey. No Es for sure going east at that point, but it was the saddest railfan trip of my life. I said goodbye to some great railroaders, and a great railroad. My last EL shot was the ready track at Croxton.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

         Interesting roller coaster track in the last photo.

Isnt 831. The one that became one of the exec train units?
shane

833 is the exec train E8 and still exists parked in Poert Jervis, NY

HB90MACH Wrote:
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> Isnt 831. The one that became one of the exec
> train units?
> shane

In photo three, Why is the engineer wearing pink?

Those are winning photos, sad times in March 1976. The countdown to the end.

Very Nice !  If you had to say goodbye, this was the train to do it with !

An excellent photo series of EL E-Units in freight service.
Thanks for posting this nice series.
ALLEN
 

Did the ErieLackawanna  E-8 units ever work freight for Conrail?

A series after my own heart Gary, poignant photos. I love the E8 nose and cement phone booth, classic EL.

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Did the ErieLackawanna  E-8 units ever work freight for Conrail?

They did, but only for a short while, less than 6 months from what I can gather. Some of the E's were already in storage at Marion on C-day and I doubt many if any of those ran under Conrail. Caught the move of the former Marion deadline units to Altoona at Orrville, Ohio in the summer of '76 and it had a good number of E's in it. Two got renumbered, 4009 (819) and 4011(821) but I've not seen many photos of them active with their new "CR" numbers.

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

I remember seeing them in service on Conrail on the former NYC mainline in northern Indiana. I recall one day hearing on the radio one catching on fire east of Kendallville, Indiana. I would guess that was the end for that E unit. I know one guy that transferred to Elkhart from the EL. He said that the EL guys were not welcome.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Did the ErieLackawanna  E-8 units ever work
> freight for Conrail?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/20 12:14 by wabash2800.

Thanks for the answers, I don't recall seeing pix of them in CR freight.

Posted from Android

I may have some pics on freight but know for sure that I have pics of one in Valpo commuter service with a "CR" painted in the EL diamond on the nose.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Thanks for the answers, I don't recall seeing pix
> of them in CR freight.
>
> Posted from Android

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> I may have some pics on freight but know for sure
> that I have pics of one in Valpo commuter service
> with a "CR" painted in the EL diamond on the
> nose.
>
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thanks for the answers, I don't recall seeing
> pix
> > of them in CR freight.
> >
> > Posted from Android

Thank you. That could be 4014.

It went on to work on the North Jersey Coast line for a while.

Yes, it was the 4014. Here are some photos:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1741170,1741228#msg-1741228

I may have at least one photo of one in freight service on conrail. I recall one time train watching at Waterloo, Indiana and noticing the headlight in the distance was a bit low for a hood unit. I thought perhpas it was an F unit. As it got closer I realized it was an EL E unit in the lead.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com


Lackawanna484 Wrote:
>
> Thank you. That could be 4014.
>
> It went on to work on the North Jersey Coast line
> for a while.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/20 09:31 by wabash2800.