Eastern Railroad Discussion > The Newest Engine on the W&LE

Yesterday afternoon I managed to catch the newest W&LE engine trailing on a stonetrain in Waco, Ohio, just east of Canton. W&LE 6358, ex-MMA 758, was recently released from the Brewster shops. They decided to keep the unit in its former BC Rail red, white, and blue paint, with a minor addition of red numbers and lettering on the sides of the cab. W&LE 6349 and 6358 were moving around empty and loaded stonecars at National Lime and Stone in Waco. I hope to catch the 6358 leading a train sometime soon.

1) 6358 roster shot.
2) 6349 and 6358 on the west end of a cut of loaded stonecars at the Warner Road crossing in Canton.
3) 6349 and 6358 shoving loaded stonecars into the NL&S staging area for unloading. W&LE 302, 104, 105, and 112 had brought in the loaded stonecars, while 6349 and 6358 were pulling out the empty cars about an hour before I took these pictures.

Thanks for looking.

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Of all the Wheeling's second- or third-hand paint schemes, I think I like this one the best. My only wish would be that they had run the "Wheeling & Lake Erie" lettering on the white band on the long hood, rather than under the cab window. Beyond that, I certainly wouldn't mind if they sent other units to the paint shop first -- such as those blank-looking gray things and the ex-BN (ugh) unit(s).

toledopatch Wrote:
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> Of all the Wheeling's second- or third-hand paint
> schemes, I think I like this one the best. My only
> wish would be that they had run the "Wheeling &
> Lake Erie" lettering on the white band on the long
> hood, rather than under the cab window. Beyond
> that, I certainly wouldn't mind if they sent other
> units to the paint shop first -- such as those
> blank-looking gray things and the ex-BN (ugh)
> unit(s).


I would have liked to see that as well, but the engine still looks pretty good. It appeared that the white stripe had had certain sections repainted, but for some reason they decided to put the W&LE lettering on the cab sides instead. The next engine to be released from Brewster in the full W&LE black and orange paint will be W&LE 6315 (ex-WC). But hopefully the grey units can find their way into the shop soon.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/14 08:08 by Poker2662.

The newer white areas on the strip hide the marks of the last owner the MM&A.

Posted from iPhone

CR6079 Wrote:
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> The newer white areas on the stripe hide the marks
> of the last owner the MM&A.
>
> Posted from iPhone


Yep. At first they had just crossed off the MMA markings with black paint, but I guess they decided to make it look nicer.

The engine was interchanged from CSX to the ABC in Barberton during delivery. While at the ABC, all MMA markings were painted out with black paint - read UGLY!

Thankfully, the W&LE takes a classy approach in attempting to matching the paint on the engine when relettering/renumbering an acquisition.

Makes it a lot more enjoyable to shoot the colorful variety of paint schemes.

Enjoy it before all get painted the same.

W&LE's paint scheme is very nice, but a steady diet of even a colorful scheme gets old after a while.

Randy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/14 08:53 by baltimore.

I've seen enough of the "variety" on W&LE to last a lifetime. Getting solid sets of W&LE-painted power is the true challenge -- it rarely happens. So bring on the repainting -- including the two tunnel motors. There's enough stuff elsewhere in worn-out BN, UP, etc. paint elsewhere on North American railroads.

But you guys who like this dog's-breakfast stuff have nothing to worry about. It's highly unlikely W&LE will get everything repainted in any of our lifetimes -- especially as they keep acquiring other railroads' cast-offs. Genesee & Wyoming will probably get the RailAmerica fleet done first.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/14 09:03 by toledopatch.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> I've seen enough of the "variety" on W&LE to last
> a lifetime. Getting solid sets of W&LE-painted
> power is the true challenge -- it rarely happens.
> So bring on the repainting -- including the two
> tunnel motors. There's enough stuff elsewhere in
> worn-out BN, UP, etc. paint elsewhere on North
> American railroads.
>
> But you guys who like this dog's-breakfast stuff
> have nothing to worry about. It's highly unlikely
> W&LE will get everything repainted in any of our
> lifetimes -- especially as they keep acquiring
> other railroads' cast-offs. Genesee & Wyoming will
> probably get the RailAmerica fleet done first.

Don't hold your breath for the Tunnel Motors, heard the head of the railroad likes the Rio Grande. Thus the Rio Grande-inspired scheme, and those units remaining in Rio Grande lettering.

Here is MMA 758 on CSX January 10, 2014 in a westbound train on the east side of Cleveland. Was this her delivery run to get from the MMA to the W&LE?

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MIRailroad Wrote:
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> Don't hold your breath for the Tunnel Motors,
> heard the head of the railroad likes the Rio
> Grande. Thus the Rio Grande-inspired scheme, and
> those units remaining in Rio Grande lettering.


It's not just a matter of "likes". A lot of the W&LE brass are D&RGW alumni.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> MIRailroad Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Don't hold your breath for the Tunnel Motors,
> > heard the head of the railroad likes the Rio
> > Grande. Thus the Rio Grande-inspired scheme,
> and
> > those units remaining in Rio Grande lettering.
>
>
> It's not just a matter of "likes". A lot of the
> W&LE brass are D&RGW alumni.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Still, I wouldn't hold my breath on them repainting those Tunnel Motors.

Trolleysteve Wrote:
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> Here is MMA 758 on CSX January 10, 2014 in a
> westbound train on the east side of Cleveland. Was
> this her delivery run to get from the MMA to the
> W&LE?


Nice catch. And yes, MMA 758 rode CSX rails from Palmer, MA, to the W&LE interchange in Akron, OH, in January this year.

MIRailroad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> toledopatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > It's not just a matter of "likes". A lot of the
> > W&LE brass are D&RGW alumni.
>
> Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Still, I
> wouldn't hold my breath on them repainting those
> Tunnel Motors.

Agree. I would love to see them in full Wheeling dress, but they'll probably be the last "Rio Grande" survivors, assuming it ever gets to that point.

Sharp looking engine and great photos. Nothing wrong with a little variety. It is not that hard to get a solid consist of engines in W&LE paint. I can't imagine how anyone would wish the engines in Rio Grande paint would get repainted to W&LE but to each their own.

Poker2662 Wrote:
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> Trolleysteve Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Here is MMA 758 on CSX January 10, 2014 in a
> > westbound train on the east side of Cleveland.
> Was
> > this her delivery run to get from the MMA to
> the
> > W&LE?
>
>
> Nice catch. And yes, MMA 758 rode CSX rails from
> Palmer, MA, to the W&LE interchange in Akron, OH,
> in January this year.


I got pics of her sitting in West Springfield, MA on 1/2/2014.

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I LIKE Pic 2!!!

Disappointing the second pair of ditchlights got removed...

Posted from iPhone

nwkrailfan Wrote:
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> Disappointing the second pair of ditchlights got
> removed...

Just another thing that has to be maintained if they're there.

As for the Wheeling & Rio Grande tunnel motors, my position is very simple -- they've been around in that paint plenty long enough on W&LE rails, and of course there were many other Rio Grande tunnel motors. Repainting them would match them with other W&LE-painted locomotives and create the only such units in full W&LE dress. If you live anywhere in or near Wheeling country and haven't seen these two locomotives as they currently exist, you haven't been trying very hard.... and yes, you probably still have plenty of time.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> As for the Wheeling & Rio Grande tunnel motors, my
> position is very simple -- they've been around in
> that paint plenty long enough on W&LE rails, and
> of course there were many other Rio Grande tunnel
> motors. Repainting them would match them with
> other W&LE-painted locomotives and create the only
> such units in full W&LE dress. If you live
> anywhere in or near Wheeling country and haven't
> seen these two locomotives as they currently
> exist, you haven't been trying very hard.... and
> yes, you probably still have plenty of time.


I would think that the four remaining Rio Grande units on W&LE would be the last to be repainted. But with the high traffic volume right now, the only engines that will be getting repainted are the ones getting rebuilt, so no units are pulled out of service. Although, it would be nice if the Rio Grande engines were repainted into fresh black and orange, but kept the same paint scheme.

And the funny thing is, I have only a couple pictures of the tunnelmotors because they have not been east of Brewster for three years. I need to railfan the W&LE west of Brewster more often.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/14 18:37 by Poker2662.