Eastern Railroad Discussion > Seaboard Airline picture question

Can anyone help with identifying this picture of two Seaboard E-units on a heavy-weight passenger train?

There is reason to believe that the picture was taken in late 1941, probably in the Miami or Fort Lauderdale area. The original slide is in good condition, but the engine numbers are not visible.

Any information would be much appreciated.

Jim

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They don\'t appear to have slanted noses (E-7\'s?), so I\'d say the units were built later than 1941, thus the photo would\'a been taken later than that. I don\'t have the builder dates handy.

From this angle it\'s hard to say if they are E-4 or E-7 locomotives. The E-7 would have a vertical grill right behind the cab entrance door, but the angle is too sharp to show that. The E-4 (purchased only by SAL) was the only slant nose E with a nose door so the presence or absence of a nose door doesn\'t help with dating this picture because both the E-4 and E-7 had them.

The color and shading and shadows make it difficult for me to determine if it is a slant nose or not. Like was said earlier, if it is a bulldog snout E-7 it is a post-war photo.

I copied the photo over into an editing program and increased the view to 200%. When compared to an E-7 nose door, this one seems to have a different threshhold at the bottom. By bet would be that it is an E-4.

Thus this could be a pre-war photo. But that\'s the best that I can do.

Are these the same animal ??

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/tr_sal3025.jpg

I believe this photo may post date or be closer to the end of WWII.

The E-4s and E-6s were the only E\'s delivered to the Seaboard before March 1945. The E-4s and E-6s were delivered with silver pilots, fuel tanks, and frames. This locomotive has a black underbody.

The E-7s showed up in the Spring of 1945 with black pilots, fuel tanks, and frames. This isn\'t an E-7 because they had a second lower headlight that covered the crest of the citrus "wave".

At some point the earlier E\'s had their underbody painted black. They had not made that decision by 1941 because the E-6\'s showed up wearing silver. I\'ve found no photos of these E\'s with a black underbody during the war, but then again there weren\'t a lot of photos taken during the war either...

The decision to paint the underbodies black occurred between 1941 and 1945.

Regards
Pete

That is not the Miami Station. It looks more like Cocoa Beach.

BaltoJoey

Can\'t tell you the location.But can tell you a little,not like all the others guessers trying to answer your question.Why waste bandwidth and time if you don\'t know? COCOA??????? is NOT even on the Seaboard Air Line (always three words).
Could be SAL E4A\'s,built in 1938 ( 11A\'s,7B\'s) or
E6A\'s built in 1940-41 (3A\'s)too hard to tell.
These first units had a yellow roof (notice both units)it became to hard to keep clean so they painted the roof Pullman green to match the sides.Some pictures I have show the yellow roof as late as 1949.This is called the "Citrus Scheme".
You are correct a very early shot.I am the editor of "Lines South" the magazine of the ACL&SALHS INC.I would like to use that slide (and any others you might have)for use in our magazine.
Please let me know.Thanks

jlosal wrote:

> Can\'t tell you the location.But can tell you a little,not
> like all the others guessers trying to answer your question.Why
> waste bandwidth and time if you don\'t know?

Obviously you are not the goodwill ambassador for the society!?!

Since you are the editor of the Atlantic Coast Line & Seaboard Air Line Railroads Historical Society, and by your own admission roofs were yellow as late as 1949, you have to admit that yellow roofs don\'t help nail the date down much beyond the 40\'s. Granted they are clean, but the E-7s were delivered with yellow roofs in 1945, the and the Baldwin\'s with yellow roofs a year later. Since the Seaboard was ordering new locomotives with yellow roofs, one would assume that they were making an effort to keep them clean on the older locomotives. By 1945 they had given up on silver frames, pilots, and trucks

A much better question, and one that helps date this photos better, is when were the E-4 and E-6 pilots / trucks painted black, in lieu of silver?