Actually, the E-7s and early E-8s all were delivered with side panels
painted silver. Only the later E-8s and all of the E-9s were
delivered from EMD with stainless steel side panels as original
equipment. Some of the E-7s and E-8s with painted panels were
retrofitted with stainless steel panels. Toward the end of the Q,
some stainless steel panels that were damaged in service, may have
been replaced with painted panels as an lower cost expedient. In
fact, stainless steel provided lower maintenance because they didn't
rust and didn't need painting.
The Bulletin on the E units provides a pretty complete list of all of
the units that eventually had stainless steel panels. Some were
always painted. I am not aware of any effort to apply panels to
specific units for specific service. Keep in mind that one of the
economies that the Q enjoyed with their E unit fleet was free
assignment of the units; any unit could be used on any train
including commuter trains. In later years, Q favored E-8s and E-9s in
commuter service because of their higher horsepower and better
performance in the frequent start and stop service. In addition,
other than foreign trains (North Coast Limited and The Empire
Builder), almost all Q trains were all or almost all stainless steel,
including most of the commuter cars.
Bill Barber
On Jan 23, 2009, at 1:49 PM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Re: Stainless Steel Sides on Q E-Units
> Posted by: "Russ Strodtz" borneo@19main.com thevlbg
> Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:52 pm (PST)
>
> E7's in general, as they got older, lost the side
> panels. They were not considered as necessary and
> as they got older and needed work it was just left
> off. That saved money and time.
>
> Russ
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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