> From the Unanswered Zephyr Questions file - Question 98-6 from Zephyr 37
> - E-7's were all designated "A" or "B" but a photo of #9926 doesn't show
> either letter. Why?
> (The photo accompanying the question shows a very clean/new unit with the
> front coupler doors open)
I don't think I have the answer but I can confuse the situation!
9926A/B was the first of 11 units built in the 1947 programme, order E-792,
numbers 9926AB to 9930AB and 9949.
In the photo referred to, 9926 is "leading" two other units elephant-style (but
only the numbers "99" are visible on the second
unit) and all three appear to be brand new. So new that the horns above the
cabs on the engineer's side (the only ones visible)
appear to have been blanked off. Could this have been an advance builder's
photo to publicise the new unit?
Was it originally intended that the single (un-paired) unit would be 9926 and
not 9949?
Just to confuse things, above - and half way along - the length of the nose
number boxes is (I presume) a classification light. On
the second unit, this "light" is at the back edge of the second "9" in the
number, suggesting that there were only four characters
in the number box. Photos of units numbered with an A or B show that the
"light" was normally above the third character of the
number. It therefore appears that the second unit was also without an A or B.
Would this suggest that the decision to use the A/B nomenclature was made after
the units were produced? Does anyone have an other
builder's or company's photos of these particular units for comparison? The
next earliest photo I've found is 9930B dated from the
summer of 1948.
To support this suggestion, I note from Bulletin 10 on the E-units that the
first group of E-7's which were delivered in 1945 were
semi-permanently coupled, and all the photos I have quickly checked show them
working in pairs. However, this does not seem to have
been the case with the 1947 group as they are photographed working both singly
and in pairs (back to back as they weren't MU'd until
the Fifties/Sixties).
If they were originally numbered without the A's and B's, when was this
changed, and why?
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
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