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I may be the only person on this list who has seen an EA in service as a trailing unit with an E8 or other E type unit... It was summer 1952..Jim Christen and I had begun our annual "Q it" summer adventure on the Q. We rode branch train No. 93 from Corning, MO to Villisca IA. Our usual arrangement was that we would stay overnight at the plush ELMS HOTEL at Villisca.
Well that trip...which was our second one we decided to stay up all night and watch the night fleet through Villisca and then ride No. 15..a mail train carrying one coach over to Red Oak and ride the branch train from Red Oak down to Hamburg and thence No. 20 to Langdon and/or Corning.
Well, we were on the platform at Villisca as No. 15 blasted past the platform trailing the usual array of mail and baggage cars followed up by the coach...Well, guess what the 2nd unit was..It was one of the EA units with its front end "denuded" to accommodate a drawbar Jim almost vomited at this desecration of one of his beloved Zephyr engines. It WAS an awful looking thing. I don't recall ever seeing another one "in service". In one of the "Color Books" there is a color photo of one of the desecrated EA units sitting at the West Burlington Shop...probably awaiting scrapping. I don't recall if the photo carried a date
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Clipperw B clipperw@gmail.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Mon, Jan 22, 2018 10:38 pm Subject: [CBQ] Re: Elephant Style Es [1 Attachment]
[Attachment(s) from Clipperw B included below]
Charlie,
That is essentially correct and many photos confirm that. There are a few photos of an A-B-A E5 consists, but I haven’t seen an A-B-A consist with two of any other later E units and an E5 B unit. It may have happened, however, and I would certainly like to see such a photo. Based on the earlier responses, I would say that the Q probably started the addition of front MU about 1958 or late 1957 unless someone has a better date, Certainly, somewhere in the Mechanical Dept. files there was an instruction to the shops to add the front MU along with an AFE. There was another option for more than two units. We have at least one photo of an E8 followed by an EA B and an EA A unit from Denver Zephyr service, see attached. I don’t think it happened very often, but it did happen at least once.
Prior to the addition of front MU, I think the Q simply sized all their trains for the capabilities of the two E locomotives based of timetable and schedules. If there was more equipment need to handle customer demand, a second section was added. There are many examples of second section (and maybe more) on the Q with photographic evidence available. Even the original DZ operated with second sections of standard equipment following. Thinking about it, that would add some interesting operation on a model railroad.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
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