Pre-HH Alco switchers- any around?

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu May 28, 2009 3:59 pm

Les Beckman wrote:

I'm getting the horse WAY in front of the cart here, but I'm going to ask this question anyway. Behr/RELCO #603 was DL&W #409 and then EL #324. What paint scheme did she wear on the Erie-Lackawanna? Just wondered if the HH-660 ever got the gray/maroon scheme when she ran on the EL.

RELCO apparently got the 324 before it got painted EL; I have seen photos of the 324 running in Lackawanna paint with Erie-style "324" numbers painted on the cabside. (There were also Erie HH660's 302-305, BTW.) A roommate and the best man at my wedding was/is a hardcore Lackawanna/EL fan, and I've never seen any record/photos in his books of an HH660 lasting long enough to get painted EL. I do remember allegations that only one loco was still in predecessor colors by the Conrail merger, an ex-Erie S1 or S2 (420?).

UPDATE: Here's the photo I was thinking of:
http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?//march00/03-02-00/DLXW324BillWeibel.jpg

And I saw while hunting for this photo that most of the other EL-acquired HH's were sold off or scrapped between October 1959 and Jan. 1961.

robertmacdowell · **Posted:** Fri May 29, 2009 2:13 am

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Ain't my fault that someone can't ask about whether something exists in rail preservation without one of them happening to be at the IRM. . . . >;-)

*laugh* So true. Come to think of it, I'm kind of stunned that they don't have a Bridge Unit :)

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Les Beckman wrote:

I'm getting the horse WAY in front of the cart here, but I'm going to ask this question anyway. Behr/RELCO #603 was DL&W #409 and then EL #324. What paint scheme did she wear on the Erie-Lackawanna? Just wondered if the HH-660 ever got the gray/maroon scheme when she ran on the EL.

RELCO apparently got the 324 before it got painted EL; I have seen photos of the 324 running in Lackawanna paint with Erie-style "324" numbers painted on the cabside. (There were also Erie HH660's 302-305, BTW.) A roommate and the best man at my wedding was/is a hardcore Lackawanna/EL fan, and I've never seen any record/photos in his books of an HH660 lasting long enough to get painted EL. I do remember allegations that only one loco was still in predecessor colors by the Conrail merger, an ex-Erie S1 or S2 (420?).

UPDATE: Here's the photo I was thinking of:
http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?//march00/03-02-00/DLXW324BillWeibel.jpg

.

Great photo! Thanks for posting it.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri May 29, 2009 10:30 am

robertmacdowell wrote:

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Ain't my fault that someone can't ask about whether something exists in rail preservation without one of them happening to be at the IRM. . . . >;-)

*laugh* So true. Come to think of it, I'm kind of stunned that they don't have a Bridge Unit :)

Please, stop giving them ideas. And I say that as a bridge historian as well. (Well, spans over water, not three-no-trump and vulnerable....)