End of Service for VGN EL-2B Streamliners

[NW Mailing List]

Sorry Stewart, those are the EL-C class that began delivery in 1956.  
One of those also survives in the Transportation Museum in Roanoke,  
VGN 135, which has the distinction of being the only unit to actually  
be painted in all 5 roads scheme, as it was the only one repainted to  
N&W because of wreck damage. Jeff Sanders (see below) was one of the  
primary people responsible for that unit being the one that was saved  
and selected for Roanoke.

Back to the question of the EL-2B service life. They did indeed serve  
right up to the end of VGN electrification in June 1962. One unit had  
been separated into two single units, with one serving as the  
Whitethorne pusher. The other unit, I am not sure if it was used on  
Clarks Gap or not, but it appears in photos, stored, and appeared to  
have been for some time at Mullens. There was an entire series of 35mm  
negatives shot by an N&W photographer of the last two days of  
operation, more or less, a casual documentation. Highly unusual for  
the time that they would use 35mm, as that was certainly not a  
standard for them, it tells me they were not that serious about the  
matter, that someone had told them to go and get some pictures, there  
were also some family type photos on the end or beginning of the roll.  
There was also at least one EL-C stored, I suspect it and the EL-2B  
were being used for parts to keep the other units running as long as  
they could.

I honestly don't think the EL-2Bs were on the property for very long  
after retirement. A file on electrification talks about the high  
maintenance costs of these units in 1960-61 and their generally aged  
condition, which certainly would hasten their retirement and reduce  
their marketability. I think N&W might have tried to market them, but  
the demand for electrics was very limited. Even with the bargain price  
it took a good while for the New Haven to purchase the EL-Cs, which  
were much newer, and far better condition.

Ken Miller


On Oct 21, 2012, at 4:48 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:


> Hi Group, please forgive the ignorance of a Yankee member.- Were the  

> VGN EL-2b's, the "hood style" rectifier locomotives delivered by  

> General Electric to the VGN?  If so, some of them came to the New  

> Haven Railroad, probably in the 1960's and probably by way of  

> General Electric-Erie Works. They passed from the New Haven into  

> Penn Central then into Conrail.  I'm a member of the Railroad Museum  

> of New England and the museum owns one of the units in very faded  

> Conrail blue and minus it's main transformer due to it's  

> concentration of PCB's in the transformer oil. It will never run  

> again, there's no main transformer and the 20 mile Naugatuck  

> Railroad subsidiary of the museum has absolutely no centenary.

> Stewart Fritts

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: NW Mailing List

> To: NW Mailing List

> Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 9:39 PM

> Subject: Re: End of Service for VGN EL-2B Streamliners

>

> Sorry I can't answer all your inquiries about the EL2b's. I do have  

> a note, of which I do not remember the source, that says the EL2b's  

> were scrapped at the Peck Iron

> & Metal Co. in south Richmond. Maybe this will jog someone's memory  

> with the details.

>

> Jeff Sanders

>

> From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org

> Sent: Friday, October 5, 2012 1:59 PM

> Subject: End of Service for VGN EL-2B Streamliners

>

> I've seen several accounts of the end of the EL-2Bs which say they  

> were taken out of service and scrapped between 1959 and 1962.  The  

> early date is clearly incorrect as McClure and Plant show several  

> pictures in their book of these motors in service into at least Oct.  

> 1960.  Can anyone clear up the history of the final days of the  

> EL-2Bs?  When were they actually taken out of service?  Were they  

> stored for a while before disposal?  Were they sent back to General  

> Electric or were they scrapped by some local company?  If so, who,  

> when and where?  Many thanks for your help.

>

> Tom

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