E2s in Local Freight Service

[NW Mailing List]

In June and July 1954 I was the "short-boom" operator on the right side 
of the N&W weed spray train.  As we covered the N&W east of Williamson, 
WV, we seemed to get whatever locomotive was available that day (Y's, 
streamlined K2's, Z's, etc.).  One trip east out of Bluefield we had a 
E2a pushing our work train (1 spray car, 4 tank cars of water, 2 tank 
cars chemical, 1 shanty [oops, bunk] car and 1 caboose).  When we got to 
a sharp curve on a stiff grade on the Potts Valley branch, the high 
drivers on the E2a couldn't cope with the train resistance plus the rail 
made wet by the spray car, and we stalled.  We had to back down the 
branch without ever reaching Kerns at the end of the branch.  The E2's 
were probably used on other work trains as needed.

Gordon Hamilton


On 7/3/2018 10:50 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
> Since asking the question below, I’ve found a few clues about the photo in question that seem to confirm that E2s were used as a local switcher in Circleville, Ohio.  I wrote a few words about it at the following link, which includes the photo in question. In short, the local shifter would move cars from Dorney to the various customers in Circleville - their total range was probably about four miles.
>
> https://vitower.wordpress.com
>
> Another photo (I haven’t written about it yet) shows a steam locomotive sitting in the same spot that I’ve been told diesels were staged in the late seventies. It seems things didn't change much operationally over forty years.
>
> Matt Goodman
> Columbus, Ohio US
>
> On May 26, 2018, at 7:48 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>
> Hello all.
>
> I recently came across a photo of an E2 working the Container Corporation (Circleville, Ohio) shipping track. Based on other details in the scene, the photo was taken after 1937. The locomotive has a large-diameter stack and a centered headlight, changes that may refine the earliest possible date. My guess is that it was taken in the early forties since K1s were switching this plant by the time dad was watching trains here in the early fifties.
>
> How common were E2s in local work?  Any ideas of the train size and speeds that the locomotive could manage in this service in the relatively flat areas of the Scioto Division?
>
> Matt Goodman
> Columbus Ohio, US
>
>
>
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