by Allen Hazen
The Summer 2012 issue of "Classic Trains" has a series of articles in honour of the 75th anniversary of the introduction of the E-unit (the first, B&O EA #51,having been built in May 1937). Includes:
--18 page model-by-model overview by Preston Cook,overlapping slightly with his three-part "The Trouble with E-units" series in "Railfan and Railroad" a few years back. (*)(**)
--8 pages on Martin Blomberg and the design evolution from early streamliners to the E by Carl Byron.
--8 pages on Leland Knickerbocker and paint schemes, including early artwork which I had never seen before, by Michael Eden.
--a box, giving details of carbody design evolution, in Iden's article. (***)
--2 page spread with a cutaway drawing of an E-7 by Preston Cook and two photos of the "see-through" 1/6 scale E-8 model which used to be (1970s) in the Smithsonian and is now apparently at the B&O museum in Baltimore.
--6 pages on EMD advertising, and advertising artwork, by Greg Palumbo. Includes 23 reproductions of artwork, including six Bern Hill "Railway Age" covers.
Nice pictures; text with some interesting information I had never seen before. Recommended to people interested in the history of locomotives.
--
(*) One correction: the E-3 section says "the first E4 being built several months before the first E3," production dates of 3/39-6/40 being given for the E3 and 10/38-12/39 for the E4. The first E3, demonstrator 822, however, seems to have been built in 9/38: after a period of testing and demonstration, and a rebuilding that at the very least included a change to the headlight mounting, it was delivered to the Kansas City Southern: 3/39, then, would be its "build" date as a KCS unit. (It apparently-- I checked A.J. Kristopans's builder's number list at
http://community-1.webtv.net/ajkristopa ... NGERUNITS/
-- didn't get a new builder's number when "rebuilt.")
(**) In the E-8 section, page 35, it is mentioned that E-units got heavier over time (what doesn't?), with an E8 sometimes being about 10% heavier than an early, Winton-engined, E. Because of this, "partway through E8 production the the main frame of the truck was strengthened. This resulted in "light frame" and "heavy frame" versions of the truck, which are quite noticeable in the height of the frame adjacent to the centre axle." This is something I would like to see side-by-side pictures to illustrate. There is a large size, side view, photo of the Blomberg A1A truck at the head of the article on Blomberg, but annoyingly it isn't dated or specified which version. I think it is probably the early, light-frame, version, and the photo of E8 demonstrator 922on pp. 20-21 ***may*** show the later version (but is taken at an angle that makes it hard to compare).
(***) The TA units built for the Rock Islandat about the same time as the first E-units were BB units with a single, 16-cylinder, engine (thus foreshadowing the later F-unit configuration, though the TA did not match the precise dimensions of an F). Apparently consideration was given to a B-A1A variant of this design (foreshadowing the later FL-9 proposal!), to be mated to a four-axle B-unit with twin 12-sylinder engines (this is the configuration of the "pre-E" 1800 hp. boxcars): an early Knickerbocker rendering shows this proposal, lettered for Santa Fe. Iden, at least, suggests that the E-unit as we know it-- twin-engine, six-axle, A and B units-- was a response to Santa Fe's desire for more than 3,000 hp for the Super Chief.
--18 page model-by-model overview by Preston Cook,overlapping slightly with his three-part "The Trouble with E-units" series in "Railfan and Railroad" a few years back. (*)(**)
--8 pages on Martin Blomberg and the design evolution from early streamliners to the E by Carl Byron.
--8 pages on Leland Knickerbocker and paint schemes, including early artwork which I had never seen before, by Michael Eden.
--a box, giving details of carbody design evolution, in Iden's article. (***)
--2 page spread with a cutaway drawing of an E-7 by Preston Cook and two photos of the "see-through" 1/6 scale E-8 model which used to be (1970s) in the Smithsonian and is now apparently at the B&O museum in Baltimore.
--6 pages on EMD advertising, and advertising artwork, by Greg Palumbo. Includes 23 reproductions of artwork, including six Bern Hill "Railway Age" covers.
Nice pictures; text with some interesting information I had never seen before. Recommended to people interested in the history of locomotives.
--
(*) One correction: the E-3 section says "the first E4 being built several months before the first E3," production dates of 3/39-6/40 being given for the E3 and 10/38-12/39 for the E4. The first E3, demonstrator 822, however, seems to have been built in 9/38: after a period of testing and demonstration, and a rebuilding that at the very least included a change to the headlight mounting, it was delivered to the Kansas City Southern: 3/39, then, would be its "build" date as a KCS unit. (It apparently-- I checked A.J. Kristopans's builder's number list at
http://community-1.webtv.net/ajkristopa ... NGERUNITS/
-- didn't get a new builder's number when "rebuilt.")
(**) In the E-8 section, page 35, it is mentioned that E-units got heavier over time (what doesn't?), with an E8 sometimes being about 10% heavier than an early, Winton-engined, E. Because of this, "partway through E8 production the the main frame of the truck was strengthened. This resulted in "light frame" and "heavy frame" versions of the truck, which are quite noticeable in the height of the frame adjacent to the centre axle." This is something I would like to see side-by-side pictures to illustrate. There is a large size, side view, photo of the Blomberg A1A truck at the head of the article on Blomberg, but annoyingly it isn't dated or specified which version. I think it is probably the early, light-frame, version, and the photo of E8 demonstrator 922on pp. 20-21 ***may*** show the later version (but is taken at an angle that makes it hard to compare).
(***) The TA units built for the Rock Islandat about the same time as the first E-units were BB units with a single, 16-cylinder, engine (thus foreshadowing the later F-unit configuration, though the TA did not match the precise dimensions of an F). Apparently consideration was given to a B-A1A variant of this design (foreshadowing the later FL-9 proposal!), to be mated to a four-axle B-unit with twin 12-sylinder engines (this is the configuration of the "pre-E" 1800 hp. boxcars): an early Knickerbocker rendering shows this proposal, lettered for Santa Fe. Iden, at least, suggests that the E-unit as we know it-- twin-engine, six-axle, A and B units-- was a response to Santa Fe's desire for more than 3,000 hp for the Super Chief.