A quick synopsis of the "Port City Southern" will give you an idea of my ability to work the E-L into any model RR.
PCS runs from the Steel Mills of the northeast and wanders thru the mountains across the praries and down to the Texas Gulf Coast. The layout is housed in a former Corpus Christi Fire Station and has a 5 scale mile point to point route main line.
I was asked to work on both a color scheme and story for the PCS back in December. Being a graphic artist and unable to give up my love for the E-L, I threw my two favorite roads together and built a back story that enabled the E-L not to fold into Conrail, but instead to merge with the MoPac.
Heres how it works:
The Missouri Pacific was a very profitable road that was actually looking into taking over the Santa Fe in the late 70's before becoming a part of what is now the UP system. After reading about what was going on at the Missouri Pacific during those years, I thought what a great merger they would have made. Essentially a Coast to Coast line, but without the ICC issues of a transcon line. MoPac Intermodal runs across old SP line to the west coast...see where this is going.
MoPac would have benefitted greatly by having direct access to New York and the steel, coal, intermodal traffic that would have directly effected the sun belt areas on MoPac mainline. (Double Stack would come along a few years after the merger in 1976.)
(If youd like specifics on both economic impact to both roads I will be happy to fill you in on the details)
the E-L was not healthy, but if someone along the lines of a MoPac had come along and been able to work with labor, it would have been a logical decision for both roads.
So...the E-L kept it's Identity, much as the D&H had done thru how many incarnations. However the MoPac would have controlling interest in operations and financial decisions, much as she did with the C&EI and the T&P before 1974.
Missouri Pacific would have been strengthened enough to possibly avoid the UP merger that started in 1980. For that matter, an agreement with the SP as a partner in it's intermodal operation from NYC to the Southern California Basin would have SP run thrus as well as MoPac ones running thru the Northeast as well as EL power in Southern California...
There are subtle hints to the Merger in rolling stock and power, but it is limited to a small PCS logo under the cab window.
Now for the part that has riled a few feathers on the mail list.
Changes to the scheme and logoof both lines.
Not wholesale changes, nothing as drastic as making Jenks Blue the primary color on the engines, but the E has been updated as most staid logo's have done over the past 20 years.
ERIE LACKAWANNA painted on the hoods has been tweaked with a new font as well as a stroke around the letters to make the name pop.
essentiall think of the more colorful BNSF schemes with multicolored BNSF on the hoods versus a simple 1 color name.
A color study was done with Erie Lackawanna on Jenks Blue engines in red and white, much as Missouri Pacific was added to UP hoods in the mid 80's. However the scheme was rejected in favor of the updated Lackawanna Freight Scheme formerly used on E and F units.
The Lackawanna Scheme actually bled over onto the Missouri Pacific units, using Eagle Colors instead of GYM.
The thought is to eventually fold everything into the Port City Southern, but I am more inclined to leave the PCS as essentially a holding company that runs both the E-L and MoPac unde rdifferent, but linked names. Blended power will eventually be the rule more than the exception, but for now, the GYM on todays GE and EMD units is beginning to take shape as well as updating an older fleet of rolling stock.
Any thoughts on schemes and intermodal equipment colors?
I will keep y'all updated on progress as the PSC becomes more EL and less Cotton Belt...
[/b]
PCS runs from the Steel Mills of the northeast and wanders thru the mountains across the praries and down to the Texas Gulf Coast. The layout is housed in a former Corpus Christi Fire Station and has a 5 scale mile point to point route main line.
I was asked to work on both a color scheme and story for the PCS back in December. Being a graphic artist and unable to give up my love for the E-L, I threw my two favorite roads together and built a back story that enabled the E-L not to fold into Conrail, but instead to merge with the MoPac.
Heres how it works:
The Missouri Pacific was a very profitable road that was actually looking into taking over the Santa Fe in the late 70's before becoming a part of what is now the UP system. After reading about what was going on at the Missouri Pacific during those years, I thought what a great merger they would have made. Essentially a Coast to Coast line, but without the ICC issues of a transcon line. MoPac Intermodal runs across old SP line to the west coast...see where this is going.
MoPac would have benefitted greatly by having direct access to New York and the steel, coal, intermodal traffic that would have directly effected the sun belt areas on MoPac mainline. (Double Stack would come along a few years after the merger in 1976.)
(If youd like specifics on both economic impact to both roads I will be happy to fill you in on the details)
the E-L was not healthy, but if someone along the lines of a MoPac had come along and been able to work with labor, it would have been a logical decision for both roads.
So...the E-L kept it's Identity, much as the D&H had done thru how many incarnations. However the MoPac would have controlling interest in operations and financial decisions, much as she did with the C&EI and the T&P before 1974.
Missouri Pacific would have been strengthened enough to possibly avoid the UP merger that started in 1980. For that matter, an agreement with the SP as a partner in it's intermodal operation from NYC to the Southern California Basin would have SP run thrus as well as MoPac ones running thru the Northeast as well as EL power in Southern California...
There are subtle hints to the Merger in rolling stock and power, but it is limited to a small PCS logo under the cab window.
Now for the part that has riled a few feathers on the mail list.
Changes to the scheme and logoof both lines.
Not wholesale changes, nothing as drastic as making Jenks Blue the primary color on the engines, but the E has been updated as most staid logo's have done over the past 20 years.
ERIE LACKAWANNA painted on the hoods has been tweaked with a new font as well as a stroke around the letters to make the name pop.
essentiall think of the more colorful BNSF schemes with multicolored BNSF on the hoods versus a simple 1 color name.
A color study was done with Erie Lackawanna on Jenks Blue engines in red and white, much as Missouri Pacific was added to UP hoods in the mid 80's. However the scheme was rejected in favor of the updated Lackawanna Freight Scheme formerly used on E and F units.
The Lackawanna Scheme actually bled over onto the Missouri Pacific units, using Eagle Colors instead of GYM.
The thought is to eventually fold everything into the Port City Southern, but I am more inclined to leave the PCS as essentially a holding company that runs both the E-L and MoPac unde rdifferent, but linked names. Blended power will eventually be the rule more than the exception, but for now, the GYM on todays GE and EMD units is beginning to take shape as well as updating an older fleet of rolling stock.
Any thoughts on schemes and intermodal equipment colors?
I will keep y'all updated on progress as the PSC becomes more EL and less Cotton Belt...
[/b]
Allen "Wally" Wahlström
Corpus Christi, TX
Corpus Christi, TX
