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  • MU's GALORE !!

  • Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.
It is currently Sun Oct 06, 2024 9:29 pm

MU's GALORE !!

Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.

Moderator: blockline4180

NOW LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!

  by henry6
 
Now look what you made me do! I had to spend almost 15 minutes enjoying my time looking at those beautifule MU's. Again. I have gone through this set of photo's before. Several times. All right, a lot of times. I did'nt get to them all just now, but know I will again. Real soon. The best collection of the old ladies pictures as you'll find anywhere!

  by NHRR WTBY
 
My dad moved us to Berkeley Heights in 1974; I was 12 years old. I found every excuse I could to go down to the station and watch the MU's come through. Dad rode to and from Hoboken every day and we would come to the station in the evening to pick him up. He rode the 5:22 out of Hoboken and got to BH at 6:08. We liked to get there early enough to put a penny on the track and watch the express to Millington come through at 6:00 and run it over. Funny how 32 years later I can still remember those details.

When I turned 14, they would let me ride to Hoboken by myself. Camera in hand, I photographed everything to do with the train, route and terminal. I need to see if Mom still has some of those photo albums in the attic.

Dad used to say that he MU's were so old that they had arrows sticking out of the side from the Delaware indians!

My kids don't have those opportunities here in the land of VRE and METRO.

  by Idiot Railfan
 
NHRR WTBY wrote:My kids don't have those opportunities here in the land of VRE and METRO.
Take them to Steamtown some day. There are a bunch of idled MUs there, but quite often the short jaunt there includes MUs pulled by one of the steam engines. Not quite the same as accerating out of Newark, but enough to bring back some memories.

Which gets me thinking...In 1984 dozens of the MUs escaped the blow torch by getting farmed out to tourist lines all over the country. I believe some went to the Lackawaxen and Stourbridge but I don't know if they still used on those excursions. A video I got for my kids about 8-10 years ago ("There Goes a Train," out long before 2000, as this page says:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 5?v=glance
) had a portion shot on a tourist line in California with obvious DL&W MUs. It was pretty cool being able to say to my kids with near certainty--because of all the riding I did as teenager on the MUs--I rode the cars in the tape.

So where else did they end up, and how many survive today? Is there a web page someplace with that info?

  by livesteamer
 
One trailer car sits in Sedalia, MO as part of the Kadee BBQ. I get a chance to eat lunch there every once and awhile. The interior is faithful restored with wicker seats; only the dining tables break the interior mood.

  by njt4172
 
Idiot Railfan wrote:
NHRR WTBY wrote:My kids don't have those opportunities here in the land of VRE and METRO.
Take them to Steamtown some day. There are a bunch of idled MUs there, but quite often the short jaunt there includes MUs pulled by one of the steam engines. Not quite the same as accerating out of Newark, but enough to bring back some memories.

Which gets me thinking...In 1984 dozens of the MUs escaped the blow torch by getting farmed out to tourist lines all over the country. I believe some went to the Lackawaxen and Stourbridge but I don't know if they still used on those excursions. A video I got for my kids about 8-10 years ago ("There Goes a Train," out long before 2000, as this page says:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 5?v=glance
) had a portion shot on a tourist line in California with obvious DL&W MUs. It was pretty cool being able to say to my kids with near certainty--because of all the riding I did as teenager on the MUs--I rode the cars in the tape.

So where else did they end up, and how many survive today? Is there a web page someplace with that info?

About 3 or 4 motor cars (pans removed) ended up on the Knox and Kane Railroad in Clarion, Pa....Unfortunatley, the bad news is the railroad ceased operations and is selling off all their equipment.... The semi-good news is some of the ex-DL&W motor cars they had could probably be bought at a good price...Anyone know what they are going for???? If they are selling for $5,000 I could concievably purchase one.... Ferrying it to NJ is a different story......

Steve

  by njt4172
 
Oh and another thing.... I'd say about half of the fleet still exists and are run by tourist railroads all over the country and Canada!!! That is incredible being that some of the high roof trailers built in 1917 are almost 90 years old!!!!!!!!!!

Try this link
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/mu/mu.html

  by pdman
 
And perhaps many of the tourist roads might not have the equipment to come into existence were it not for these DL&W/NJT cars becoming available so late (in the 1980s). No one could afford the building of new equipment like that today. Open windows, wicker seats that have lasted for decades, etc.

  by livesteamer
 
Take at look at this link: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/mu/mu

Looks like a fairly complete list of MU locations

  by Tri-State Tom
 
Rich -

AIR, I was standing right behind Ben Friedland as we pulled into Dover that night.

Did you ride as well ?

Very good photos !!!

  by Idiot Railfan
 
Rich--

Excellent photos!!

I was on that last MU. Were two of those conductors named Mike, on the left, and Jimmy on the right?

  by Tri-State Tom
 
Anyone ever notice that all the high-roof trailors had an extendtion on the engineer's side of the control end while the low-roof trailors and the powered MU's did not ?

Also, who was the MU horn manufacturer and WHY did the unusual looking 2-bell assembly have the horns pointed down at the roof rather than aimed ahead ?

http://davesrailpix.com/dlw/htm/dlw157.htm

DONT KNOW...

  by henry6
 
Don't know about the bracket, truthfully never botherd me to see it before! And don't know about the horn manufacturer off hand...did have the full specs for the cars way back when, lent them out, and never got them back...but do know that the horns pointed down so as not to blare into the ajdacent car piercing the ears of even those with hearing aids I'm sure. Remember, each "trailer" was also a cab car on the "west" end while each "motor" was a cab car on the "east" end. So any horn(s) would have to be aimed for the benefit of the passenger. Taber's 20th Century, vol 2 may have an answer on the horn manufacturere...and maybe even the bracket!

  by livesteamer
 
And, IIRC, the Lackawanna's MU engineers were not particularly aggressive with the use of the horn--seems to me when riding the MUs, most engineers were light on the horn. I also recall that the horn had a really pleasing sound to them.
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