(erielack) Erie/DL&W Color Guide... a quick review.

["Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul)" <paultup_@_lucent.com>]

I just got my copy of the Erie/DL&W Color Guide to Freight and Passenger
equipment... a quick review of its contents for all:

The book is literally split in half - each half is essentially treated as a
separate book. The first half covers Erie equipment, the second, Lackawanna.
(Actually, the "Erie side" of the book got 60 pages, while the "DL&W side"
got 66)

ERIE SIDE:

* Lots 'o passenger content (though surprisingly, it seems as many of the
photos were underexposed or shot on cloudy days, but based on the rarity of
the subjects, who cares!) 
* GREAT caboose shots - nice detail, too! 
* Flat cars - pretty nifty, with lots of odd loads (modelers will love it!)
* Piggyback cars/trailers - good shots, but the John Long images need to be
color corrected a bit.
* Stock cars - I never knew the Erie had stockcars that resembled the PRR's!
They apparently rebuilt boxcars with holes into stock cars in 1956 and 1960
(has anyone seen these in EL paint at all?)
* Gons, covered hoppers, open-top hoppers - all covered fairly well (though
I wish there were more hoppers - see my note below)
* Boxcars - covered decently - wish there were more - but all very good
shots.
* Non-revenue equipment - a whole lotta neat stuff here! An assortment of
EVERYTHING. Very nice.

DL&W SIDE:

* Marine equipment - Hey, this is both FREIGHT and PASSENGER equipment, so
why not??? A few neat shots in this section!
* Passenger content - thorough and very neat. A lot of "zingers" in this
section. Boonton cars got good coverage in this one.
* Milk cars and reefers - a few shots, but all very nice.
* Piggyback flats/trailers - lots of nifty shots here
* Soda ash covered hoppers - a lot of shots of those 18000-series 4-bay
covered hoppers
* Covered hoppers - Excellent shots of those neat drop-frame ACF 1790
covered hoppers.
* Cement canisters. Yes, two pages on them! :)  Interesting...
* Boxcars - Like the Erie section, wish there were more, but what's there is
very nice (albeit a lot of rusty lettering on some cars...)
* Coal hoppers - Again, like the Erie section, nice stuff, but wish there
was more!
* Cabooses - NICE SHOTS! I see a lot of consistencies between the Erie
portion and this one!
* Non-revenue equipment: Camp cars, snow plows/flangers, cranes and other
goodies. There's a really nice shot on page 124 that shows an EL-lettered
GMY FT being lifted by crane 95915...


In speaking with Larry and Mike, they both acknowledged that photographers
tended to shoot the "weird" and not the everyday. This is the reason there
are so few good "plain Jane" freight car shots out there for either road
(boxcars, hoppers), so the material that is found within is pretty good, all
things considered.

Overall, the book is excellent for any modeler of either road (or the EL for
that matter, since much of this equipment survived in their original paint
well into EL, and even CR). The variety is great, and the sheer number of
photos is terrific (300+)

	- Paul






Paul R. Tupaczewski_______________________
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