I suppose that Weekend Chief needs some kudos to actually admit that the Lackawanna existed as a separate railroad. The picture of the FM TM's is great however the color of the maroon seems a bit red if I recall correctly. The Scotchlite "Lackawanna Railroad" emblem looks closer to what the color should be so I'm wondering if the color on the TM's changed. Actually the locomotives are quite clean for 1960 and well-maintained. When the TM's were new, there was no white/gray smoke coming out of the exhaust. The Trainmasters captivated me as a pre-teen. They were so massive and loud. They made the EMD's sound like whining cats. The roar of the TM was not like the other locomotives. Alcos and Baldwins always sound like they could stall any minute. The EMD's had the high pitch whine at high speeds and a constant rapid idle. The TM's were so loud that when they started a train out of Mountain View they would generate a frequency, as they accelerated, that would vibrate the knick-knacks on my aunts shelves about a mile away up on Alps Road. Nothing compared to them when they were in their prime. It's too bad they had the high maintenance issues with the OP engine. I never heard much about electrical failures before the merger. Somewhere around 1962, the FM's seemed to leave the Boonton Line. That was also at the time when most freight was moved over to the Erie side. I've often wondered where the FM's were assigned between that time and the late 60s when they wound up in Cleveland. Ed Montgomery The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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