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Re: (erielack) Turning the EL calendar...

MB-77 (MayBrook-77) was a mid-morning departure from Maybrook with cars off 
the New Haven RR.

A little history on the REA fleet: By 1960, competition and bad labor 
agreements had rendered REA's shrinking traditional express business 
unprofitable, and the company sought to diversify. At the same time, 
piggyback was growing rapidly and there was a great need for lease trailers 
so RR's could have the option of participating without making large capital 
investments in trailer fleets. Since REA already had a large network of 
repair facilities for its vehicle fleet, trailer leasing looked like a good 
bet. So that year it established Realco Trailer Leasing (REA Leasing 
COmpany), which along with XTRA Inc provided the bulk of trailer leasing 
services to RR's through the mid-70's. This was a fleet of 40' trailers 
which differed from the regular fleet. When the "Z" suffix was introduced in 
the mid-60's, reporting marks on short-term lease trailers became REAZ. with 
long-term leases, an "R" prefix would be added to the leasing RR's, ie: 
RNWZ, RLVZ. When REA began winding down in 1968, the Realco subsidiary was 
sold to Transamerica Corp. The Realco name was maintined for about a decade. 
After Dereg, it began placing its own name on a new fleet of dry van and 
reefer trailers. So that's how Transamerica trailers came to have the REAZ 
reporting mark.

Paul B

From: "Tupaczewski, Paul R \(Paul\)" <paultup_@_alcatel-lucent.com>
Subject: (erielack) Turning the EL calendar...

October is upon us, so it's time to turn the EL calendar...


October's image is a nicely-lit "sunset light" view of a matched trio of
U25Bs crossing the pin-connected deck truss bridge at Lackawaxen. The
calendar incorrectly states that this beidge is "...spanning the
Delaware", when it actually spans the Lackawaxen River. (A Weekend Chief
incorrect caption? No! :)

The trio of U25Bs is part of the second order of these units, which came
delivered with yellow Gothic lettering, and they're brand-spanking new,
leading freight MB-77. The second car on the train is interesting for
intermodal modelers - it appears to have an REA Express trailer as well
as an empty flat deck trailer. The low angle of the sun highlights the
pin-connecting pieces of the bridge nicely.

- - Paul


 


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