(erielack) Some additional thoughts on the EL Hot 100

[Patrick Moore <pat.moore_@_att.net>]

List...

I would like to share a few additional thoughts looking back on the EL "Hot 100", which is actually 117 freight cars because I decided the cutoff would be at 30 cars.

I came up with the list after consulting with the January 1976 issue of the Official Railway Equipment Register, in other words, the last equipment register before the end of the EL.  Because I used the ORER, the cars were grouped according to how the individual railroads shared their information with the publisher.  Therefore, all the errors and discrepancies with that publication affect the outcome of my list.  


In reality, many railroads had more than one group of virtually identical cars.  Take the D&H Ilmenite Ore hoppers for example.  These cars appear in the ORER as two different listings, possibly because one batch was delivered in 1965 and a follow-up order was delivered in 1966.  For all intents and purposes, both batches of cars are identical, and could be combined.  I realized this about half-way through the countdown...too late to start over.  Upon further review, I will be sharing a small collection of "honorable mentions" during the rest of August.  The honorable mention cars will be small groups of visually identical cars that when summed up would be in the Top 100, but were not included in the original countdown because no single group had 30 or more cars.

The Hot 100 list is only as representative as the collection of consist sheets seen on the ELHS web site.  The top ten was dominated by intermodal cars.  However, this seems reasonable because in the 1972-1976 time frame, intermodal and finished automobiles were a major source of traffic for the EL.  Some "artifacts" pop out because of the collection of consist sheets, which are dominated by mainline trains mainly east of Marion.  The D&H Ilmenite hoppers are a good example of that.  These cars moved in regular blocks from Scranton to Lake Jct and we have several SE-98 and ES-99 consists in the database.  If we were to look at other parts of the system, other cars might be dominant.  For example, if we had more consists from the S&U or the Cleveland main, we would see numerous examples of rock being hauled from Jamesville to Solvay, or coal/iron ore going to/from the N&W connection at Cresson, Ohio.

As an HO scale modeler, the most eye-opening finding (and the main reason I began this endeavor) was to point out how many "common" cars have yet to be produced in HO scale.  Six of the top ten have not been done.  Almost HALF of the list (51 out of 117) has no available model!!!  Only 46 cars out of 117 have an available model.  The remaining 20 cars have a good model available, but not painted properly.  The lack of intermodal cars is stunning.  We have no model of the third most common car, the Trailer Train F89e flat.  We only have ONE model of ANY type of 85-foot flat car...the ancient Athearn Blue Box flat car, which is nominally an F85b (Hot #11).  When will someone make an F85c (Hot #5) or an F85a (Hot #17)?  When will someone give us a lo-deck auto rack (Hot #4, #16)?

Let's talk about EL models.  We still lack a state-of-the-art model of the most common EL and DL&W freight car...a 12-panel 8' door 40' box (Hot #8, #26).  We lack models of the two most common EL 50' boxcars, a double-door car (Hot #15) and a combo-door General American car (Hot #35).  We lack a model of the most common 60' boxcar, a Greenville 60' box with riveted sides and a 10' Youngstown door (Hot #50).  We lack a model of the most common EL gondola, a 52' "modern" P-S car (Hot #37). We still lack a DL&W 18000-series covered hopper.

So here's my top 12 wish list, in no particular order:
Lo-deck Tri-level auto rack (either Plh10 or F89wh or F89ch)
40' 12-panel 8' door box car
Detailed 86' Greenville or Thrall double plug door high cube (aka 4-door)
Detailed 85' flat car (either F85c or F85a)
General American 85' or 89' flat car
D&H Ilmenite ore hopper
Lo-flush-deck tri-level auto rack (Plh21)
Pittsburg & Shawmut 55-ton 8-panel 2-bay open hopper
N&W 50' ACF "Precision Design" double plug door boxcar
EL Pullman-Standard gondola
MHLX 50' insulated boxcar
DL&W 18000-series covered hopper

- -pat





	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	http://EL-List.railfan.net/
	To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html

------------------------------