Re: (erielack) Erie Postcard

[Hhaines_@_aol.com]

Paul, 
You have it correct.  The Order of the Red Spot is also described in the 
Crist (Erie Memories), Sweetland (Erie Railroad in Color), Carleton (The Erie 
Railroad Story) and Larry DeYoung  (Erie Trackside with Robert F. Collins) 
books. 

At one point I commented to Larry that many of the photos selected for the 
publication had the Order of the Red Spot. It might be that the engines were 
more frequently photographed because they were cleaner, or that the shots had 
better reproduction qualities (like contrast) from a clean locomotive 
compared to one with less polish.  (Besides, if the locomotive is clean and 
"cute" (including Russian blue jackets), I have a better chance of obtaining 
finances needed to expand my model fleet). 

Richard Young's explanation that more are pictured in the East is logical. 
Some of the passenger power on the Erie Vestibuled have been shown with 
(probable) red number plates.  

I would suggest there are additional reasons for fewer locomotives on the 
west end pictured with the Order of the Red Spot.  For example, I suspect 
that there were fewer steam-era railroad photographers on western portions of 
the Erie, based on population density alone.  (One of the advantages of the 
Erie for fast freight from Chicago to New York was that the railroad missed 
most of the populated areas.) Thus, less chance of photos, especially on 
branches where same-crew operations occurred.  

Some locomotives were named after the engineers that ran them, and this 
practice was system-wide (as listed in the book Erie Power).

One other oddity about steam locomotive color and the Erie system.  NYSW 
locomotives (in the late 19th Century) had their stacks painted white with 
red top rim so they could be recognized as NYSW locomotives in Jersey City.

Howard Haines
ELHS #1447

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