(erielack) WNY Power assignments

[Christopher Thurner <crthurner_@_yahoo.com>]

Listers:

I echo Bill Burt's observations on his sightings at Cuba Jct. and also am envious that he had a superior viewing venue, where he could catch all the traffic to / from Salamanca, while I was relegated to viewing just what came over the original mainline through Wellsville.  As a teenager, I didn't realize that the River Line was also a route to Hornell.  I just thought it went to Buffalo.

My observations in brief:

- - F units, that were ubiqitous in the 60's on the point of through freights, were pretty much gone by 1970 / 71.  Definitely all gone after Agnes;

- - SD 45's and variants were, as Bill indicated, originally in pairs, with an odd unit in the #3 position (i.e. U25b, C425, GP35). Then trio's of straight 45's started appearing around 74 and were pretty consistent through C-day on piggyback trains and for the most part some of the other through freights (Mahwah Ford plant trains, which were, as I recall, were timetabled over the River Line, but frequently ran on the former main (my guess is due to track conditions and / or congestion on the River Line).  Both also had occasional appearances of U33 / U36C's;

- - Local power was almost exclusively GP7.  I don't know if GP9's made any appearances, as I didn't know the difference between them at the time.  Very rarely, a GP35 would be spotted on a local;

- - Work trains were almost exclusively RS3's.  Sometimes a GP7.  One oddity I recall was a FA (not sure if it was a 1 or 2) in black / yellow (not sure if Erie or 1st EL scheme) in the 65 - 68 timeframe manning a MOW train dropping ballast through Wellsville;

- - Non-pig, non-Mahwah trains could be an assortment of whatever power you like.  Except GP7 / 9's were almost never seen on through freights after 1970.

- - Early / mid 60's were a fan's delight (my Father's and a family friend's observations here, I was just a little tyke then).  C424 / 425 common with U25b's and GP 35's.  Obviously, F's were most common road power.  Almost any combination of power was possible.  Trainmasters were seen frequently and even the Baldwin road switchers made occasional appearances.

- - Passenger trains had E8's and F's mostly.  I don't recall them, but again, more elder members / friends said the PA's came through too.   

As to Bill Burt's observations of the frequency of GP35's, U25b's and C425's being the third unit with SD45 pairs, I would think these %'s, pretty much reflect the number of each respective units on the EL roster (I don't have George E's site up yet to verify).  As I recall, the EL had more GP35's than U25b's and about 10 - 12 C425's.

One last question.  As I recall from reading elsewhere, the PA's were all traded in on newer 6 axle power in the late 60's.  I recall, however, in the 72 - 74 year range, seeing a 2, maybe 3 car business train being pulled by at least one PA.  It definitely wasn't an E8, because at the time I saw it, I remarked as to what kind of loco it was.  It was in GMY and my guess it was either an inspection train to examine repair work done after Hurricane Agnes, or if it was 74, it was a train to review the tracks for a pre-CR evaluation team (or possibly Chessie / SF merger / acquisition).

Can anyone elaborate on this or whether I was completely wrong?  I'm pretty sure it was a PA on the front and I'm definitely sure on the date range.

I'll be intererested in hearing your comments.

Regards,

Chris Thurner



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