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RE: (erielack) Ballast hoppers, was: Akron freight house logo pic ture



Phil Albano wrote:

> The solid E within the diamond on the Akron freight house is 
> intriguing in how it foreshadows the development of the 
> modern EL diamond with the separated elements of the E and L. 
> IIRC, this station was built around 1949 (or was that just 
> the passenger station?). The Erie would have had to approve 
> the blueprints for it, thus making one wonder if the Erie was 
> thinking about changing from spelling out ERIE to a simple, 
> solid E? Think about how a solid E within a diamond would 
> have looked on say a Berkshire tender. Almost too modern for 
> that era. Or is the Akron station logo an anomaly that 
> somehow slipped in? The Corning, NY station was built during 
> the same timeframe but had no solid E, just modern metal 
> letters spelling out "ERIE" above the entrance. The only 
> other evidence I can find of a solid E within the diamond is 
> on page 119 of EL Color Guide to Freight and Passenger 
> equipment by Larry DeYoung. Ballast hopper EL 424302 has a 
> solid E - was this just a paint shop mistake?!
>   If so , there was more than one as I vaguely remember 
> seeing these ballast hoppers and thinking the solid E looked odd.


I have seen other locations (Erie ones) that use the simplified "E-in-a-diamond" logo. I think that part of the reason the simplified logo was used was because, well, it was simpler to make (it's a lot easier to carve an "E" out of stone than "ERIE")

The logo used on the EL ballast hoppers does appear to be a solid "E", but blowing some of the pictures up, you can see a VERY small gap between the two upper horizontal pieces. It appears to have been a shop-made diamond that didn't follow the railroad standards, but it does appear to have been used on all the ballast hoppers.

Speaking of which, does anyone have shots of the former DL&W ballast hoppers in EL paint? I've seen a 3/4 end view of EL X-142, but it wasn't the focus of the picture. I was surprised to see an EL X-series car, and would love to see a photo of the ENTIRE car. Anyone have one?

	- Paul

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