CALLING ALL B&O FANS

[J3a-614]

CALLING ALL B&O FANS.
CALLING ALL B&O FANS.

SPECIAL ALL POINTS BULLETIN.

Be on the lookout for Potomac Eagle F-7 No. 722, also known as Bessemer & Lake Erie 722.  Potomac Eagle 722 is now known to be in disguise as Baltimore & Ohio 722, sighting confirmed by J3a-614.   Be on the lookout for these features:

Last observed in blue and grey coat (of paint) with black and gold stripes, wearing black (brake) shoes (trucks, fuel tank).  Last seen near grade crossing on US Route 50 in Vanderlip, W.Va., west of Romney, on May 5, 2010.  No photo of current disguise available, but is known to be close or identical to original B&O coat (of paint) in use in 1949.
 
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=264834&nseq=31

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=218684&nseq=71

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=275540&nseq=62

Anticipated to be in vicinity of Romney, Moorefield, and Petersburg, W.Va. June 25, 26, and 27, 2010 during West Virginia Rails Festival.  Be on lookout.

http://www.wvrails2010.com/

That is all.

[J3a-614]

CALLING ALL B&O FANS!
CALLING ALL B&O FANS!

BULLETIN UPDATE.

Photo available, from Railway Preservation News.

http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29395

That is all.

[Woody Elmore]

That is an impressive color scheme. Must have cost a bundle back in the day.

[pdlethbridge]

Yes, but substantially less than it costs today

[Colorado_Mac]

I  would guess that back in the day they didn't use the same quality paints these folks did, and of course, there were no EPA regulations adding cost.  Still, remember when they went to the solid blue because this was just too costly to maintain.

[J3a-614]

CALLING ALL B&O FANS.
CALLING ALL B&O FANS.

(I've been watching too many old episodes of "Dragnet" and "Racket Squad.")

BULLETIN UPDATE.

New night photos from Railway Preservation News:

http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29444

That is all.

[pdlethbridge]

I bet there isn't a drop of lead paint on that beauty!

[Doneldon]

pd-

I'll bet you're right on the money with that statement.  I'll even bet that the paint isn't even alkyd or hydrocarbon based.  It's probably water-base enamel like they use on automobiles now, to eliminate the poisonous vapors and reduce the emissions from the paint shop.  Of course, I could be wrong.  Maybe they used cases upon cases of precisely-colored Floquil paints in little air brushes.  If so, they'd have had to start the paint job in 1988 or so.

          --D

[J3a-614]

It's my understanding that automotive paint is what EMD used even in the old days.  Another fellow who lives not too far from me and who also models the C&O ca. 1970 likes to find examples of GP7s and GP9s still in factory paint at that date, when the engines would be from 13 to 21 years old.  Such paint would be heavily weathered, of course, but so would a truck or car of that age, especially if it was outdoors as much as a locomotive is.  I've also come across photos of C&O geeps as late as 1980 that were still in service in factory paint from the mid-1950's!

I've been trying to talk this other fellow, who models the area around Gordonsville, Va., to come over to the dark (coal-fired steam) side, but I can't get him away from blue and yellow "diseasles!" :-)

http://www.piedmontsub.com/

Check out some of what keeps the 722 company:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=245998&nseq=8

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=167367&nseq=17

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=175011&nseq=14

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=156573&nseq=24

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=57430&nseq=52

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=40960&nseq=56

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=267132&nseq=12

General photo links:

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?offset=0&where=search|-2|-2|-2||-2|potomac eagle|15|1||||||||-2|-2||-2|-2|||15|-2|-2||||||1||1||||&newdisplay=5

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?offset=0&where=search|-2|-2|-2||-2|south branch valley west virginia|15|1||||||||-2|-2||-2|-2|||15|-2|-2||||||1||1||||&newdisplay=5

Enjoy!

[Doneldon]

J3a-

Diseasles?  I love it.  My middle grandson still can't say the word "diesel" without prefacing it with "icky."  He's 13, but well indoctrinated, er, trained.  (Ouch.  Sorry. Twice.)

          --D

[J3a-614]

Glad you liked that bit, but I can't claim it to be original.  I've been told it goes back to the 1950s or 1960s in Great Britian, as steam was dying there.  Those Brits love steam even more than the die-hardest steam fans here, and that's saying something!  They do have some problems, but their accomplishments in railway preservation put much of what we do to shame.  Among other things, they recently placed into excursion service a new heavy 4-6-2, "Tornado;" in many ways this would be comparable to reconstructing a New York Central 4-6-4!  A more cooperative railway management that doesn't mind occasional steam power on the road helps considerably, at least if the steam power is fast enough to stay out of the way of all the other passenger trains on the same line.  The "Tornado" even came to the rescue of stranded passengers last winter when there were problems with modern equipment in the cold weather; seems they were running an excursion, and made a decision to hold down at least one regular schedule, making other stops that had not been planned; got some people home who otherwise wouldn't have made it.

Can you imagine a 4-8-4 doing the same for stranded commuters in, say, Chicago?