Now and then, for a third time...

doctorwayne

Active Member
Sep 6, 2005
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Canada, eh?
And probably last time, at least for a while. Today is a brief look at the motive power through the years of the Elora Gorge & Eastern.

First up is Northern 501, class loco of six built in 1947, the EG&E's last new steam power. Built by Bachmann, with front end work by EG&E shop forces. The vestibule cab was scratchbuilt right over the existing cab, then visible parts of the old cab were carved away as required. The centipede tender was built from the original Santa Fe tender, shortened, and with an open coal bunker in place of the oil cistern. The centipede bed is scratchbuilt using the top of an old Tyco ACF covered hopper to represent the curved lower portion of the tank. The sideframes were cut from .020" sheet styrene, applied over the cut- down original four axle trucks, which were stripped of all detail except the journal boxes. These were cemented together, then shortened to suit. Scrap Kadee plastic coupler boxes and bits of wire were used to make the springs, hangers, and other details. The front tender truck is from an Athearn or MDC passenger car.
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Here's another view:
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The next picture shows the 4-8-4's replacement, although both worked side-by-side into the early '60s. Here we see FA-2 51 leading three sisters through Lowbanks in an A-B-A-B configuration. These are by Model Power, with wire handrails and a few details added. All units are powered and are real workhorses.
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Finally, we come to the EG&E's 800 class, which bumped the FAs into secondary service in the mid-seventies. They started life as Athearn U-33Cs, but were upgraded by the shops and redesignated as C36HTs. Each unit has two Mashima can motors and has been ballasted to almost 33 ounces. Drawbar pull has been measured at 8.3 ounces per unit.
Here we see the 809 leading two sisters through Lowbanks. They were seldom seen in this area due to the lack of passing sidings long enough to accomodate the trains that they're capable of hauling. Here they're returning from a demonstration run on the trackage of interchange partner TH&B.
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I hope you've enjoyed this look at some of the motive power of the EG&E.

Wayne
 

cn nutbar

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Dec 4, 2005
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hard to choose

hey doc--- impressed with the motive power but the scenery is also outstanding---that northern must have looked real good hauling freight or passenger trains on the eg&e---i can almost feel the ground vibrate---cn nutbar:thumb:
 

doctorwayne

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Sep 6, 2005
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Canada, eh?
Thanks to all for the kind comments. My next efforts will probably be views of passing trains, somewhat similar to the efforts of you, Tom. Of course, never being one to let the pictures do all of the talking, there'll probably be a brief blurb on the origins and modifications to each car.

Wayne
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Feb 3, 2003
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bigbluetrains.com
Wayne,

These are indeed a supurb series of pics.:thumb: You do a fine job at modeling and taking photos, and now you're doing great at re-sizing and posting these pics. :D What more can you ask for??:wave:
 

Marxed

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Jan 29, 2005
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very cool pictures, could you tell us about the lighting in which was used during the photo shoot and what type of camera you had? the lighting is rather good ;)
 

doctorwayne

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Sep 6, 2005
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Canada, eh?
The camera is my daughters: as she puts it, "a cheapie Kodak". It's a very basic camera, auto focus with a wide angle lense, the option to override the flash and a very basic exposure control. I generally use it on a tripod, with the lense set to admit the most light. The lighting is fluorescent tubes, cool white, in four foot double fixtures. Yesterday, I emailed a picture upstairs to my daughter's computer to get a look at what everyone else is seeing. My monitor, a fairly old one, shows everything with a greenish cast, which I attributed to the fluorescent lights. Hers is a new Mac G5, and what a difference in the picture quality and colour. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool fan of film cameras, but I have to admit that this "cheapie" impressed me with its capabilities: even more now that I've seen the results on a better monitor. By the way, use of the flash made just about anything I photographed look phony and artificial.

Wayne