(erielack) Erie/EL double-door 40' boxcars

["Paul R. Tupaczewski" <paultup_@_optonline.net>]

Hi fellow listers,

A friend of mine, a big Great Northern fan, told me that the latest issue of
the GN's historical magazine has an article about the former "EL 40' double
door boxcars that GN bought." The article (and the GN's diagram book) claims
that the cars were built in 1940, and leased from A. A. Morrison Co., Inc.
in 1963. These were GN series 15000-15549, which were "formerly
Erie-Lackawanna series 78500-78999 and 79000-79199." It also mentions that
the cars had a mix of diagonal panel and Viking roofs, and the ends (from
the one GN photo that appears) seem to be standard 4-5 Dreadnaught ends.

The mysteries here:

* Since the majority (all?) of Erie's cars wore the same roadnumbers under
EL, the number series specified in the GN diagram book refers to 40' SINGLE
door cars. The Erie's double-door 40' cars were in the 95000-and-above
series. The Erie 95000-series cars seem to be a match for the GN car. So
what happened here? The EL renumbered the cars just before selling them? Or
did the GN "oops" on the numbers?

* Larry De Young mentions in his EL color guide that these cars, unusually,
were sold "after painting them gray and hand lettering them EL in maroon"
(page 75) - has anyone ever seen a photo of these double-doors in EL gray???
I would LOVE to see a photo of one.

Any thoughts would be welcome!

	- Paul


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End of EL List Daily V3 #1903
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