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(erielack) EL in Railfan and Railroad

I don't recall this being discussed previously. The cover of the current 
issue (June) of R&R caught my eye at the Strasburg RR retail store 
yesterday; the cover story is a Preston Cook reminisce about his 3 years 
(1971-74) as Marion-based Service Engineer for EMD. The seemingly limitless 
supply of EL photos never ceases to amaze me, and most of the photos were 
new to me. Of course, Preston had unfettered access to the property and took 
many photos. The most interesting paragraphs dealt with the oft-discussed 
crankshaft problems of the 20-cylinder SD45/SDP45's. The problem wasn't the 
shaft itself but the "welds that held the crankshaft supporting A-frames" 
developing cracks and eventually coming loose, causing the crankshaft itself 
to fracture due to lack of support. The replacement crankcases and those on 
the Dash-2's had more robust welds that corrected the problem. So there was 
nothing inherently flawed with the long 20-cyl crankshaft per se, but the 
damage was done as far as most RR mechanical people was concerned, and the 
SD40-2 far outsold the 45. I wonder how differently things would have turned 
out if there was no A-frame weld issue.

He mentions Sunday's "Ashland Turn", departing in late afternoon with a 
brace of RS3's to be set out (along with their blocks) at several auto parts 
plants east of Marion. I've always wondered if this was another name for 
FB-1 and FB-2 (Fisher Body) or was this a Sunday-only extra?

A few errors crept into an otherwise excellent article. The joint trackage 
with the Big Four extended from the east end of Marion yard to Galion as 
stated in a photo caption, not Galion to Mansfield, which appears in the 
text. He reversed the symbols for Dayton-97/98; the EB gets the 
even-numbered symbol. Finally the WB UPS symbols were A/CX-99 and CX-99, not 
NY-99, which was the primary WB schedule for general TOFC/COFC business.

Finally I'll mention the photo of BN power, presumably on NE-74, dated March 
1973, which I believe was close to the end of the BN power pool. They're 
shown being fueled on the main in front of the depot, fouling the busy 
interlocking. Evidently the locos were fueled at St Paul and were not 
refueled by either BN or EL at Chicago. Was this common practice for this 
hot train? I thought only passenger trains were refueled at AC. I assume a 
trip to the Marion engine facility would have incurred unacceptable delay.

Thank you Mr Cook, and I highly recommend this article for those interested 
in EL's west end.

Paul B 


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