Erie Power Steam and Diesel locomotives 1840-1970 Staufer Dust Jacket for Sale

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Erie Power Steam and Diesel locomotives 1840-1970 Staufer Dust Jacket For Sale

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Erie Power Steam and Diesel locomotives 1840-1970 Staufer Dust Jacket:
$55.00

RailroadTreasures offers the following item: Erie Power Steam and Diesel locomotives 1840-1970 Staufer Dust Jacket Erie Power Steam and Diesel locomotives of the Erie Railroad from 1840 to 1970 By Alvin Staufer. Copyright 1970 Also included are lackawanna diesels and multiple car units that existed after the 1960 merger. DUST JACKET has some minor damage. This book of 448 pages and over 1,000 illustrations contains the complete motive power history of the Erie Railroad from 1840 to 1970. And a fascinating story it is, dominated by the disastrous decision to build the original road to a gauge of 6 feet.
The resultant prolonged poverty, limited adequate power procurement, which in effect magnified the importance of existing locomotives. SO ERIE ENGINES WERE OLD, LOVED, AND VERY WELL CARED FOR. After World War II, dieselization was total and swift. Then came the 1960 merger with Lackawanna and later the absorption into the Norfolk and Western combine. Added features of this volume include handy \"steam class charts,\" all time Erie, Lackawanna, and EL diesel roster, color paintings, text by Fred Westing and the most stunning collection of photographs ever assembled of ERIE\'S POWER.
CONTENTSA Bit of HistoryTill 1880Steam Switchers2-6-0 Moguls 2-8-0 Consolidations2-10-0 Decapods 2-8-2 Mikados 2-10-2 Santa Fe 2-8-4 BerkshireErie Mallets4-4-0 American4-4-2 Atlantic 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler4-6-2Pacifies (Early) 4-6-2 Pacifies (K5) Timken\'s 4-8-4Commuters Galore Electrification and MU\'sRail CarsDiesels INTRODUCTIONErie, Erie, wonderful Erie, the miracle is that you exist at all. The story of this child of adversity reads more like the wildest fiction. She was born andattempted to begin construction during the term of America\'s second cruelest president. Her east and west terminals, Piermont and Dunkirk, N. Y., wereimpractical from the beginning but to comply with her charter, tracks were confined to New York State. The story of the early Erie Railroad, is an unbelievable, but consistent string of bad luck and missed opportunities. Things like Commodore Vanderbilt almost taking control. Instead she got the likes of Gould, Fisk and Drew. She seemed destined for them. Topping all of Erie\'s phenomenal bad luck was Eleazar Lord\'s insistence on building road to a gauge of six feet. For almost 45 years this decision was to reap havoc on a road that could ill afford it. She could not interchange cars with other roads ; expensive laying of a triple track ; and to top it all, every piece of rolling stock was a custom built, expensive, odd-ball. The ultimate benefits of high-wide clearances were scant rewards for their initial burdens.But the Erie grew. Mostly she grew because this was the time of feverish railroad building and her route was non-competitive through country notsought by other railroads. One problem spared the Erie that was plaguing the rich New York Central and Pennsylvania, was the nuisance of parallel roads.Erie had no \"Nickel Plates\" hanging round her neck. Luck had to change. Eventually her natural marriage with the Atlantic and Great Western tookher tracks westward into the rich middles of industrial Ohio. Her entrance to Chicago via the Chicago & Erie was an absolute necessity, and the line fromSuffern, N. Y. to Jersey City grew in spite of all early attempts to stop it. The road did do a superb job of selling the one thing it could do best, and that was, rushing perishables from Chicago to New York City over the longest but least cluttered route between those cities. Erie could move it too, for the majority of its almost 1,000 mile route is quite level. The exception are the two eastern New York Hills and the murderous roller-coaster grades of eastern Ohio.
Now, what does all this hard luck have on the stated purpose of this book, motive power? In a word, PLENTY. The effects of the six feet gauge are obvious, but what about those years of abject poverty. When there is no money in the till, locomotives have to be maintained and run far beyond their normal life span, so Erie\'s fleet of power could boast the greatest average age of any engine of any class I roads in the entire United States of America. Some boast !
Something else happens when the boss is always broke-and that is in the attitude of the men. It is doubtful if there exists a closer band of fellowship and loyalty than that which exists on the ERIE. It was true 100 years ago and it is true today. Where in America could you find 45 year old Pacifies looking like they just rolled from the erection shop floor. In Jersey City in 1950-that\'s where.
This devotion is not limited to just the employees either. The fans and customers have the fever too ; even the commuters. This is my seventh book. I pray that our efforts \"here in\" are worthy of the loyalty and love these people feel for their Erie. We have conscientiously tried.Alvin Staufer Medina, Ohio February 1970
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