#e8a

[coolthingsguyslike]

[railwayhistorical]

Joliet This image shows a Rock Island outbound commuter train clacking over the ATSF/GM&O tracks at Joliet, Illinois. This has always been a great spot for rail enthusiasts.

The wonderful station here is made from Indiana limestone, of which I'm a fan, growing up amongst the quarries of southern Indiana. The locomotive is an EMD E8A built for the Union Pacific in 1953.

Image by Richard Koenig; taken in 1976.

[guerrerense]

ERIE #835 & #834 por Jim Strain Por Flickr: E8A 835 & 834 pullling a fantrip. Location unknown. Kodachrome my collection, photographer unknown.

[marmarinou]

Rock Island E8A 655 by Craig Sanders Via Flickr: Image made in Peoria, Illinois, of E8A No. 655 on the head end of the Peoria Rocket. (Scanned from color negative film)

[dusty-locomotive]

This model of Amtrak 234 was created using a Proto 2000 E8a model that I picked up at a train show for a reasonable price with the B unit. They certainly aren’t the best models, but they run well and are one of the few options for a decent E8 in HO scale. I assume that the Walthers version isn’t really that much better. I did this build a while ago, so some of what I write here might be a bit inaccurate.

There aren’t too many images of Amtrak 234 on the web, but there are certainly plenty of references for E8 units from the Amtrak formation era on the usual sites. I also relied heavily on Stephen M. Timko’s Amtrak Power in Color Volume 1 while doing this build. I always print reference images, but using the book was a bit nicer than shuffling loose laser prints.

The first thing I did was open up the loco to see what was going on inside. I purchased a pair of the MRC sound decoders for the A and B units with the appropriate sound for the dual prime movers in the E8 prototype. The sound is pretty basic, but the decoder has a mars light effect and gives me no issues while running. I had to do some modifications to fit the speaker, but it wasn’t too bad. What kills me about the decoder is that you can’t silence it without initiating a shutdown sequence.

I next removed the Seaboard Coast Line text from the cowl and cab using diluted acetone on a Q-tip. This left a ghost of the text, which looked really good, but eventually became almost totally obscured by the airbrushed road grime. The real major customization on this model was the pilot. The model ships with two pilot fascia parts, but neither seemed to match the prototype. With a razor saw, I removed the existing pilot support and filed it until it was flat and correct to add a replacement. I used the cast metal Detail Associates pilot for passenger service part, and after lots of shaping with a hand file, I glued it to the shell with 2-part epoxy. The hoses are Details West. Some of the grab irons are bent by hand in brass wire and others are from my stock of various pieces from the usual manufacturers. The mirrors are the etched part from Details West. The SCL prototypes had a disc mounted below the lights, which I created with a punch out of tooling foil. The extended ladder is made from soldered brass wire. The horn is a brass Details West piece, but it also might be an old Overland part. The patches are Floquil Platinum Mist and the decals are Microscale.

[trainmaniac]

Six months and counting by Kevin Cavanaugh Via Flickr: IIRC it took five sets of equipment to cover the rotations of the City of Los Angeles/Challenger over the UP/Milwaukee Road between LA and Chicago. Here, are two of the five, meeting at Colton, CA on the Santa Fe's Third District on October 4 , 1970. Eastbound train #104 behind E8A 926 is about to cross the SP while a somewhat tardy train #103 passes by on the adjacent main. #103 was due at San Bernadino straight up at 11:00 AM while #104 was to stop at 2:40 PM. Assuming the e/b was close to on time, this meet should have taken place somewhere between LAUPT and East Los Angeles. Oh well, my win....

[thefakeray]

RF&P E8A 1014 With the East Coast Champion and More. 1014 was built in October 1953 and she became Amtrak 222 -- 4 Photos by Marty Bernard Via Flickr: On February 6, 1971 RF&P 1014 posed with SCL E7A 554 in Richmond, VA. Thanks girls!

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