21 Years On The Erie Railroad

After working a few months for the Erie, I began to take an interest in locomotives. At that time, the Erie had five types of mainline power: the 2-8-0 Consolidation, the 2-8-2 Mikado,the 2-8-4 Berkshire, the 2-10-2 Santa Fe, and for the mainline passenger trains, the K-5 4-6-2 Pacific. The Pacifics, especially, impressed me. They had 79-inch drivers, some had the Box-Pox drive wheels, were usually very-well kept. I have always felt that the Erie's Pacifics deserved more press, should have been placed in the same category as the K-4 Pacifics on the Pennsylvania, or the New York Central Hudsons.

During World War II, a person might see many odd combinations of motive power on the passenger trains. It was not at all unusual to see Number 7, a train that carried an unusual amount of mail and Railway Express, to be double-headed with a Pacific leading, and a Berkshire for help. It was not unusual, either, to see a Berkshire subbing for a Pacific. I think the most unusual combination I can remember was Number 7 arriving about 2 hours late on a very cold December day, with a 2-10-2 leading, and one of the light 2700-series Pacifics cut in behind it for steam heat to the coaches.

The 2700-series were rarely seen on the Mahoning Division, where I was located. However, one Sunday afternoon I listened in on the dispatcher's wire, which I usually did when I had nothing else to do. The dispatcher reported that there was a "main train," the Erie's designation for a special train, heading East, powered by a 2700-series Pacific. The train happened to be a troop train of 12 cars. The Mahoning Division, for those not familiar with the Erie, took in the territory from Kent, Ohio in the West to Meadville, Pannsylvania in the East. The territory could be called "saw-toothed," in that there was very little level ground on the whole division, and eastbound was mostly up-hill.

The eastbound troop train finally came into sight. The little Pacific was struggling, but made it. I heard later that the only reason the engine was used on that particular movement was that the engine was heading "home" to New Jersey to go back into commuter service, where it belonged.

My interest in locomotives caused me to start exploring the power on the other railroads that served my home town. The other two railroads were the Pennsylvania, on the Pittsburgh-Erie Branch, and the Bessemer & Lake Erie, a coal and iron ore-hauling railroad, running from North Bessemer, Pennsylvania north to Erie, Pennsylvania, with a branch to Conneaut, Ohio. The Pennsylvania used a large variety of power, but my favorites were the 2-10-0 Decapods and the 2-10-2 Santa Fe types. One type, and I can't remember which one, had a very shrill whistle, called by some of the old-timers around town a "banshee" whistle. There was one passenger train North to Erie, PA at 11:30 a.m., and a return South to Pittsburgh at 5:25 p.m. The passenger train usually had a K-4 for power, with a beautiful steam-boat type whistle. Once in awhile, if there was a heavy consist, a 4-8-2 Mountain would be used.

The Bessemer & Lake Erie used the huge 2-10-4 Texas-type 600-series engines. Heading south, with iron ore, they used one 600 on the head end, with another 600 pushing on the rear, with the caboose behind the pusher. The Bessemer also used some 2-10-2 Santa Fe types when traffic got heavy. The railroad also ran one passenger train southbound to North Bessemer, which left at 7 a.m., with a return at 5 p.m., and a northbound passenger train to Erie, PA, which left at 7:05 a.m., and returned at
5:15 p.m. The passenger trains were powered by light Pacifics, probably comparable to the Erie's 2700-series.