I just built an Erie 78500 series boxcar (1937 AAR). I’m working with a B&W picture in a July 1991 issue of the Railmodel Journal mag. I used a set of Champ decals I bought on E-Bay HN-63. Could anyone tell me if the Erie used the yellow E in a diamond herald on their freight cars? This is the herald that came with the champ set. All the pics I’ve seen have the white herald with the black background. Thanks for any help. Hope I didn’t screw up 2 days work.
I did a check on RR picture archives and got about the same type of photo you described dated 1959 the #78246. AAR about the same year you need. B&W shot can’t tell the color of the E diamond. You could if all else fails try the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society.
Mark H
I grew up near the Erie mainline in the '50’s and early '60’s, and don’t remember ever seeing a yellow diamond on a freight car. I’ve been told it did happen, but I don’t know when, what cars, or the size of the diamond. Maybe the E-L Society can tell you. If you can’t get a definite answer, white is the safest answer.
A quick check in the C-D-S lettering catalogue shows Erie boxcars from 1930 to early '80s (well into the E-L era) all with black and white heralds. They do show what appears to be a 1937 AAR boxcar, but give the number series as 80,000 to 80,199 - perhaps an initial order for such cars? A total of ten different boxcars are listed (plus gondolas, hoppers, and covered hoppers, and none have a black and yellow herald.
That’s not to say, of course, that the car series of which you speak didn’t have yellow "E"s, but I think for the cars covered by C-D-S, the info is usually correct.
Wayne
I have never seen an Erie box car with a color herald. Even at the time of the merger with Lackawanna they were monochrome.
This is the one Walthers sells:
Thanks for the help. I guess I’ll strip the heralds off and see if I can find the small B&W heralds. I’m glad I haven’t clearcoated it yet. Maybe the guy on e-bay took the B&W heralds and replaced them with the yellow heralds, or Champ got it wrong.
??? …
Mark.
The large herald was introduced in the years after WWII.
From what I can find yellow diamonds were only used for 1-2 years and most stories say “quickly” changed back to white. Some say they went yellow in 1943-44 and back to white in 1946. Others say yellow in 1945-46 and back to white in 1947. At least one person has seen a color photo of a yellow diamond, but you can still tell in B&W photos. In the one photo I saw with a yellow diamond the car had a 1946 date on it.
Mark.
Strider, the only yellow herald I have seen on freight cars has been on their hoppers (open top, for coal, etc) or maybe on some MOW equipment. I grew up along the Erie (and Erie Lackawanna) and the boxcars, at least from the late 50’s on, had black and white heralds. I also model the Erie Lackawanna and all those heralds, with the exceptions mentioned above, have black and white heralds.
As I already mentioned, the yellow diamond was very short lived - only a couple years in the mid 40’s. Use of the yellow herald would be on car number series 82000 -82499 with black ends and roof.
Mark.
Can somebody guess the manufacturer of those ERIE covered hoppers? Friend that has them says there is no text on the bottom of the cars.
Also, are they accurate for ERIE hoppers?
Thanks!
So, no ERIE RR fans here? [:-^] [swg]
I wanted to ask two more questions about ERIE rolling stock:
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Are there reasonably correct transition era Erie caboose in plastic (no resin or brass)?
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Atlas offers two Erie boxcars, '32 ARA and postwar AAR. I think AAR one is ex. Branchline Yardmaster? Anyway, which one is better/more correct for transition era Erie cars?
Thanks!
I’m an Erie fan, I just am unable to answer your questions. Sorry.
I’m certainly no expert on the Erie, but I believe that their ARA 1932-design cars weren’t built until 1934, and they would have lasted well into the '50s. The C-D-S catalogue shows that car with the small herald, and again with the large version, with a notation that that version lasted into the early ‘60s. Those cars had, I believe, Buckeye ends and Viking roofs, options both offered by Atlas.
These cars are mentioned in Ted Culotta’s Steam Era Freight Cars Reference Manual, and it notes that they had a 10’ inside height - probably higher than the Atlas version of the 1932 car.
Erie’s first order of the AAR 1937-design cars was, oddly enough, in June of 1936, and there was a second order in 1940.
The 500 cars in the first order had Buckeye ends and Viking roofs, while the second order had Dreadnaught ends with Viking roofs. I can’t say what Branchline (Atlas) might have to match.
Wayne
http://www.yeoldehuffnpuff.com/sstreakkits.htm sells an Erie wood caboose originally by Silverstreak that may meet your need.
Mark
Thanks, Mark.
Those kits do not have trucks, what would be the suitable one? Maybe “Kadee #581 Bettendorf-T-Section Caboose Self Centering Trucks HO Scale”?
I checked my stash and Bethlehem Car works makes “Erie Caboose and Express Boxcar” trucks in their kitbits line. I believe that I also was able to purchase trucks made by Tichy in the past. Double check photos to make sure that they are the correct ones.
Good luck,
Mark
[I]
Wayne, as listed on http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/prototype/frtcars/1932aramain.html list, Erie 1932 ARA cars have IH of 9’-4’'.
As the Atlas cars do have correct roof and ends, it seams that those models are pretty accurate. So I ordered one. [Y]
Tnx!
I am no expert on the Erie OR on boxcars, unliken those guys who can take one glance at a photo or model and sing out whether it is 1937 ARA or 1937 Modified, and so on.
But the 1937 Car Builder’s Cyclopedia shows some Erie boxcars. A 40 ft 50 ton all steel, wood lined double door automobile boxcar is described as having inside height of 9’6" and 10’ 0" The detailed drawing of the end shows four bottom corrugations a riveted seam and then three corrugation. Car number 98200. Blt 6-34
It also shows a 40 ton 50 ft 6 inch steel “automobile furniture” box car with inside height of 10’0" and the same end pattern as the shorter car. Car number 68200. Photo not clear enough to read blt date.
Sometimes cars were painted especially for Car Builder’s Cyclopedia photography – so it is risky to draw too many conclusions – but the Erie logo does look a bit more vivid and bright than the presumably white lettering. That does not prove a yellow logo but it does not rule it out either.
Dave Nelson