Empire Belt GP30s

Empire Belt GP30s
The EBRR GP30s round a curve on the Empire City Belt Line.

Saturday, March 6, 2021

New York Central Cigar Band E8As Join The Fleet

 Greeting All,

In 1951 the New York Central went to EMD and obtained sixty E8As over a two year span making it the most popular passenger unit on the system.

During the early 1960s the New York Central E7 and E8 fleets went from the ultra classy lightning striped scheme to the more utilitarian, but still classy, cigar band scheme. With the Lightning Stripes covered I wanted to add at least one NYC cigar band unit to represent the middle to late 1960s that would carry over into the 1968 Penn Central merger.

This was my first attempt several years ago. Paint and lettering came out fine. Color however is nowhere close to the NYC and the NYC never had a mars light on it's E units.

In January I came across two P-2000 NYC cigar band units that were like new in the box for sale at a very reasonable price being offered by Model Train Market. Unable to decide which unit to buy I jumped in and bought both.

That's more like it!! NYC E8A #4064 at Terminal Yard. 

Sister engine E8A #4090 is ready for it's first revenue run. Both units received Kadee #5 couplers for the rear and Kadee #26 long center shank couplers for the front.

The P-2000 E units have a nice amount of separately applied delicate details.

If you are unfamiliar with these units I recommend checking out the instructions on how to remove the shell and chassis from the box so  those delicate details remain intact.

The Cigar Band units call at Empire City Station.
The 4090 passes RA Tower prompting a nice weekend of train watching at this layout hotspot.

NYC Passenger trains at RA Tower 

The two new E8s have been broken in, are running very nicely and are a definite win win for my New York Central passenger trains and passengers.  

Thanks for reading and watching!!!
See ya soon!!!
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6 comments:

  1. Kar KnockerMarch 6, 2021 at 1:49 PM

    Those E- 8's are nicely detailed and look GREAT! If I had to choose just one, not considering era, I would definitely go with the LIGHTNING STRIPES! Classy is a good description of them. Were stripes and cigar band inter mixed during the merger era?
    Btw: # 81 was quite a busy and fun read. Thanks to all 3 of youz guys! (Through a little S.Philly accent there)

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    1. John R.March 7, 2021 at 7:50 AM

      Thanks Mark!!! The NYC Lightning Stripe units were the classiest of all roads in my opinion and the cigar band had a kind of utilitarian class in and of itself. I don't believe any of the NYC units made it to PC with their lightning stripes but there may have been a few.

      Glad you liked the PCCM 81 action. Busy! Fuhgeddabouit!!! A little Brooklyn for ya! Thanks for following along with it and it's always nice to hear from you.

      John

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  2. PCRalphMarch 6, 2021 at 9:24 PM

    John, your E8s look fantastic! While the lightning stripes are an al time classic those big locomotives look mighty fine in the cigar band scheme! Nice find with those two new units!

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    1. John R.March 7, 2021 at 7:51 AM

      Thank you Ralph!!! I agree, both paint schemes do look mighty fine.

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  3. Neal M.March 7, 2021 at 2:04 PM

    Great catch on the Cigar Band E8 loco's! I'm still not sure which paint scheme I like. The lightning stripe remind me of the Pennsy with their stripes on the GG-1 engines, yet the cigar band look really stands out. I like both!!

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