THE WHISTLESTOP NEWS

The Official Newsletter of the Central Operating Lines Model Railroading Club

Don’t forget the January 9^th Business Meeting. Please make it a point to attend and participate in your Club’s business. Starts promptly at 8PM.

Please don’t forget the chance books. Twenty-Nine members are paid at this point.

In January, the club will have three Open House days at two events. First is the Weekend of January 10th and 11th, Saturday and Sunday 12 noon to 5 PM each day. This is a good fund raiser as attendance is good. Holiday Trains are still part of the public's focus and interest at this time of the year. The Second Event is a one day Open House on Saturday January 31st. We call this Super Bowl Saturday Open House. Come and bring a train and get your fill of running at this open house so that you can watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, without worrying that you didn't get enough train running time in. Whoever has that train of Beer Reefers on the Fourth Main, this is definitely the show to run it at!! We could use lots of help from members at these shows. Please sign up to help out and bring a train to run for these shows. If you have signed up, we thank you for your support. Please come on the days that you signed up for and bring a train to run. Our visitors will appreciate the variety of trains during the show. If you have not signed up, we ask you to come down and bring a train to run the folks at the show really appreciate your help. Also, on Fridays before these meets starting at 7pm, members are needed at the club to set up for the open house on the weekend. Please come and help out. George Hoffman will be there and will have a delicious cup of coffee for you. Thanks for your support to make these open house the best ever.

ü January 2^nd ^---Board Meeting @ 7:30 PM

ü January 9^th – Business Meeting @ 8PM

ü January 10-11^th –Open House noon-5 PM

ü January 17^th – NJ Hirailers Open House

ü January 18^th – Swap Met @ Bingo Hall in Farmingville 8:30 Am –2:30 PM

ü January 31^st –Super Bowl Saturday Open House

By 1930, the Long Island Railroad operated the largest fleet of multiple-unit (MU) cars in the United States. It owned 1000 class MP54; "M" for motorized (two 225 HP electric motors); P for
passenger; "54" for 54-ton. Each car measured 64' 6" long and seated 72 commuters. But by 1930, the MP54s were getting old; LIRR needed more reliable equipment with greater capacity. In 1932, the Pennsylvania Railroad designed a 68' experimental coach #200 which was not only the first double-deck passenger car but also the first all-aluminum railroad car. #200 was a non-powered car that operated in a train of powered MP54s. Passengers walked down a mid-height center aisle and then either stepped down to a lower-level compartment or climbed to an upper compartment. Each compartment had two double-seat benches. By 1937, the Long Island Railroad placed two more 80' double-deck MU cars (#1347 motor and #201 trailer) in service. LIRR liked the double-deckers because they relieved some of the rush-hour congestion at Penn Station. However, wartime restrictions prevented LIRR from building any more double-deckers until 1947-1948, when a fleet of sixty cars was built at PRR's Altoona shops. I remember riding the Double Deckers. The prototype number 200 is at the railroad museum in Riverhead NY.

The New York, New Haven & Hartford was committed to fast electrified passenger trains having electrified its main line from Manhattan to New Haven CT. and operating some 545 passenger trains per day. Forty four percent of its gross income came from passenger fares. On the New Haven, "EP" meant a fast electric locomotive for passenger service. The road owned five different EP classes. The last of these were the EP-5s or the Jets. Right after Christmas in 1952, General Electric Company received an order from the New Haven for ten high-speed electric locomotives. While the new engines were being built, Pat McGinnis, the New Haven’ president from April 1954 to January 1956, began to revitalize the New Haven’s image. Diesels and electrics had been painted a conservative Hunter green with gold pinstripes. McGinnis commissioned a Swiss graphics designer, Herbert Matter, who created a bold, angular, tri-color scheme. But it was Mrs. McGinnis who chose the final colors.GE painted one engine in a test scheme of black, white and chrome-yellow; and painted another one white, Chinese red and black. When the McGinnises visited the plant to inspect the two engines, Lucille happened to wear a red, white and black outfit; and so it was!. The EP-5s were delivered in 1955, all ten wearing those colors, known as the "McGinnis" scheme. An EP-5 rode on three-axle trucks and developed 4000 horsepower. Out on the NH main line, it took 11,000 volts AC via pantograph from overhead catenary. Within Grand Central Terminal it could operate on 650 volts DC, collected either by third-rail shoes or through a small pantograph. EP-5s quickly gained the nickname "Jets" from the loud noise of the blowers that cooled their Ignatron rectifiers.

In 1956, New Haven's splashy EP-5 rectifier became a popular toy train offering in both S gauge 2-rail American Flyer #499 and 0 gauge 3-rail Lionel #2350. Gilbert's EP-5 model came with three-axle trucks that the firm had developed previously for use on ALCO PA diesels. The side frames looked accurate, but underneath them there were only two axles per truck. Lionel's version rode on the same two-axle Blomberg trucks as F3s and GPs. The Lionel model had illuminated number boards with the number 375, which was the actual roster number of a real EP-5. All Ep5 sets offered were freight sets except prototypically correct American Flyer outfit #20520, "The Bankers" (1960) which included an EP-5 and three lightweight passenger cars. In the modern era K-Line, MTH and Williams have all produced New Haven EP-5s for O gauge 3-rail; and Lionel has done#2350 in its Postwar Celebration Series. as well as an AF repro Happy railroading!