The Bessemer & Lake Erie dieselized its road power with 28 F7A’s, 26 F7B’s, and a variety of six-axle power. The six-axle power won favor, and no more four-axle road power was ever added to the roster. By the 1980’s, all mainline units were various vintages of EMD SD’s, but ten A-units and a handful of B-units remained for two specialized assignments.
The P&C Dock operation at the B&LE’s northern terminus in Conneaut, Ohio required a small fleet of the cab units to switch cars within their fences. Additionally, the Western Allegheny branch from Queen Junction to Kaylor, Pennsylvania, purchased from the PRR, could not accommodate six-axle locomotives, making the F7’s mandatory power for the branch.
Here the crew has gone on duty at Kaylor at 4:00, and has taken a pair of A-units, including one of the yellow-painted Conneaut Docks units, and is picking up cars at Blacksburg, just west of Kaylor.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
