Tuesday Twofer: W&LE Motive Power

One interesting facet of the motive power fleet of the Wheeling & Lake Erie is that you can expect to get some variety.

The railroad is known for putting into service leased and newly purchased used locomotives still wearing their last livery.

Eventually the new units find their way to the paint booth to get the black and orange “Tiger” look but it can be years before some units arrive there.

The top image SD40-3 No. 3034 is westbound on CSX tracks in Akron on July 1, 2011. Trailing it is a former Union Pacific SD40-2 that looks like it is wearing primer paint.

In the bottom image, W&LE SD40-2 No. 6315 is in Akron on Oct. 21, 2009, still wearing its Wisconsin Central colors.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

The Varied Motive Power of the W&LE

The Wheeling & Lake Erie might not have many different type of models of locomotive power, but it does does have an array of locomotive liveries.

That’s because it will lease or acquire locomotives from various sources and not repaint them right away.

A good place to catch a W&LE train is at Summit Street in Akron. It is common for stone trains to be parked here for hours until a crew is called to take the train west.

Here are a couple of examples of what can be found in images made on separate days within the past month.

Photographs by Roger Durfee