Milwaukee Road E6

Bob they only had two, 15 A-B diesels. I've looked everywhere and can't find any info on them. I have every major book on the Milwaukee Road and came up empty. Not even sure if this is a E-6. Don

scale rail posted:

Bob they only had two, 15 A-B diesels. I've looked everywhere and can't find any info on them. I have every major book on the Milwaukee Road and came up empty. Not even sure if this is a E-6. Don

Yes, it is an E6. (Classic Trains Summer 2012)

Rusty

Rusty, according to a EMD website, Milwaukee only had an A-B set. That looks like an A-A set. No? Don

My research indicated that, in 6 axle diesels, Milwaukee Road mostly had A-A sets, not A-B sets. The exceptions were Erie Builts and EMD E9 units.

See page 250 of "The Hiawatha Story" by Jim Scribbens. Apparently they had two Erie-built B units, but the EMD E6 and the AlCo DL-109 units were A-A only.

There were also EMD E9 A-B-A units.

RRDOC posted:

Does anyone have info and prototype photos on this E6 paint scheme?  When and where did the MR use it?  I can't find it in any of my Milwaukee Road books.

Bob

Apparently  this scheme was actually used for a short time.

Too bad, as this run of locos has four motors where the previous run with the more popular livery only has two motors.

About the first picture, the "new" livery, member Southwest Hiawatha states:

Thanks guys,

Although I couldn't find any prototype photos, there are photos on the web of HO brass models.

3 different schemes were offered in HO Brass and at least two did the Hiawatha scheme.  I can reasonably conclude it is prototypical,  although somewhat camera shy.

Of course my reason for asking is that Lionel released the Hiawatha scheme in Legacy in 2017.

http://www.lionel.com/products...aa-set-15a-b-6-84659

It's a beauty.

Bob

RRDOC posted:

 

Of course my reason for asking is that Lionel released the Hiawatha scheme in Legacy in 2017.

http://www.lionel.com/products...aa-set-15a-b-6-84659

It's a beauty.

Bob

Would like to see a couple of photos if you can post them.

E6's 15-A and 15-B in Lionel's Legacy paint job. Credits for these pics go to Don Ross as shown.  Don has a nice assortment of Milwaukee loco pics on his website: http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/indexmil.htm

Here is the Lionel model

Bob

Jerry Nolan posted:

E6's 15-A and 15-B in Lionel's Legacy paint job. Credits for these pics go to Don Ross as shown.  Don has a nice assortment of Milwaukee loco pics on his website: http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/indexmil.htm

At last! Thanks Jerry.  I'll check out Don Ross' site.

Bob

scale rail posted:

Rusty, according to a EMD website, Milwaukee only had an A-B set. That looks like an A-A set. No? Don

I believe the confusion is in Milwaukee Road's decision to number the pair of E6A's 15A and 15B.  The same was done with the pair of Alco-GE DL-109's and the E7A's, with one unit of each number carrying a B suffix.

Keeping up with the many changes in paint schemes applied to Milwaukee Road passenger diesels is certainly interesting.  I will bet that, when the railroad finally removed all chrome or stainless steel nose trim, and settled down into the orange with Maroon stripe and black trim for all road freight and passenger units, the men in the paint shop held a big kegger.  

I looked at more E-unit pictures on Don Ross' website and found that E7s 19A and 19B were also painted in the Hiawatha paint scheme.  Pictures were dated June and July 1950.

Bob

RRDOC posted:

Here is the Lionel model

Bob

I wasn't meaning the catalog rendition. What I was interested in seeing were some photos of the actual model. When you said "It's a beauty" I assumed you were looking at the actual Lionel engines.

I found a video posted of them, so here is what the actual model looks like. Pretty sharp. Much more vibrant than the dull catalog rendition.

Number 90 posted:

 I will bet that, when the railroad finally removed all chrome or stainless steel nose trim, and settled down into the orange with Maroon stripe and black trim for all road freight and passenger units, the men in the paint shop held a big kegger.  

The paint shop may have laid off half its crew, though.    

Hey Breeze...  what do you think of that hiwatha orange?  Is it too light?  

Is hiawatha orange generally lighter than the Milwaukee Road freight orange?

It seems like various models have a lighter orange in hiawatha...

Thanks for opinions...

Breeze

Thanks for digging up that video frame.

The red is brighter and the orange is yellower than previous Lionel releases. The red is closer to MTH Milwaukee colors, but the yellow-orange doesn't seem to match anything.  The grey roof looks blown out with light, so I'm hoping that the video frame is a lighting and color balance problem.

Lionel:

MTH:

Bob

Well I'll correct myself.  I looked at 2 different YouTube videos and the colors are bright red and yellow-orange in both.  This frame shows the E6 with a traditionally colored "Hiawatha" boxcar in the background. While I like the boxcar colors, my copy of Milwaukee Road in Color Vol 2 the City of Milwaukee shows the E6 to be pretty close to a prototype FP7 in 1950 (p. 30). Maybe just a tad too yellow.  

Bob

 (photos removed 8/18/19)

BTW the Milwaukee Road layout in the video is terrific.

Bob

I only collect and operate Milwaukee Road trains.  When I was living in Vienna, VA a few years ago, I created a wall where I displayed some of my Milwaukee Road trains including: RichArt, Lionel, MTH, Pride Lines, Weaver, K-Line, American Flyer, JAD, etc.  By comparison, you can easily see that each manufacturer had their own idea of what the Milwaukee Road's orange, maroon, black and/or gray colors were.

Bob Nelson 

Awesome display Bob...

Those E6's look sweet in an actual photo, and not the colorized catalog pic. 

Over the years I've been pretty happy with Lionel's version of Milwaukee Orange and Red/Maroon. On the other hand, MTH's orange looks (to me at least) more like SP Daylight Orange - close to Milwaukee, but a bit lighter. It doesn't bother me at all since the paint bleaches out to lighter shades as time goes by. I've seen old road-weary GP9's where the orange was faded to almost peach pink.

Super O Bob posted:

Awesome display Bob...

Thanks!

Bob Nelson

Jerry Nolan posted:

E6's 15-A and 15-B in Lionel's Legacy paint job. Credits for these pics go to Don Ross as shown.  Don has a nice assortment of Milwaukee loco pics on his website: http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/indexmil.htm

 

Nice site for pictures, but too many religious references for my taste. I don't see why people have to push their beliefs on others.

The religious references are the poster's choice - if they offend you - then enjoy the "train" part of the their posts.  A little religion never hurt anyone & should be more prominent in our lives today.