L&PS #L1 and #L2.
moved to this, its own, page on 01 Jan 03.
(01 Jan 03)
Butte, Anaconda & Pacific.
moved to its own page on 01 Jan 03.
(01 Jan 03)
On the Electric Boxcabs (Survivors) Continuation Page 3:
Piedmont & Northern #5103
moved there from the main Electric Boxcabs page 11 Jun 02
and moved to its own page on 01 Jan 03.
(01 Jan 03)
Still on Continuation Page 5:
ODD BOXCABS
AIR BOXCAB!
STEAM BOXCABS!
ODDER BOXCABS
1915 London & Port Stanley (L&PS)
#L1 and #L2 SURVIVOR
ELECTRIC BOXCABS
As noted about the so-called Mystery Boxcab
on the Electric Boxcabs Continuation Page 1, the locomotive in question turned out to
be the L&PS (London & Port Stanley) #L1, now at the
ECRM (the Elgin County
Railway Museum) in St. Thomas (London area), Ontario, Canada, and newly
refinished. Her sister is #L2,
which survives at the Halton County Radial Railway
in Milton (Toronto area), Ontario, run by the OERHS (Ontario Electric Railway Historical
Association). They were the first and second of three built by the GE Erie works
in March 1915 and shipped north to GE's Peterborough/Toronto facility, without
builder's plates to avoid duties, where plates were installed. the L&PS was
started in 1856 and electrified in 1915 with these three 65-ton locos.
ECRM got #L1 from the CSTM (
Canada Science and Technology Museum) in 1995; HCRR got #L2 (how, when,
whence?). #L3 was scrapped somewhere along the line but two out of three
ain't bad, not bad at all for 1915 products!
[To find #L1 on the ECRM site, click on "Roster" and then scroll
down to, and click on, the photo above "London & Port Stanley Railway / Box
Cab Electric #L1".]
Here is a photo of all three, labelled "6049. L.&P.S.Ry. GEN
VIEW LOCOMOTIVES IN SHOP
FEB. 1915."; you can see that they have no pantagraphs or any
other roof fitments:
(Image courtesy of Ontario Hydro Archives - from ECRM site, by permission
processed by SB,III to enhance visibility)
I can't but wonder if the photo isn't actually of the fabrication of the three at the GE
Erie works.
Mystery Canadian G.E. Electric Boxcab
No Longer a Mystery!
Here, again, are the pictures I took in the late summer of 1971 (September?) at the
"Ottawa Transportation Museum"*, back when I didn't even know I'd be a boxcab
maven! Those are my daughters on the platform and step:
* - Actually then the "National Museum of Transportation" and now the
"Canada Science and Technology Museum", noted and linked above.
[Photos ca. Sep 71 by and © 2001 - S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved]
(Images are thumbnails -click on the photo for a larger image.)
When I found the photos, I couldn't even tell what loco it was and I still can't
begin to imagine why I didn't take an overall view or why I took a picture of
only a portion of the end with some total stranger's face in view (and it's NOT
cropped)!
That builder's plate photo original is quite sharp and I could not find even a trace of
stamping in the CLASS, NO., VOLTS, or DATE blocks. However, after seeing my
photo, a volunteer at the ECRM sent me this current photo of one of the plates, with
the encrusted paint removed, revealing clear, deep stamping:
(Image courtesy of R. Sterne - all rights reserved
processed by SB,III to enhance visibility)
The text reads:
ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
Class 404-E-120-4GE-251-A
1500 VOLTS DC
NO 5000 DATE MAR 1915
CANADIAN
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
LIMITED
TORONTO-PETERBORO
#L2 was builder's number 5001 and #L3 was number 5003.
It's interesting to note that the city near Toronto in Ontario is "Peterborough";
was "Peterboro" a contraction to save space or an old usage?
[Ayuh! Ted Garner, born and raised in Peterborough says the
Peterboro usage is just that, a contraction. Incidently, when he grew up in
Peterborough, for years the largest employer was General Electric, the manufacturer
of the Class 404-E-120-4GE-251-A locomotive. Thanks, Ted!]
(01 Nov 02)
The truck looks just like that on the 60-ton oil-electrics.
The only lettering visible seemed to be "PS" and "LI", but it sure as
heck wasn't an LIRR loco!@
On 06 Jun 01, a volunteer at the Illinois Railway Museum (Union, IL) who works in the
Electric Car Department spotted these photos, did some checking, and put me on to
the identity of this engine and its sister; I had a lot of revising to do!
@ - The "PS" is, of course "Port Stanley" and "LI"
is the loco number "L1".
The ECRM volunteer also sent a photo of locomotive #L2 whil(e)(st) in storage ca.
1990 at Brampton, Ontario (which is just northwest of Toronto).
(Image courtesy of R. Sterne - all rights reserved
processed by SB,III to enhance visibility)
There are quite a large number of other pictures available and I have asked for
permission to reproduce them here. Some permissions have come in and the
photos are here (in the order permission was received and no other).
First, Keith Sirman allowed me to post these three photos of #L1, starting with her
on the first electrified run on the L&PS on 20 Jun 1915:
(Image courtesy of K. Sirman - all rights reserved
processed by SB,III to enhance visibility)
(dig that crazy, early, single, centered pan) and #L1 at Port Stanley in Aug 1940:
(31 Dec 02)
(Image courtesy of K. Sirman - all rights reserved
processed by SB,III to enhance visibility)
and then #L1 at London in 1960:
(Image courtesy of K. Sirman - all rights reserved
processed by SB,III to enhance visibility)
Next, we turn to the photos of and from Brian D. Switzer, whose
Brian's Ralroad Photography site is
incredible, and includes the collection of
Randy Masales, which in turn includes the photography of Harry Otterbein, from
1954 to 1999, and primarily (but not exclusively) covering southern Ontario.
Here are Harry Otterbein shots of all three engines in the London yard in May 1957:
[Photos ca. May 57 by H. Otterbein, from R. Masales collection, courtesy B. D. Switzer - all rights reserved]
(Images are thumbnails -click on the photos for larger images.)
Next, here is Brian's own shot of #L1, on display in all her restored glory in Aug 2000
at the ECRM in St. Thomas, Ontario:
(Photo by and courtesy of B. D. Switzer - all rights reserved
Now, we have a photo of #L2 reproduced by specific permission from William E. Miller's
LONDON & PORT STANLEY
RAILWAY site:
(16 Apr 63 photo by W. E. Miller, by specific permission - all rights reserved)
Mr. Miller states that "freight locomotive L2 and passenger car 8 are parked side by
side at the Phillip Street carbarn in London on April 16, 1963, some six years after
passenger service ended on the L&PS." He also notes that the three locos
were "purchased at a cost of $29,367 each",
[Emphasis mine. One can logically assume that price was in Canadian
dollars -
but what was the exchange rate back then?].
Old boxcabs buddy Don Ross has a
[Photos courtesy of Don Ross - all rights reserved]
(Images are thumbnails -click on the photos for larger images.)
[Rob Sterne advised (14 Jun 01) that the date of the second photo appears to be ca.
1950s and that it was at the Horton Street crossing in London.]
Next comes #L2 at St. Thomas on 09 Sep 54 and in Toronto, as noted above, in Jun
84:
[Photos courtesy of Don Ross - all rights reserved]
(Images are thumbnails -click on the photos for larger images.)
Lastly, we have #L3 at London (undated) and with 1915 Jewett combine motor car
#10 at Wabash Crossing, St. Thomas, on 26 Aug 60:
[Photos courtesy of Don Ross - all rights reserved]
(Images are thumbnails -click on the photos for larger images.)
[Rob Sterne advised (14 Jun 01) that motor car #10 still exists at the Canadian
Railway Museum in Montreal and that cars 4, 8, and 14 also still survive.]
This is all rather funny for me, personally; my interest is really in the AGEIR
(ALCo-GE-IR) Oil-Electric Boxcabs and here I am digressing madly about a triplet
of old electrics! Of course, they ARE GE locos and I DID
stumble on one years back in Ottawa, but - - - . Don Ross tried to entice me to
look into his many other boxcab electrics, especially the Saint Clair Tunnel, a whole
bunch of BA&P, and others; well, some are up on my other
electric boxcab pages but I am really only going to spend my time on
SURVIVORS!
Readers interested in far more detail about the London & Port Stanley
Railway are directed (by Don Ross) to the outstanding coverage of William E.
Miller, historian of the Electric
Lines in Southern Ontario, at his
LONDON & PORT STANLEY RAILWAY page on that site, wherein he describes the
line as "otherwise known as the L&PS - Late & Poor Service"
{emphasis mine}!
Readers interested in Ontario's railways are directed (by Don Ross) to Rob Hughes'
Ontario Railway History
Page.
There are now more than fifty (50) BOXCAB pages;
see the main Boxcabs page and the Boxcabs INDEX.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
To tour the Boxcabs pages in sequence, the arrows take you from the
the previous page, to the Boxcabs index, to the first boxcabs page, and on to continuation pages 3 and up, then 100-tonner LIRR #401 and her sisters, survivor boxcabs (with map) and survivor notes, survivor CNJ #1000 (the very first), Ingersoll-Rand boxcabs (with instruction manual), other (non-ALCo/GE/I-R) boxcabs, Baldwin-Westinghouse boxcabs, odd boxcabs, and finally model boxcabs.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III - 2003 - All rights reserved.
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