Today, I was reading my copy of the current "L&N Magazine", the fine publication of the Louisville & Nashville RR Historical Society. It includes an article beginning page 12 about riding L&N passenger trains during the period 1968-1971, just before Amtrak took over US passenger operations in May, 1971. The title page of the article includes a beautiful nose-on picture of freshly painted L&N 788, an E8A. As I was looking at it, I thought it certainly looked familiar, though it carried a firecracker antenna, and a 2-forward, 1-rear facing horn, but the "face" was the same. Sure enough, L&N E8A 788 is none other than SLSF E8A 2014, "Truxton". It was sold to the L&N in 1965. Later in the article, there is a nice center-fold shot of L&N E7A 791 and L&N E8A 787 rolling through Anchorage, KY, east of Louisville. Sure enough, L&N 787 is the former SLSF 2007, "Whirlaway", also sold to L&N in 1965. This is a hard-to-see shot for any detail, as the E8A is the trailing unit. Seven Frisco E units were sold to the L&N (E7As (EA7s) 2000, 2002, 2004 and E8As 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015). It is a testimony to the Frisco's maintenance program that the L&N was willing to buy three E7As! Two of the Frisco E8As, SLSF 2007 and SLSF 2014, the two units pictured in the article, lasted long enough to even make it into the early Amtrak roster. It was good to see pictures of old friends, even though they were wearing different colors. Ken
Ken, Truxton makes another appearance in L&N garb on page 32 of the Spring 2007 issue of Classic Trains. KEB
From Richard Crabtree on Frisco Rails Across Missouri: Here we see Frisco No. 2014, Truxton, EMD E8A built in 1950. It was sitting at the Kansas City, Missouri 19th Street Yard servicing facility, March 13, 1965. Keith Robinson: This is the repainted "austerity" scheme for the E8As. Yuck.
