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VGN Electric EL-2B Locomotive
Here is a question from Roba who would like to know the value of a locomotive:
“I have an HO VGN RR EL-2B electric locomotive that is in mint condition still in the box. I used to live beside the VGN RR and remember the locomotive very well. It used to run from Elmore WV to Roanoke VA. until 1959 when it was discontinued after the VGN merged with the Norfolk & Southern RR. Anyone know what the value of this loco Is? I could be wrong on the date. They merged in 1959 but the Loco may have run a little while longer. Thanks in advance”
This blog doesn’t do buy/sell/or swap so contact details are not exchanged.
5 Responses to VGN Electric EL-2B Locomotive
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I got on Amtrak from Newark, NJ (originated in NY, NY) to Washington DC pulled by this one in 1975. I am still unclear if the track was electrified past Philadelphia, PA though.
I’m not doubting your word, but I was raised up with the Virginian RR within 50 yards of it and I remember the EL-2B locomotive very well. They started service on the VGN in 1948 and were retired in 1960 and were sent to Roanoke Va.and were sold as scrap. I don’t believe they were used anywhere except the VGN and after the merger, the N&W RR. By the way, I am 77 yrs. old so I remember the loco very well It was ahead of its time and was very beautiful. Look it up on google for the history on it. Both units together weighed over a 1,000,000 pounds.
Sounds like a lot more than 500 US tons or 446.4 UK tons. The heaviest UK electrics weren’t much over 100 tons, if at all; the heaviest diesel weighed in at about 138 tons, so your pet was still quite a hefty baby.
I have books on the VGN locomotives, and the EL-2B did indeed weigh a 1,000,000 lbs. Look it up on Google. Man time sure does fly.
William, What you may have ridden behind was an ex-New Haven Class EP5 “Jet”. GE built the EP4, EF3 and EP5 between about 1935 and about 1955. The EL-2B’s and Great Northern Class W-1’s were built in the late Forties. As all were built by GE, they had common styling elements and resembled each other, All except the EP5’s were gone by about 1960 or so, with only half a dozen EP5’s running into the Seventies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven_EP-5
BTW, you may have the date wrong, as they were retire from passenger service in May, 1973. Also,
it would have been highly unusual for them to be in New York-Washington service at that late date – they were in Grand Central-New Haven commuter pool.