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For those out there that are not familiar with the EJ&E Railroad, it was a founded in 1884 as a freight and passenger route to service the rural areas surrounding the growing City of Chicago. It eventually evolved into a whole owned subsidiary of US Steel located in N.W. Indiana to service the blossoming steel industry located in the Gary, Indiana area. Enough of history.

For those out there looking to model any of their equipment, there's not a lot of information available. There is a historical website for the EJ&E fans, but I can only guess that the lack of available photos from their earlier days of operation can be attributed to the fact that it was a small local railroad that dealt mostly in freight.

There was an entry on their website regarding paint colors, one of which mentioned that a good match for what he termed "old green" was a Floquil marine paint color called Caprail Green. We all know that Floquil is no longer made, but I have come to find that the Tru-Color Paint No. TCP-078 is a very close match to the original Floquil color. Just wanted to share this bit of information with my fellow rail fans.

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Not much available on this road. Atlas steel rebuilt was offered years ago, if you can find one?

 I converted a PS-1 into an EJ&E using Tichy Train Group O scale decals here - https://www.tichytraingroup.co.../c/eje3/Default.aspx

Album #48 on my site - https://steves3roscale.shutterfly.com/pictures/15848

Album # 50 has an MTH version but its scheme is reversed and incorrect - https://steves3roscale.shutterfly.com/pictures/16257

I discovered the EJ&E years ago while on my way to the Libertyville Motorola Plant for cellular training.

Good luck,

Steve

EJEJE TWO [1)

 

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Last edited by SIRT
SIRT posted:

Not much available on this road. Atlas steel rebuilt was offered years ago, if you can find one?

 I converted a PS-1 into an EJ&E using Tichy Train Group O scale decals here - https://www.tichytraingroup.co.../c/eje3/Default.aspx

Album #48 on my site - https://steves3roscale.shutterfly.com/pictures/15848

Album # 50 has an MTH version but its scheme is reversed and incorrect - https://steves3roscale.shutterfly.com/pictures/16257

I discovered the EJ&E years ago while on my way to the Libertyville Motorola Plant for cellular training.

Good luck,

Steve

EJEJE TWO [1)

 

Very nice work SIRT! You have some good skill going there!

Presence of EJ&E on my layout is the EJ&E Lionel box car shown in the attached photo, and a photo of EJ&E equipment at U. S. Steel South Works in Chicago.

U. S. Steel South Works in Chicago was shut down in or around 1992, and was subsequently demolished.

I had an unforgettable summer job there during the late 60's.  The EJ&E presence there was very noticeable.

From what I have seen on the Internet, the green color on the Lionel box car may be a different shade of green than the color that was actually used decades ago.  The Tru-Color Paint No. TCP-078 does seem to be a good match to the green used on some older EJ&E diesels.

-Barry

 

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Last edited by Barry835

I saw the orange and green Baldwin Center Cabs almost daily in the mid 1950's through the late 1960's , the green was close to a Floquil Southern Green and the orange was close to Floquil Reefer Orange and SP  Daylight Orange or equal percentage mixture. The switch engine used at US Steel was called locally a mud or medium brown color, white lettering. John Eagan,Jr., who I known has a publication called the Elgin Joliet & Eastern, Volume 1, The Eastern Subdivision in print by Morning Star Books. These are  original colored photographs of the "J" starting in the 1950's until the merger with the CN.

I have lived outside Lake Zurich, IL, for 23 years, so I remember the EJ&E well, as well as all the squawking from the NIMBYs when CN proposed the acquisition (and train frequency and length HAS increased since then.) As far as modelling it, I have the Lionel boxcar (noted above) and a KRIS trains boxcar that commemorated the 1977 TTOS division meet. Also, here are a couple photos of the EJ&E Lake Zurich depot that I took in April, 2001. It is still there, in about the same shape.

Lionel 9422 EJ&E box [1)

Kris EJ&E box TTOS 1977 [1)lake zurich april 2001 [3)

 

lake zurich april 2001 [2) 

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  • Lionel 9422 EJ&E box (1)
  • Kris EJ&E box TTOS 1977 (1)
  • lake zurich april 2001 (2)
  • lake zurich april 2001 (3)

As noted above, by David, the B&LE was a sister US Steel road, as was the DM&IR.  A couple of "J"/EJ&E 2-8-2's were sold to the DM&IR. One was still in steam at the Endion Roundhouse in Duluth, MN in June 1960 - very late in the steam season.

The J had a steam-era roundhouse and shop buildings in Joliet until recently, and a small roundhouse in Waukegan, right on Lake Michigan. Neat railroad with interesting interchanges, like Rondout (Milw), Leithton (Soo Line), Spaulding (Milw), West Chicago (C&NW) and Eola (CB&Q/BN/BNSF). The Plainfield, IL depot has been preserved west of the J ROW, along with a J caboose. The depot has hobo markings that look authentic !

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