Q: [Eric Rickert asks:]

Do you know of any instance of Virginian's EL-3A or EL-2B electric units hauling a passenger consist, whether it be a local or an officers inspection trip? Thanks.

A: [Thomas Marshall Jr. responds:]

I am only aware of two instances behind electric power, one for each of the EL-2B and EL-C classes.

The first trip of EL-2B #125 to Roanoke was made with the Business car "Fairhaven" and caboose #412. My dad was a
brakeman on this trip. An EL-C rectifier was used on an excursion train from Matoaka, WV to Roanoke, VA for the 1957 NRHS convention in Roanoke. The trip began on the NW at Roanoke and followed the main through Bluefield to Bluestone Jct. The train then followed the Bluestone Branch to the VGN interchange at Matoaka. There could have been other instances such as rescuing a broken down passenger train. I have seen a newspaper article from the 20ís telling about a squarehead pulling a passenger train from King to Princeton.

[Mike Dodd:]

Not the EL-3A or EL-2B, but I have a color photo of an EL-C stopped on the New River Bridge with a bunch of "white shirts" standing around next to the passenger train. It's supposed to be from September, 1957.

[Jeff Sanders:]

The EL-C passenger train on the New River bridge is, as I'm sure some of you know, the return trip of a 1957 NRHS Convention special which ran from Roanoke to Bluefield, across the Bluestone Branch (all behind steam, of course), and onto the Virginian at Matoaka for the return trip to Roanoke, including the photo stop at Glen Lyn.