Colonie Shop log books for May 1984

It is funny how much research material is out there if you just know where to look. Or, in my case, happen to stumble upon it.

I used to participate in a D&H Yahoo group and in 2011 I came across a thread that interested me. Mike Bischak, who went by the handle of "Breezy," had acquired many of the D&H's Colonie Shops log books which contained information about the engines that were in for service. We talked then and he offered to copy some pages for me, but I didn't know exactly what or when I was modeling so I thanked him and filed away our emails. This week on an impulse I emailed him again and unbelievably within hours he had sent me several pages scanned from the log book. With his generous permission, I am putting two of the scanned pages on the blog because I think that they are pretty fascinating. You can see that on May 26 (page 39) it looks like sixteen engines are listed as requiring something or another. Another three engines are listed on the left as needing supplies. I don't think the shop could hold nineteen engines so most must have been outside.

As it turns out, I might have outsmarted myself. I know I wanted to model May 1984 and picked my birthday, May 28. But, in 1984 that was the Monday when Memorial Day was celebrated. I don't know if the Colonie Shops were open that day. There is no page 40 in the log book (it is there but is blank) so page 41 is either May 27 or May 29 (page 41). It cannot be determined based on later pages. But, it too was a pretty busy day for the boys in Colonie. Most of the eighteen engines are the same as from the days before. One two new ones are added. The list on the left is more extensive, but I don't know what that means.

While I have said that just about any diesel engine from 1984 could have found itself on the Colonie Main, here is a definitive list of those that actually were there. Running? Maybe, maybe not, depending on what they were in for. Only one model engine (#7323) that I own to date is listed here, but that was for an "engine change" so likely it shouldn't be actually running on my layout. Shhh... don't tell anyone!

I owe Mike a big "Thank You" for somehow acquiring this excellent resource and making it available.