In recent months I've been working my way through a backlog of Erie Lackawanna locomotives that I got in the 1990s that still need DCC. A number are Stewart/Kato locos. These were among the first HO F unit models that moved beyond the standard set by the Athearn/Globe tooling of the early 1950s, with a more accurate nose and roof curve, finer overall detail, and wider variations in headlight and roof options. They still neederd a lot of work, especilly handrails and grab irons, and the coupler mounts didn't really allow for prototypical spacing between units.
I spent some formative years in Chatham, NJ, on the Lackawanna's Morris & Essex Division. My family moved to the Washington, DC area in 1963, not long after the EL merger, and I was homesick for New Jersey for a long time afterward, thus I have a lot of EL models.
EL 7062 is an F3B, former Erie 706B. On the EL, these originally worked in sets of both ex-Erie and ex-Lackawanna EMD F units and ex-Erie Alco FAs coupled together; in later years, they could be found scattered more widely in consists. In my catch-up process, this one is low hanging fruit, since in my layout's original home, I had already converted it with the Kadee 450 set for Kato/Stewart diesels. Thus all it will need is a Digitrax DH165K0 decoder with no need for LEDs, since it's a B unit.
I have a couple other Stewart/Kato EL and DL&W units that will need more work. Although in the past, I upgraded a number of the Stewart bodies with Detail Associates detail sets for handrails and lift rings, these are no longer available, and I really don't want to do all that work any longer anyhow.
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