A look-up revealed that this was the first bit of Conrail motive-power Lionel released a year or so after the company's formation. While I'm not much interested in the General MIlls/Fundimensions/MPC era, I figured this was a neat bit of history. Walked by a few times and there seemed little interest in it and a number of other boxes of Lionel stuff, so I grabbed the 8757 on the way out.
It was absolutely filthy...looked like it had been in the owner's damp basement for quite a while (I think this was made in 1977). Some surface rust on the frame and caked with grimy dust, I gave the shell a good bath and used a tiny bit of machine oil and the Dremel to polish off most of the surface corrosion. Now it's presentable. The lights worked and even the Pulmor's traction tires were still in place. Gave it a lube, set it on the track and off it went. A pretty simple little loco; just a single motor, reverse unit, and lights at either end. No horn, no sound...pretty basic.
I recall driving past Enola back in the 1990's and seeing Conrail-blue locos lined up at the service facility. A bit of nostalgia, really...can't believe this thing's nearly 50 years old.
