cab4
Member
Posts: 149
Primary Railroads: Conrail, NJ DOT, Amtrak, SEPTA, NJT
|
Post by cab4 on Apr 10, 2014 15:40:20 GMT -5
That sounds about right (though technically speaking, NJ DOT was running the trains with Conrail crews until 1979, and even then NJT didn't operate the trains until 1983 when Conrail could finally back out). While its no doubt that Amtrak owns Wilmington now, I wander when Amtrak acquired it, was it in 1976 when Conrail sold the NEC to them, of was it earlier than that? At the time, Penn Central still had a pretty significant fleet of electrics.
|
|
|
|
Post by backshophoss on Apr 10, 2014 16:44:06 GMT -5
Believe Wilmington was part of the NEC deal,CR shared the shop untill CR Dropped Electrics altogether a few years later. Some of the E-44's were sold to Amtrak and NJT at that point,Amtrak and NJT also got part of the GG-1 fleet about the time of CR's creation. The only Electrics not shared were the ex-NH E-33's,believe they went to scrap.  |
|
cab4
Member
Posts: 149
Primary Railroads: Conrail, NJ DOT, Amtrak, SEPTA, NJT
|
Post by cab4 on Apr 12, 2014 6:32:19 GMT -5
Yep, NJ DOT also got a handful of GG1s early in the creation of Conrail. The rest of Conrail's GG1s were all retired by December 1979. NJT's were the last to be retired in 1983.
The E44s and E33s were all put in storage at the conclusion of electric freight, in case it ever got picked up again.
A few E44s were sold to NJ Transit, but they never used the, and held on to them for many years. Amtrak bought them from NJ transit in the mid to late 80s, but then never used them either.
As it turns out though, more E33s have survived than E44s. two of those are in a museum, while only one E44 survives.
|
|
|
|
Post by backshophoss on Apr 12, 2014 17:41:09 GMT -5
The E44's were ment for work service,like hauling the welded rail train from Cedar Hill thru
NYP to where needed on the NEC,or Ballast trains.
Not sure if the E44's could be changed to run on 60hz wire.
|
|
cab4
Member
Posts: 149
Primary Railroads: Conrail, NJ DOT, Amtrak, SEPTA, NJT
|
Post by cab4 on Apr 13, 2014 9:24:58 GMT -5
The E44's were ment for work service,like hauling the welded rail train from Cedar Hill thru NYP to where needed on the NEC,or Ballast trains. Not sure if the E44's could be changed to run on 60hz wire. Changing them would never have been a problem for a rectifier type of electric like it would have been for a GG1. They just weren't useful. NJ Transit never needed an big electric like an E44 to do the kind of work they bought it for, and neither did Amtrak. In fact, I'm almost positive neither the E33 nor the E44 could actually fit through Penn Station. If they could it was a tight fit, and not something practical in the long run. This is why they were ultimately never used. Though Amtrak did repaint the, its doubtful that they ever moved under their own power, and from the reports of employees there, they never did any actual work for Amtrak other than take up space at Wilmington until they were scrapped/donated. Speaking of those freight motors-  |
|
|
|
Post by backshophoss on Apr 13, 2014 16:39:40 GMT -5
I need to find my copy of the ETT that made the transision from PC/CR to NRPC/Amtrak,
as I currently remember it, the E44's and E33's were OK thru the North River and East River tubes
at a slow speed,the only catch was the need of a "catch cable" like GG-1's needed to run the
ex-NH wire to Cedar Hill yard(there are some gaps at the "moveable" bridges on the New Haven Line.)
otherwise the pan would get snapped off at the 1st support at the gap.
PC found out the "hard way" with the GG-1's after the "shotgun" merger.(oops!!)
PRR side had some High wire locations needing the max reach of the pan,NH side didn't!
|
|
|
|
Post by backshophoss on May 4, 2014 1:48:57 GMT -5
Here are a few pics of a test train I ran y-day could have been a "patched" together version of #449 Lake Shore Ltd,Boston section, p-42 167,Amfleet II coach,Amfleet I Cafe,Viewliner I sleeper. have 1 question; were the V-I's delivered with silver painted trucks or black painted trucks?? |
|
|
|
Post by gmpullman on Oct 10, 2014 1:01:23 GMT -5
Old meets New! A pair of the Amtrak 40th anniversary P-42s out run a venerable Pennsy E-7 working upgrade... 
Two slightly different views... Enjoy! Ed |
|
|
|
Post by backshophoss on Oct 10, 2014 1:51:10 GMT -5
Nicely done!
|
|
|
|
Post by backshophoss on Jan 30, 2015 18:34:00 GMT -5
When looking thru an old Amtrak ETT(#3,Dated 10/25/1981),the E-44's were able to run across 90%
of the NEC with a few restrictions,there was 1 crossover(west end of KN) in Penn station and a
couple of yard tracks that were off limits and a couple of wood bridges that had a 10 mph slow
order on the E-44 only.
The Circus train had a MAS of 30 mph,unless there were odrers allowing a higher MAS,
so a pair of E-44's on the Circus train was "legal"
|
|
mlrr
Member
Posts: 66 
Primary Railroads: Amtrak, Metro-North, MARC, METRA, New Jersey Transit, VRE
|
Post by mlrr on Jul 16, 2015 6:40:58 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by jers2709 on Jul 16, 2015 12:28:11 GMT -5
Is that the factory installed lighting?
|
|
mlrr
Member
Posts: 66
Primary Railroads: Amtrak, Metro-North, MARC, METRA, New Jersey Transit, VRE
|
Post by mlrr on Jul 17, 2015 6:52:07 GMT -5
Is that the factory installed lighting? Yeah. The top photo of the Cafe car is factory installed. I made a commitment to get the lighted versions for all single-level equipment. I have a surplus of superliners (plated) but that was before they offered pre-installed lighting. As such if I were to purchase any new superliners from the latest run, it would be the unlighted versions. |
|
|
|
Post by jers2709 on Jul 19, 2015 8:41:45 GMT -5
How do you like the lighting? Are the marker lights lit as well?
|
|
|
|
Post by acelaphillies on Jul 19, 2015 13:50:12 GMT -5
How do you like the lighting? Are the marker lights lit as well? The marker lights are not lit, which has been a source of complaint among other members. |
|
