Nostalgia & History > CR/PC E33 Juice Jacks

Built for the Virginian, sold to the New Haven, and absorbed into Conrail GE E33 electrics were interesting locomotives. Three views at Harrisburg, Pa 1978.

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On the road at Strafford, Pa on the old PRR main line and second passing through Columbia, Pa on the Port Road.

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Just a good example of why theVGN heritage unit needs a pantograph on the roof to carry the heritage forward.

Nice images.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

This midwestern boy always found them to be interesting when in college in the East. But wow, were they loud! You could hear them coming miles away on the PRR Main Line west of Philadelphia. A loud, roaring hum. I never quite knew if it was the traction motor blowers or the mercury ignitron rectifier (and perhaps its associated apparatus) that made the racket. But you sure knew they were coming long before they got there.

The E44's were also loud, they sounded like huge vacumn cleaners.

Were any of these locomotives saved?

One (131) At the RR Museum of New England, and another (135) at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Yes, one at the VMT in Roanoke. In VGN Pnt. The 135 I believe. Ben

i found them both to be relatively quiet ... even the G's ... one time back in the 70's while waiting for railroad to head south at Brill interlocking in southwest Philly we were outside in the gage of our track and i believe it was SEPY with E-44's ... the lead unit had an extinguished headlight and we did not know this guy was coming north at good clip until he was right on top of us ... we gave the hogger the ole tap the head sign for put your headlight on ... he complied ...

i found the electrics didn't project sound forward but rather like a jet left a sound wake behind them as they went by ... we would be waiting for the signal at Shore to head west on Frankford curve and they would be coming right up on us around the curve from the rear before ya knew it ... and if there was snow ... forgeeeetaaaaboutit ... the snow absorbed every bit of sound the electrics produced ... and that stands true today

Used to see E33s all the time from USRA's offices in L'Enfant Plaza in the late 1970s -- but always in pairs, I never saw three together on a train. Same with the E44s. Some freights did have three GG1s.

Diesels were starting to show up pretty frequently by 1979, though. I guess there was a shortage of electric "motors". One day a C630 went by in the consist of PYEN.

IIRC, the former Virginian EL-C (E33) No. 135 was the only one of its class to wear the livery of each of its five owners. That included: Virginian, Norfolk & Western, New Haven, Penn Central and finally, Conrail.

Nice pictures. For comparison of decades, here is some recent shots taken in Sept 2012 at Columbia, PA. Earl is out

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