Pennsy E-44 units

[M1a6776]

Hi,

I've being reading about Pennsy electrics and have a question regarding the E-44. My understanding is that all 66 locomotives, numbers 4400-4465, were originally delivered to the PRR as E-44 units. Numbers 4400-4459 were delivered with water-cooled ignition rectifiers while numbers 4460-4465 were delivered with solid-state air-cooled silicon diode rectifiers. A follow-on upgrade program then rebuilt 22 locomotives, numbers 4438-4459, as 5000 hp E-44a units with solid-state silicon diode rectifiers and 833 hp traction motors.

I have, however, seen some references state that locomotives 4460-4465 were also E-44a units. Is that correct?

Thanks,

Mike

[Allen Hazen]

I'm not sure I am remembering this correctly, so don't take this note as settling the question. I think that the "E44a" designation was for the traction motor (or traction motor gearing?) upgrade that allowed the 5000hp rating: thus 4460-4465, despite their more modern innards, would not have been BUILT as E44a. As for upgrading, since they were the newest units in the E44 fleet, and already had the superior solid-state rectifiers, it's a good bet that Penn Central never got around to doing serioous modernization work on them. In which case they may never have been converted to E44a.

[Typewriters]

The roster available at George Elwood's wonderful FALLEN FLAGS site indicates that the units originally built with solid-state rectifiers were in fact later upgraded to E44A status, as were quite a number of other units. Units rebuilt are skip and miss; see the site for full details (see the CONRAIL section, and go to the 1980 locomotive info.)

You're right, Allen; the upgrade included the 752N series motor with improved mounting allowing higher torque than the 752E series originally fitted to the E44 model.

-Will Davis

[Allen Hazen]

Oh dear! I've found another source that disagrees with the one Will Davis cites. In the early Conrail period, the now defunct magazine "Rails Northeast" (pre-1976 title: "PC Railroader") published some lists of Conrail locomotives with the maintenance depot each was assigned to. (Don't ask me where Bob Reid, the editor/publisher, got them: vast amounts of railroad-company paper seem to have been copied into the magazine, but with no notes about provenance, and in some cases no dates. I think it was clear from what units were included that these were from the early years of Conrail, though.)

It lists 4438-4459 as being E44a, and 4400-4437 and 4460-4465 (I think the last six were the ones originally built with solid state rectifiers) as "plain" E44.

(The Conrail rosters on George Elwood's site -- it realy is a wonderful site, Mike, if you aren't already familiar with it-- contain errors. They are original Conrail documents, and I assume that Bob Reid was also working from regularly or irregularly acquired official Conrail paper. Moral: don't believe anything about railroad affairs you can't verify from official documents, and be very careful what you believe even if it IS apparently verified by official documents.)

Thanks, Will, for "752N". Another article in "Rails Northeast" said that E44 were built with 752E3 motors (= same as on some contemporary diesels), but I couldn't find a designation for the upgraded motors on the E44a. ... As to what the revised motors meant in terms of performance, yet another thing published in "Rails Northeast" -- no date, so I don't know if it was PRR, PC or CR -- was a table of tonnage ratings for electric locomotives on different track segments. E44 and E44a are listed with identical ratings (their ratings are in a single column, with "E44/E44a" at the head): so the benefit of the more powerful motors must have been in fast freight service, not in down-on-your-knees dragging. The tonnage ratings of a "brick" (E44) tended to be almost a third higher than those of a (90mph geared) GG1 (GG1 nominal horsepower: 4620).

(I've been going through piles of old magazines while cleaning out my mother's house. I can provide the dates of the "Rails Northeast" issues referred to above if anyone wants them.)

[Typewriters]

Well, Allen, if the source material for that magazine is "official paper" and so is the source for Mr. Elwood's site then I don't know how we'll make one reliable over the other. However, my brief summary was, I thought, good enough but let's go into detail.

The date of the information I looked at was 1980 and as we know not all of the earlier E44 units were converted to solid-state rectifier equipment with new traction motors. Those converted were also not all a solid block according to the roster on the site. To wit:

4400-4439 remained E44 at this point.

4440, 4442-4447, 4449, 4451-4454, 4456-4465 are all listed as E44A. Interspersed units remained E44.

We have no idea of the source of that magazine you quote, Allen but it looks like a planned conversion and not a "carried out" one since by 1980 we see that not all of the series beyond roughly 4437 to 4439 had been converted. It appears to be a program halted in progress, simply judging by the evidence here.

Penn Central CT290, "Electrical Operating Instructions" which I have here gives identical tonnage ratings for E44 and E44A although it has no roster.

-Will Davis

[Allen Hazen]

Will--
I'll try to recheck dates and see if there is any further information in "Rails Northeast." A priori, I'd think your list (gaps in the series) was more likely than the one I found, with its suspiciously solid block of E44a conversions...

---

On related matters: there is a flurry of recent (July 2008) posts on the "Gelocos" Yahoo forum about electric locomotives and traction motors (not all of them from me). And an old article I just re-found today, in a 1980 issue of "Shoreliner," the New Haven Railroad H. & T.S. magazine says that the motors AND TRUCKS on the EF4 (=E33, the earlier bricklike GE freight rectifiers that the New Haven got second hand from the Virginian) were interchangeable with those on the Virginian's (GE electrical equipment) FM H24-66 (Trainmaster) diesels, and that the Virginian, in the course of maintenance changeouts, ran E33 with Trainmaster trucks and Trainmasters with E33 trucks. I have never seen any photographic evidence of this: has anyone else?

[M1a6776]

Thank you for the additional information. I was referencing the Keystone Crossings web site that has a searchable electric locomotive roster link and found the following dates for the Class E-44a upgrade for locomotives 4438-4459:

Unit Date

4458 11/64
4459 1/65
4457 12/65
4456 1/66
4455 7/66
4454 8/66
4453 9/66
4452 11/66
4451 7/67
4450 7/67
4449 7/67
4448 7/67
4447 7/67
4446 10/67
4445 12/67
4444 2/68 After PRR and NYC merged
4443 6/68 “ “
4442 7/68 “ “
4441 11/68 “ “
4440 11/68 “ “
4439 12/68 “ “
4438 3/69 “ “

As I understand it, the E-44a upgrade involved replacing the 733 hp traction motors with 833 hp traction motors and replacing the ignition rectifiers with solid-state silicon diode rectifiers. Although locomotives 4460-4465 were delivered with solid-state silicon diode rectifiers they apparently were not retrofitted with 833 hp motors.

Thanks,

Mike