Engines of Metro North General Electric U34CH

In 1970 the Erie Lackawanna Railroad was doing it’s federally mandated duty running commuter services out of Hoboken Terminal to northern New Jersey and southern New York. Given the fact that the Erie Lackawanna and most other railroads were almost always on the brink of bankruptcy at the time, the service was unreliable, infrequent, and outdated. The New Jersey State government recognized the problem and began subsidizing the Erie Lackawanna and other commuter operations in the state.
The subsidy included the purchase of state of the art locomotives and coaches to replace the railroads older fleet of EMD E and F units and steam-heated coaches in commuter services. The government of New Jersey noted the efficient and modern commuter operations of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad out of Chicago. The railroad had gotten rid of steam heating on their commuter trains, replacing the steam generators on EMD E and F units with diesel generators. These generators could then supply electrical power for heat and lighting directly to a new fleet of Pullman standard galley bi-level railcars. Some of these new Pullman Standard Bilevel cars had been ordered as cab control cars by the Chicago and northwestern railway, which means that a train could operate in both directions without the need to turn trains or use extra locomotives. With cab control cars, the engineer switches from the locomotives to the control cab of a cab car to turn the train around.
In new jersey, the head-end power system would provide efficient heating during the cold northeast winters and push-pull operation would significantly increase the efficiency of commuter services. At the time when a train reached the end of the line, there was no way to turn the train around with all turntables, wye, and loop tracks removed as lines were cut back to save costs. Crews would have to uncouple the locomotive from the consist and run it around the train and couple it to the other end. This necessitated the need for dual cab locomotives such as the E60 and alp44 or to have two diesel locomotives coupled rear to rear and run that whole set around the train.

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

Another fascinating tidbit that might surprise people is why NJDOT stopped permitting the Bluebirds to run freight trains after the 1970s. Not because they were problematic units, but, because they were often returned with little to no fuel left in the tank. Had they been fueled before being returned to commuter service, they might have stayed on weekend freight runs. But, we may never know what might have been, just speculate.

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

Another bit is that the U34's weren't properly treated for painting, which is why some units had peeling paint due to not being properly treated for repainting.

[@nyrailfan202]

Interesting

[@MrNJT]

Very nice! The U34CH is one great locomotive. Kinda forgotten but it’s always nice to see it getting its mentions.

[@nyrailfan202]

Yes indeed

[@tom-and-mom]

3:40 U meaning Universal Series

[@tom-and-mom]

3:43 Curious George!

[@tom-and-mom]

3:44

[@generalfoxer2571]

Great video!

[@nyrailfan202]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@naddyt6520]

Great video man! Looking forward to the next one!

[@nyrailfan202]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@beelineenthusiast]

I could watch this series over and over again!❤

[@nyrailfan202]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@joshbrony2204]

Same.

[@nyrailfan202]

Glad you enjoyed it too

[@Vascog26]

Same

[@tom-and-mom]

12:38 Exporting the Journey!

[@thomasabramson100]

I remember seeing the U34Ch at Hoboken they looked SOOOO big compared to the old Alco RS3s the EL had

[@fakecumberland]

The best thing about them was the sound.

[@empirestaterailfan4960]

Ok, not what I was expecting but great video 👍

[@empirestaterailfan4960]

All I gotta do: wait a month and then watch the episode about the shoreliners.

[@nyrailfan202]

I decided to do west of Hudson equipment first

[@drguppy7861]

The trains in this video were very pleasing to me. I greatly enjoyed their metal exteriors. Very cool!! 😎

[@nyrailfan202]

WoW

[@tom-and-mom]

7:34 Easeofmaintents

[@tom-and-mom]

7:36 Agency

[@tom-and-mom]

7:37 General Electric

[@tom-and-mom]

7:39 Dash 7 Series

[@pascackvalleylinerailfan5037]

Very nice video! The U34CH is one of my favorite GE locomotives and my favorite in the NJT fleet. It kind sucks that they just neglected them more than repair them. If they ordered more of them and repaired them I bet they still would’ve ran on these lines today. But anyways thumbs up! 👍

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

Erie Lackawanna did better for the Bluebirds than NJT did. Even to a degree, Conrail did.

[@nyrailfan202]

They could have rebuilt them or something, the only problem was the six axle trucks which made them a bit unstable at higher speeds

[@nyrailfan202]

Conrail painted one of them to celebrate the USA

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

@@nyrailfan202 Prime example: The SDP40F in use on Amtrak.

[@nyrailfan202]

Or the P30CH and E60

[@afleetcommand]

Another awesome video with a lot of information...not just about the railroads.... but some "civics" mixed in for those who understand. Very important historical video here

[@nyrailfan202]

Thanks

[@MichaelN12]

Idk why but I see more dislikes on videos that the people say to not click the dislike button. Btw well done on this video

[@Vascog26]

Good work man good work and btw this is my like. 10 time watching this

[@dominickmilano9972]

Great story 🚂

[@tom-and-mom]

11:45 Wow!

[@tom-and-mom]

11:42 The future of SEPTA's wires

[@trainsfacepaint4876]

Engines of metro north Can you please make a video about the port jervis line and the old comets and shoreliners?

[@nyrailfan202]

That will come soon enough

[@jpprophete1988]

I miss those comet 1A’s. I wish they would preserve a couple of them instead of scrapping all of them.

[@ROTE]

Nice!

[@nyrailfan202]

Thanks

[@tom-and-mom]

11:40 sense, at the time, SEPTA was in the process of starting a new era for their catenary system! Yay! New SEPTA wire era!

[@Maunico0809]

More of West of Hudson fleet coming soon, and I’m especially waiting for a F40PH-3C video.

[@nyrailfan202]

Indeed

[@tom-and-mom]

11:39 Wire maintenance done

[@tom-and-mom]

@nyrailfan 202 Does the U34CH locomotive have 3430 horsepower?

[@daf827]

Nice video! So much great footage. One minor detail: Port Jervis, NY is pronounced JER-vis, not JAR-vis.

[@justinmta88]

What about the GP40FH-2, GP40PH-2 and F40PH-3C when right after the U34CH has already been replaced by the EMD's.

[@nyrailfan202]

Those pieces of equipment were ordered mainly to replace other pieces of equipment and support service increases. The GP40PH-2’s were ordered to specifically replace the u34ch and support service increases.

[@tom-and-mom]

nyrailfan 202, does the U34CH have 3,430 horsepower?

[@Pensyfan19]

DANG! I WAS GOING TO DO AN EPISODE OF THIS ENGINE FOR MY REMARKABLE ENGINES SERIES!!! >:( Good review of the locomotive. I didn't know Metro North converted Arrow iii shells to passenger cars. Do you happen to know what your next episode in the series will be on? It doesn't happen to be the 4 E units which MN leased from NJDOT and Amtrak in the early 80s does it? I'm planning on doing those engines next for my Remarkable Engines series and will be uploaded in a few days. I want to know ahead of time if this idea is already taken before I upload the video, even though I already announced it in my previous episode.

[@nyrailfan202]

I have no plans to do that, are you talking about the f7’s MN leased from njt in the late 80’s

[@Pensyfan19]

Ok. Thank you. I don't think the F7s were from NJT. I think they were from MBTA, but I'm not sure.

[@Pensyfan19]

Also, I made an episode about NJT 4109 for Remarkable Engines recently, which seems to be spotted on MN'S west of Hudson routes.

[@tom-and-mom]

nyrailfan 202, did Metro North transfer their single U34CH to their east of Hudson lines?

[@nyrailfan202]

They wanted to for work services but the fuel tanks interferes with the third rail

[@graphtonix6607]

Can you please talk about the ConRail U23B locomotives next???

[@nyrailfan202]

Maybe someone else

[@graphtonix6607]

@@nyrailfan202 OK.

[@graphtonix6607]

@@nyrailfan202 Do you have Discord???

[@tom-and-mom]

11:34 Three… dududa, dududu, DAAAAA!

[@graphtonix6607]

Was the Amtrak P30CH based on the U34CH or was the P30CH only based on the U30C???

[@nyrailfan202]

U30C

[@graphtonix6607]

@@nyrailfan202 OK.

[@tom-and-mom]

nyrailfan 202, why did SEPTA use 3 U34CHs?

[@nyrailfan202]

For diesel equipment to be used during wire replacement as septa has a 100% electric fleet

[@tom-and-mom]

nyrailfan 202, why was there a U34CH numbered as 1776?

[@dustinainsley8792]

To celebrate 200th anniversary of America in 1976.

[@darrylwmurphy738]

Both have 2 bogies and 3 wheels or traction motors.

[@tom-and-mom]

3:59

[@tom-and-mom]

2:53 2:54 …

[@darrylwmurphy738]

GE U34CH is similar to the GE C30-7

[@tom-and-mom]

3:43 3:44

[@emdaem-771]

How many trains does Metro North have?

[@nyrailfan202]

Define trains

[@emdaem-771]

Locomotives. Vehicles that move many people.

[@beelineenthusiast]

As in Locomotive they only use the M3,M7,M8,P32, BLG20. Now in terms of how many in total over 1000 units combined

[@emdaem-771]

Thank you.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

So General Electric _could_ make a 6 axle locomotive that worked well. Wonder why the E60CP and P30CH were so problematic (including the former tending to derail at high speed, and both being maintenance hogs)?

[@nyrailfan202]

We may never know why the u34ch didn’t derail. But the p30ch and e60 did, maybe it was just luck.

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

@@nyrailfan202 From what I was told by a now-retired Conrail conductor who started on the Erie Lackawanna Railway in 1973, the U34's never derailed due to them being able to cope with the track, as the top speed they were permitted in service was 79 mp/h. The EL didn't have in-cab signalling like on the Pennsylvania Railroad (and then Penn Central) which permitted higher speed.

[@beelineenthusiast]

1:07 what Locomotive is that?

[@nyrailfan202]

That is an alco RS, I don’t know if it’s a dash 1, 2 or 3.

[@brobchicken9656]

its a dash 2

[@nyrailfan202]

Oh

[@daf827]

Alco RS3

[@FireStickzz]

First

[@nyrailfan202]

Indeed

[@FireStickzz]

:D

[@tom-and-mom]

3:54