Engines Of North America: The GE EL-C

[@robertdipaola3447]

I remember as a kid seeing the EL-3's in new haven stripes in Ridgewood, queens, nyc during the mid 1960's hauling freight on the bay ridge, Brooklyn line,the power of those electric s was awesome!-my first impression of railfanning, thanks!

[@snprout]

Here’s a bit of interesting trivia about the ELCs. The unit preserved at the Virginia Museum of Transportation,135, is the only one to carry the paint job of all 5 owners, VGN, N&W, NYNH&H, PC and Conrail. This is the reason VMT chose this for its collection

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

P O G G E R S

[@660Oliver]

PRR tested the E33's but the interfered with the Pennsy's Trainphone. They were sold to the New Haven instead. When PC was forced to take over the NH, they became part of their electric fleet. They used mercury Ignitron tubes ( not ignition ) to convet the AC to DC. Conrail investigated replacing their electric fleet, and tested 2 locomotives ( the GM6C and GM10B), but decided to shift as much traffic as possible off of Amtrak lines, as well as taking down the wire or abandoning the other electrified portions.

[@railroadhistoryarchives]

I feel like these don't get a lot of attention. thx for the vid

[@tracynation2820]

An excellent video. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Cool

[@AndrewTheRocketCityRailfan4014]

This series made me subscribe

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Awesome! Welcome to the club! Is their an engine you’d like to see me cover? Well tell me in the comments.

[@MP-16productions]

I thought there was one at the rail road museum of pa

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

As a matter of fact they do, I simply left it out in order to keep the video short and sweet

[@MP-16productions]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 Thanks I just went up there and I thought they had one

[@maciekkra539]

@@MP-16productions The one at the Railroad museum in Strasburg is an E44. E44 were based on E33 (EL-C) and basic dimensions are exactly the same.

[@smwca123]

@@maciekkra539 The giveaway clue is the pantographs. The EL-C/EF4/E33s had a single diamond pan, the E44s had 2 single-arm pans à la Faiveley.

[@maciekkra539]

@@smwca123 Well that can be deceiving, as at least two EF4s during their service on New Haven sported faiveley pantographs, one each. Main difference is styling. E33 has that nice semi streamlined details added, like the mini cow catcher, rounded plate where number boards are located and rounded front roof. E44 are just typical 60s styling brutes kind of like the U-boats that were coming out at the same time.

[@robertrich663]

The wheel arrangement notation wasn't C-C but Co-Co, for each axle was individually motored, unlike say the SNCF 6500 which had monomotor bogies.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

?

[@joeykidd8916]

C-C is the AAR notation, while Co-Co is UIC. that's why this is a C-C, since it's American.

[@crsrdash-840b5]

I knew them as E33 units. I didn't know their original names.

[@WVRailroadPapa]

Thanks for the video on my favorite railroad. One correction: the VGN was merged into the N&W on December 1, 1959. The N&W discontinued VGN's electrification on June 30, 1962.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Oh oopsie thank you

[@WVRailroadPapa]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 no problem.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

One area I need to improve is fact checking. Thanks for the constructive criticism.

[@maciekkra539]

My favorite american electric locomotive, that industrial look combined with a touch of streamlining is unsurpassed. Also Conrail put E33s in storage during the summer 1980. That left only E44s to close out Conrail electric operations in early 1981. I'm not sure when the two GM experimental electrics were finished.

[@robertdipaola3447]

That industrial look, so true

[@sparky107107]

love the history behind the models some of us have.

[@billmorris2613]

Good afternoon to all from SE Louisiana 13 Nov 21.

[@GfwTrains]

Another good video. The postwar Lionel Virginian is one of my favorite PW Lionel pieces.

[@johnandersonjjr]

Now I know what it was! Santa clause brought me a Lionel train set in approximately ‘59 or ‘60 with this engine (Small scale)Even though I was only about 5 years old I was kind of disappointed because it didn’t look like the cool CNR engines I saw in my town And when I asked what was that antenna looking thing on top was I was demolished to hear that it was for receiving the power to run the electric motors!Horrors!,Knowing that this type wouldn’t make the cool noises that the the local CNR types would I left the electric contact “antenna”down and pretended it was a (cooler) diesel (electric).

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

lol fun memory. Do you still have it? If so, a lil TLC and it’ll be good as new.

[@smwca123]

The "antenna" is called a pantograph. Are you from Montreal?

[@johnandersonjjr]

@@smwca123 no Niagara area

[@johnandersonjjr]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 I’m not sure .I asked my son to find it (and the rest of the set)at my ex’s house and I haven’t seen it yet.Several months later

[@johnandersonjjr]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 it was in good shape last time I saw it.I’m concerned a vindictive person threw it out

[@gunsaway1]

We called them Bricks

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Ha ha ha that’s a funny nick name ha ha

[@gunsaway1]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 my dad worked for the railroad. I remember seeing the Penny’s bricks at Potomac Yards and the Virginian’s in Roanoke. All the guys at Pot Yds called them bricks. Powerful locomotives.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

@@gunsaway1 that’s a neat memory

[@Greatdome99]

Eleven thousand kilovolts = 11 million volts! I think you meant eleven thousand volts.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

oops yea what you said sounds more accurate. was never really good with numbers. thanks and my bad lol.

[@paulmatulavich7321]

Enjoyed this because I have a mint condition 1958 Lionel rectifier in Virginian paint scheme.

[@Pupda]

Tractive effort, not “attractive effort”. 0:52 11,000 V, or 11 kV, not 11,000 kV (which would be 11,000,000 volts). 3:45

[@BnuuyBoi2005]

Do you think you can do an episode about one of EMD's E Units?

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

I really should

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

The million dollar question is which model?

[@BnuuyBoi2005]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 Maybe the E9

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Not a bad idea

[@BnuuyBoi2005]

@@ironhorsehistorian9871 E7s or E5s?

[@ozzy6900]

The New Haven Rail Road acquired 10 units from the NW but only 9 were fit for service. One required too much work to restore for the bankrupt New Haven so it was kept for parts. These units ran mostly in pairs on the New Haven connected by a 11,000 volt jumper between units. The crews nicknamed them "bricks" because of the paint job and that they were pretty much "squared off" in design. They had dual control stands so they could operate in either direction but visibility was terrible in both directions. These were the last electric freight units purchased by the New Haven as on December 31, 1969, the New Haven ceased to exist (acquired into the Penn Central merger).

[@maciekkra539]

Not so, New Haven got 11 of the units and one of those was left for spare parts.

[@smwca123]

Actually, NH joined PC on January 1, 1969.

[@jamielacourse7578]

Great job. Good music and info. And the older I get (60) the more interesting trains get. I suppose that's the natural order of things. I just wish I wasn't so much like Oscar Leroy........

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

All hail the A200. Fans today have little to NO appreciation of this,, The best horn EVER.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

We must bow before the god of the train horns. BOW BEFORE IT!

[@mikesalvatore6868]

11000 kilo-volts is wrong, Kilo means 1000, then that's 11000 X 1000. It's 11000 volts ac.

[@georgecarlson1460]

Not 11,000 kilovolts -- that would be 11 megavolts. Either 11,000 volts or 11 kilovolts.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

Thx for the feedback. Gotta work on my numbers, sheesh, lol.

[@smwca123]

11,000 volts is 11 kV. 11 megavolts would be 11,000,000 volts. BTW the VGN was 25 Hz.

[@Pupda]

@@smwca123 So was NH, not sure about PRR but I think in their heyday all the major AC railroads were 25 hz, at least in the east…

[@smwca123]

@@Pupda PRR was also 11 kV 25 Hz. The ex-PRR part of Amtrak's Corridor is still 25 Hz, but now 12.5 kV.

[@dmnewlin]

Ca-TEE-na-ree, please.

[@ironhorsehistorian9871]

ok dude, chill

[@howardcapito1124]

The N&W and the Virginian merged in 1959!