Lackawanna Electrics in Operation on NJ Transit - 1984

Ripped from Mark I's "Lackawanna Legacy" VHS tape, with commentary removed and audio channels with the actual train sounds spliced. Also featured are U34CH diesel locomotives and pre-refurbished Comet I's in the video.
*DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THIS VIDEO IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. I DO NOT INTEND TO MAKE ANY PROFIT OFF OF THIS VIDEO. IT IS SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES. ALL RIGHTS ARE INTENDED FOR MARK I VIDEO PRODUCTIONS*

[@user-dh2cq3vd4j]

Considering that Pullman and General Electric built these in 1929 and 1930 and that they are shown in this video 54 years later in 1984 is a testament to their build quality.

[@williamkurzenberger4607]

Your footage of the Gladstone Branch certainly brought back memories. Students from Peapack and Gladstone were issued rail passes in order to commute to Bernard's High School, and those of us who lived in Bedminster or Far Hills also took the train when coming home from after-school sports and other activities. I remember running from the school to catch the train while laden with bags of athletic equipment and school books, all the while desperately praying that I wouldn't miss it. It was a half-mile run or walk from the school to the station. After arriving in Far Hills, I had over a mile walk back to our house. It's no wonder that I never weighed more than 130 pounds!

[@davidcolantuono3622]

I was five years old in 1984, but I can't seem to remember the Erie Lackawanna electric trains. My dad said that he used to take these trains (to and from school) during his high school years in the middle to late 1960s. The only trains I remember are NJ Transit trains. I remember Comet I cars...both the low-door "sliders" and the high-door regular cars. I remember Comet IB cars. They were like Arrow I cars, except they were built to accompany Comet I and Comet II cars...the latter of which were my favorite passenger cars. I also remember both Arrow II and Arrow III electric cars. And, of course, I remember the diesel locomotives that pulled and pushed the Comet cars...F40PH-2 locomotives, GP40FH-2 locomotives, and GP40P-2 locomotives. I really miss the trains from the #GoodOldDays. I may not remember the Erie Lackawanna trains, but I'm sure that they must have been really great, too. I want to go #BackToThePast again. And, this time, I want to stay there.

[@kevinb8881]

Lackawanna Electrics, imagine if these trains were still around today, OMGGGGG!!!

[@MidnightAspec]

While commuting into work yesterday, saw an ALP45DP and a consist of Multilevels in Erie Lackawana livery....very nice. Hope to see a full PRR version on the corridor one day.

[@buixrule]

This is an amazing video. Can't believe those old trains were still in operation in 84.

[@petercruikshank2618]

In the early 80's I would commute to Hoboken and then take the PATH trains to Manhattan. My dad rode these for years from Maplewood NJ and I remember going to Hoboken and then taking a ferry boat to lower Manhattan.

[@electrictractiontrainsandt3063]

Excellent video! 👍These Lackawanna Electric’s are amazing! Wish I could have seen these in commuter service.

[@ldifalco2010]

I did. They were dirty, uncomfortable and hot with no AC. You had to be careful not to get pulls in your pants from the dated wicker seats. While we can wax poetic watching these videos today, commuters rejoiced when the Arrows came on-line. Now soon, the Arrows will be replaced as well.

[@electrictractiontrainsandt3063]

@@ldifalco2010 Oh wow, thank you for sharing this.

[@kevincarter4902]

These Lackawanna Electrics are so old I expect the conductor to step out and say "Willoughby Willoughby, next stop Willoughby".

[@wicky201]

I get the reference.

[@njlauren]

I used to ride these growing up to Hoboken on the Morristown line either with my family or later as a teen w friends going into NYC. We called them the green monsters. They were old railway coaches that had been converted to electrical use in the 1920s. Edison desigmed the system, it is why it used 3000v DC. The cars often had wicker seats, you opened the windows for ventilation and they had concrete floors. Heat came from electric heaters under the seats that burned your legs while your upper body was freezing. They had this old fashined lighting, too, very orange and somewhst dim. The conductors would yell the stops, no pa system. To us kids of course it was the best, it was a blast from the past. Commuting on them had to have bern rough, though. I remember being in dressy clothes going into hoboken with my mom and her warning me to be careful with the tights I had on w my dress, not snag them on the seats. Women back then wore pantyhose still,must heve been hard to keep them run free. Lot of the men riding wore suits ( prob worked in lower manhattan), keeping them clean must have been tough. The DLW was in poor financial shape , had been for years, so they weren't well maintained..it was sad, bc you coukd see that they once had been nice, there was translucent glass just below the roof that was long painted over that must have given the car a lot of light. Conrail took over in the mid 70s, wasnt much better.NJ transit took over around 1980. They initiated the power conversion pricess to switch to 50k v AC, to be able to use modern equipment ( also with the idea of being able to go into NY Penn, another story). They switched over in 1984. For several yrs they ran diesels on the weekend to allow working on the power ( lot of mondays they had trouble getting the power back). Was sad to see them go, was part if my growing up. Last time I rode the green monster was not long before the conversion, was going home to see my folks from college.

[@albertcarello619]

I remember the ILLINOIS CENTRAL ELECTRIC TRAINS built 1926-1929 by PULLMAN STANDARD being virtually identical to these NEW JERSEY green electrics. They sounded very much the same, have wicker seats, identical heating and interior lighting similar to these New Jersey electrics. The power interior lighting most likely is controlled by the outer power source the overhead wires. The Illinois Central Cars have a different electrical system though at 1,500 Volts DC CURRENT, the major difference between the New Jersey Electrics and the ILLINOIS CENTRAL ELECTRIC TRAINS.

[@Touchybanana]

I do like how they stabilized the cars nowadays from how rocky they used to be.

[@johnschneider3082]

One thing to remember about the lines rails back then is that they were “joined sticks “ ,it’s “ ribbon rail “ now.

[@toobeast5485]

Thank you for sharing, very cool stuff

[@FabioSilva-mt9wr]

Eastbound commuter trains M-U approaches with horns 8:26 8:51 24:31 26:52

[@jamesseaman2950]

Love it. So much time has passed since these old motors ran on those lines that even the more modern U34CH's have been scrapped.

[@albertcarello619]

These cars reminds me of the 1926-1929 Old Dark IC PULLMAN STANDARD ELECTRICS

[@triphops3949]

12:20 - ah, the good old days when they ran with the doors open and people started streaming off the train before it even stopped lol. Got forbid.If that happened today, that entire crew would be taken out of service pending a H&I, they'd all be sent for D&A screening, have to fill out all kinds kf statements, and somebody would have recorded it and sent it to the news and it would be "tonight's top story",. complete with language like "terror on the tracks", or "a commuter's worst nightmare"

[@a.b.s_productions]

People were hopping off the train before it even stopped lol

[@albertcarello619]

Now this railroad is part of New Jersey Transit. I've also seen the Gladstone Branch very scenic! Diesel passenger service has been eliminated and now all electric on this line.

[@stephenheath8465]

Metro North New Haven M2 MU Cars were about 15 years old at this time,so NJT had to catch up fast replacing these Lackawanna MU Cars

[@rhin0pillz]

and also the Pennsylvania Railroad MP54s on the NEC

[@retroguy1976]

the old cars should be restored and used for holiday runs

[@njlauren]

They would need to do some work. The old system was 3000v DC, so they would need to have stepdown transformers on the engine&,rectify it to DC. I think they may have done that, I recall yrs ago at the Hoboken train fest they were offering rides.

[@aostlund27]

Many were sold to various heritage railroads across the country and some have been converted to 480v AC HEP. One prime example of the 1912 built commuter club cars that’s in active service at the Whippany Railway Museum, and is the one of two club cars left in existence. The other is in Maryland, awaiting restoration.

[@njlauren]

@@aostlund27 Oh, wow, I live near the Whippany rail museum, I thought it looked familiar. You could see some of the cars they had in operation back in the day once has been grand, though all the details had been painted over. Given that many of them were converted from steam era passenger cars, not surprised. I wonder if any of them are still running using Edison's 3000 v DC system. I always wondered how that worked, did the system use pure DC in the wires, or did the cars rectify AC to DC? I suspect it was pure DC given Edison's love for DC, but then how did they handle losses over the network? I know they had some cars NJ Transit ran during railfest that could operate on the 50k v ac system by stepping it down to 3k ac& rectifying it to DC on the units involved.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

​@njlauren - I understand that NJT as well as the NEC in NJ, PA & DE is 12kv 25Hz because of the Arrow cars (and the Silverliner IV cars that SEPTA has).

[@johnburke1317]

Nice video 👋

[@thecooltrainguy5920]

Wow! I’ve never heard of the Lackawanna Electrics. I wonder if there are any left in storage anywhere.

[@BangerFleet]

No, no, no! Never use the restroom while at the station!

[@edwardp3502]

Not unusual to get 50+ years out of rails cars. Staten Island Railway still uses R44 cars from 1973 in daily service. I am surprised these cars still have Erie Lackawanna livery and not NJT or Conrail.

[@littlestevey4172]

Love how you removed the narration! Different perspective on this great video! I was also told there was lost footage from Mark I on the Mus that was never released. I wonder if anyone could find it and release it? Thanks for posting.

[@aostlund27]

Thanks for watching! Hopefully, someone can possibly find it one day. I got to admit, it was definitely pretty easy to edit the audio, and in my personal opinion, it sounds so much better without the added commentary and the added classical music. I mostly like to let history speak for itself, for a lack of a better word.

[@wwedivas2011]

Oh gosh so weird to watch these train from mid 80's I haven't even born yet I was born in Sept in 1988...

[@hamstertrain18]

I have this at home

[@aostlund27]

Cool

[@edwardcole4623]

you have a model Lackawanna electrics set?

[@mattsmocs3281]

Thanks to their repaints in the early 50s, when EL (the worst thing to ever happen) was created in 1960, they stuck a erie next to the true name. The 2's became 3's on the sides but many headlights remained unchanged. So even in the 80s that crisp DL&W stayed true even if a false 4 letter monocoque was tagged on

[@daveshockwave8098]

Does anyone have this with the commentary still in? I can't find it anywhere

[@buddmetroliner200gaming3]

are those old traction motor sounds they have

[@andrewdutton3831]

What happened to all these old cars? Were they scrapped. Are there any of them lying around abandoned somewhere? (or restored?)

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

Many have been de-motored and restored. The Reading & Northern has a bunch.

[@luislaplume8261]

Was that their original air horn? 😮

[@aostlund27]

WABCO AA-2 or AA-1 with an added trumpet, unique to the DL&W

[@anthonysaggio6551]

Was this really 1984

[@aostlund27]

Yes

[@charlespaterson9714]

I remember running up the GS Parkway through the Oranges and seeing those green electrics running across the viasduct. I always thought the olive drab paint scheme was very bland.