The E44 was the last electric locomotive to be bought by the PRR, and
was procured to replace the P-5As on freight duties. GE's designs was
derived from that of the Virginian's EL-C,
but the new locomotives were
more powerful, being rated at 4,400 hp. The E44As were even more
powerful, with solid-state rectifiers and improved traction motors for
a 5,000hp rating.
The E44s survived through Penn Central and the early years of
Conrail,
but the abandonment of Conrail electrification rendered them
surplus. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit both made use of fomer Conrail
units, but today only one survives, at the Railroad Museum of
Pennsylvania.
This volume reproduces
almost 100 remarkably detailed and texturally rich photographs. Essays
by noted historians John Stilgoe, Mary Panzer, and Kenneth Finkel place
Rau and his work in the context of the history of American advertising
and landscape photography.
A guidebook to the
museum in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, covering the history of the state's
railroad industry, with a tour of the 100, 000-square-foot exhibit
hall, which displays dozens of historic locomotives and rolling stock
significant to Pennsylvania's railroad heritage. A complete checklist
of the museum's collection of rolling stock is included. Dan Cupper, a
freelance writer and transportation historian, is the author of several
books, including The Pennsylvania Turnpike and Horseshoe Heritage. He
lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
