By the late 1950s, with its
P5a fleet aging, the Pennsylvania Railroad needed new electric freight locomotives. In fact, the PRR had never really had a successful electric freight locomotive. The P5a was originally built to haul passengers, being bumped from that duty by the more powerful GG1. The
GG1s were best at hauling passenger trains; while also adequate for fast, time-sensitive freights, they were not as efficient on heavy freights (especially coal and ore trains) at a time before
roller bearings were widely used on freight cars. The PRR had purchased
E2b,
E2c and
E3b demonstrators, but was not particularly impressed, for a variety of reasons. The railroad even considered complete freight dieselization, and commissioned studies on this from builders
Alco,
GM's
EMD and
General Electric; however, all three builders recommended retaining all existing electrification and acquiring new electric locomotives. The PRR took special note of twelve state-of-the-art
EL-C electrics built by GE for the
Virginian Railway, which was satisfied by their performance on their coal trains in the
Blue Ridge Mountains. The PRR then approached GE about building a similar locomotive, resulting in an order for 66 such units in 1959. The E44 was essentially a more powerful version of the EL-C (later known as the E33), with compared to the EL-C's . One of the most notable differences in appearances between the two locomotives was the
pantograph(s): the El-C had one double-arm (Stemmann) pantograph, whereas the E44 had two single-arm (Faiveley) pantographs: a characteristic born of the PRR's operating practice of having two pantographs per locomotive. The EL-C, while of
utilitarian design, also had a slightly more-rounded appearance than the rather-boxier E44. While the E44 was short on aesthetics compared with the GG1 and P5 ("bricks" being a particularly common sobriquet), the units were long on performance. General Electric constructed the first 60 E44s (4400-4459) using
Ignitron rectifiers, and the final six units (4460-4465) with air-cooled
silicon diode rectifiers. GE subsequently upgraded 22 of the units (a few at a time) to an E44a designation, boasting upgraded traction motors and silicon rectifier packages for an output of 5,000 horsepower. The 22 E44a's were numbered ; the E44a program was terminated in 1970 due to the Penn Central bankruptcy. Conrail subsequently swapped out the Ignitrons in all of the remaining units for silicon diodes in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in-house and without any horsepower upgrades. In 1980, GE took E44a 4453 in hand for rebuilding with upgraded electronics and uprating to 6,000 horsepower. Made redundant by Conrail's discontinuance of electrified freight operations, the rebuilt 4453 was briefly tested on the
Northeast Corridor in 1984 by GE, which then
scrapped the unit several years later after salvaging the newer components.
E50C In the late 1960s,
General Electric constructed two upgraded 5,000 horsepower (25,000 volt, 60 cycle) units of the same E44 body style (known as E50Cs) for the
Muskingum Electric Railroad, a private coal-carrying railroad owned by
American Electric Power. Until it closed in 2002, MERR shuttled coal in two automated consists from the mine to a powerplant at
Relief, Ohio (across from
Beverly, OH). ==History==