I seem to recall hearing that at one point there was another of Virginian's EL-C electrics somewhere in the New Jersey area, in rather rough shape. Can anyone confirm?

> I think that the
> The Freight Motor came to the Museum via the
> New Haven, Penn Central, and Conrail. Stuart
> Saunders, the N&W President at the time
> of dieselization would have never donated
> anything to a museum. The Virginian had set
> aside several locomotives for preservation,
> and all of them went to scrap immediately
> after the N&W takeover.

> #611 survived because of the intervention of
> O. Winston Link, and #2156 got to St. Louis,
> probably without his knowledge. #1218 was
> sold to Union Carbide for use as a
> stationery boiler, and ultimately acquired
> by Steamtown.


colemanc@infinet.com

> I seem to recall hearing that at one point
> there was another of Virginian's EL-C
> electrics somewhere in the New Jersey area,
> in rather rough shape. Can anyone confirm?

Yes. There is a former VGN EL-C rectifier locomotive at the Railroad Museum of New England in Connecticut. You can go to their web page via the NMRA links page. It is in extremely rough shape; unlike the EL-C which has been cosmetically restored and displayed at the museum in Roanoke, VA, this unit is still in its as-retired condition. The transformer was removed from the engine, and there is a hole behind the cab about 5' square that allows you to see right through the engine. It is still painted in its Conrail paint scheme, or what's left of it. It's very hard to see; the RRMNE yard site is not designed to be open to the public or easy to get at. Overall, the unit seems to be more-or-less complete (sans transformer), just really tired.

> Yes. There is a former VGN EL-C rectifier
> locomotive at the Railroad Museum of New
> England in Connecticut.

And what is RMNE doing with a VGN loco, you might ask? Well, it was also a New Haven unit for part of its life (1963-1969), EF-4 class #300, then PC and CR 4601. With all other original NH electric classes long scrapped, we were able to have this unit donated by GE in 1989, to represent at least one NH electric unit. The PCB-filled transformer was removed by GE before shipment, and all the "special work" steel for the transformer area is there-- just the side panels are gone. It is not, at this time, high on the list of what next gets a cosmetic restoration.