New Haven EP-5

New Haven EP-5
New Haven Railroad GE EP-5 electric locomotive No. 378.

The GE EP-5 was a class of 10 double ended full bridge mercury arc rectifier electric locomotives built in 1954 by General Electric in Erie, PA for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (New Haven).  They were built to haul passenger trains between New York City and New Haven. These engines were nicknamed "Jets" for the roaring noise they make.

Although they were admired for their quick acceleration and pulling power, they were notorious for overheating. This problem was made worse by the fact that the NH was financially already in dire straits, and that the railroad's management wanted to abolish electric-hauled services. By 1962, the NH had gone bankrupt and only three were in service. All ten survived to 1969, when the NH had carelessly joined the disastrous Penn Central, but four were quickly stricken from the roster and cut up. The surviving six examples were re-classified as E-40 by the PC.

The final nail in the coffin came in 1973, when they were banned from what is now the MTA's Metro-North Harlem Line and from passenger service altogether, after one (then PC 4971) caught fire in the Park Avenue Tunnel. All were then stored unserviceable, though 4973 and 4977 were rebuilt for freight service, stripped of third-rail capabilities, their steam generators and one pantograph on each. The lack of multiple-unit capability and dynamic brakes spelt the end for them, and after only just surviving into the Conrail era by a year, they were retired and scrapped by 1979. It is a pity that no example of this class, let alone any of the true NH electrics apart from the ex-Virginian motors, was saved for posterity.

A bit of the "Jets", or at least the sound they made, was saved, this can be heard in the first few moments of the 1956 film, "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit", which was released a year after the "Jets" entered service.

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