Orange New Haven E33 paintouts with PC worms?

[pennsenseless]

I know on this board it says that the E33's were immediately taken off the old New Haven and towed to Enola for cab signalling and black repaint.
Is that totally certain? I could swear in Yanosey's Penn Central Power book there is a picture of an E33 in New Haven orange with the NH painted out and big PC logos instead. (like a dope I sold my copy years ago). I could also swear I saw this discussed somewhere on the net and the guy claimed he had a photo.

Mabe im imagining this...any clarification....thanks

[pbass]

The only thing NYC&PRR management could agree on was their deep dislike for the New Haven.To show their dislike for the NH,the E33's were taken to Wilmington for immediate repaint into PC color scheme.As soon as possible,all NH locomotives got the PC treatment.The only exception were a majority of FL-9's and EP5's.This was to show the public they were bankrupt and had no interest in commuter operations.I hired out with PC.It was a shameful time to be employed.Noel Weaver could elaborate even more if he so desires.

[fm]

I've done extensive research on the disposition of the New Haven Railroad's diesel and electric locomotive fleet in Penn Central and this material is presently being serialized in the Penn Central Railroad Historical Society's "Penn Central Post" magazine. I was actually going to write a book on the Penn Central takeover of the New Haven Railroad but lost interest. I may yet do this, but not anytime soon.

I handed the chapter that I had completed on the NH's locomotives over to the PCRRHS and they broke it up and have been running it in installments in the Penn Central Post magazine for the past several years. They have enough of this material to keep it going for many years to come (each ex-NHRR locomotive type, i.e., GP-9s, FL-9s, E-33s, SW-1200s, S-1s, RS-3s, etc., is being covered in a separate issue of the magazine).

At least one ex-NH E-33 recived the large Penn Central numbers on its cab while in New Haven colors and lettering. I have a photo of this unit and it may have been the only one to get this renumbering treatment. It may not have actually been operated by PC this way and the numbers may have been applied while it was sitting in storage and awaiting overhaul and repainting. The photo was taken at the electric shop in Wilmington, Delaware I think. I have no evidence that any of the E-33s had a PC logo applied before they were repainted black.

The reason that the E-33s were repainted so quickly is that Penn Central abolished electric powered freight service over the New Haven Region almost immediately after the PC takeover. Off the top of my head I can't tell you the date the last electric powered freight train ran over the New Haven Region (I have this date elsewhere) but do know that it happened within a few days of the merger.

The complete details of what happened to the E-33s will be published in the Penn Central Post at some point in the near future, but basically what happened is that the E-33s were stored for a short time at Cedar Hill and Lamberton Street in New Haven, Connecticut (I have the exact timeframes in my manuscript) and were then towed to Wilmington where they were immediately overhauled and repainted for use on the ex-PRR electric freight lines.

[Noel Weaver]

To add to the last post, Bay Ridge was shut down within days of the Penn Central takeover. I still remember the last night that NE-2 cleaned out the yard there but I do not have the date that this occurred. Freight operations to Bay Ridge were all diesel the last few days of operations there. We went from six or seven through freight round trips on the New York end of the railroad to two and soon one except for the Selkirk jobs that operated via Devon and Danbury. I don't blame Penn Central for most of this, the freight business was "drying up" and the re-route was more efficient and cheaper to operate. Floating cars was labor intensive, costly and could be inefficient. There was always more east - west freight traffic than north - south freight traffic and the former New York Central was the ideal route for such traffic to New York and New England. Once the direct connection between the Pennsylvania (P & H Branch) and the New York Central (River Line) was built near Waldo it was a straightaway move for a through freight train through North Jersey. There were other problems with using this route but that is another story.
Penn Central wanted the ex Virginian motors for their freight lines and they wasted no time in moving these fine motors out of New Haven. Once Bay Ridge was closed down we had no use for them on the New Haven anyway.
Noel Weaver