The PRR E44 was an electric, rectifier-equipped locomotive built by General Electric for the Pennsylvania Railroad between 1960 and 1963. The PRR used them for freight service on the Northeast Corridor. They continued in service under Penn Central and Conrail until Conrail abandoned its electric operations in the early 1980s. They were then acquired by Amtrak and NJ Transit, where they lived short lives; all were retired by the mid-1980s. One is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Design 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