The United Railroad Historical Society in New Jersey has announced via a Facebook post that it has acquired New Jersey Transit 4424, the 1996-vintage ALP-44 type electric locomotive pictured above in an image from that post. This is the first mainline electric locomotive to enter preservation in five years, since IRM acquired a (nearly identical) AEM-7 from Amtrak in 2018, and it makes 4424 the newest piece of equipment of any type on the PNAERC list, edging out LA Metro 164 after that light rail car spent just two months in the "youngest" spot.
NJT 4424 was built by Asea Brown Boveri, which was formed in 1987 by merging ASEA and Brown Boveri & Cie. ABB took over the existing ASEA AEM-7 design and updated it as the ALP-44, selling 32 of the new model to NJT and one to SEPTA. NJT ordered its locomotives in three batches between 1989 and 1996, with 4424 being part of the final 1996 order that was placed to provide added motive power for the then-new "Midtown Direct" service via the Kearny Connection. The locomotive had a short service life of just 15 years and was retired in 2011. Unlike most of the members of NJT's ALP-44 fleet, which were stored along the old Lackawanna Cutoff near Port Morris Yard and badly vandalized, 4424 was one of a handful stored safely at an NJT maintenance facility in Kearny. It was transferred to the URHS and moved this week to Boonton. There it joins a collection of mainline railroad equipment that includes two GG-1s and an E60CH, along with some derelict MU cars stored at a satellite location.
No comments:
Post a Comment