Re: PC: DD-1

["Rick" <rtkiefer@xxxxxxxx>]

Jim Hebner wrote:
 
> Did it run under PC?- I know it was on the property and think it was uses for
> wiretrain service in Sunnyside yard area - suspect it was used in tunnels with
> third rail in wiretrain service when the overhead was down. Does anyone have a
> retirment date?
 
According to _Penn Central Power_, it was sometime in 1969. I checked
various other sources, and that's the closest I could come up with.

You're correct on the wire train usage...the last remaining DD-1 held
down that job until retirement. All other DD-1s were scrapped by 1952
or so.

Later,
-Jer

     The DD1 was vitally important to PRR main Line passenger 
service, to and from New York City via the Hudson River tunnels 
when steam was still the prime mover on the Pennsy's "Broadway" 
corridor, the DD1 electrics were never used west of Manhattan 
Transfer. In the 1930s, the advent of main line electrification 
and the mighty P5 and GG1 "motors" that could go all of the way 
eliminated the need for DD1 tunnel shuttle service. 
     Still usable DD1s continued to work the tunnels connecting 
Penn Station with Sunnyside yard. They were also used on parts 
of the Long Island RR. They were used until the 1960s when they 
were retired. The locomotive at Strasburg is the only one left 
arriving there in July 1969. They were supposedly headed to St. 
Louis but were set out do to "unspecified difficulties" and 
towed to Strasburg for "storage".
     Information was obtained from a pamphlet written on the DD1 
by Bert Pennypacker of the Friends of the Railroad Museum of 
Pennsylvania.