Virginian Railway Electrification/Riding the N&W Steam Clips

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Mr. Whalen asks: 

>> One day it occurred to me that while many, if not most, railroads used 
electrification when they had mountains to climb (N&W, VGN, GN, CMSt&P, 
BA&P), the PRR relegated its electrification to its flatlands and continued 
to use steam to climb its mountains. << 

Answer: The PRR was in the planning stages of electrifying from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh (two divisions, Harrisburg-Altoona, and Altoona-Pittsburgh.) 

The late years of the Depression and then the war years sapped that project. There was supposedly an attempt to revive the project in the early 1950s, but recessions and general business conditions in the Northeast (tonnage erosion) caused the shelving of the project. 

The electrification was installed first on the "flatlands" (NY-Harrisburg-Baltimore-Washington) to break the logjams at stub-end terminals (principally at Broad Street Station, Philadelphia.) 

For details check the truly voluminous Chronology of the PRR by Dr. Christopher T. Baer of the Hagley Museum. You can get the Chronology on-line. It is downloadable on a per-year basis, and each year runs 40 to 60 pages. 

-- abram burnett 

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