Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

class E3c comprised a pair of experimental C-C (

AAR AAR or Aar may refer to: Geography * Aar, a river in Switzerland, tributary of the Rhine *Aar (Lahn), a tributary of Lahn river in Germany, descending from the Taunus mountains * Aar (Dill), a tributary of Dill river in Germany, also in the bas ...

) or Co-Co ( UIC)

electric locomotives An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas t ...

. The bodywork and running gear was produced by

Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

while the electrical equipment was provided by Westinghouse, who also acted as principal contractor. In 1952 the Pennsylvania Railroad took delivery of eight experimental locomotives, four from General Electric and four from Westinghouse. While GE's were all of the same class ( E2b), the Westinghouse locomotives were split into two classes. Two locomotives had three two-axle trucks ( E3b). The significant technical difference between the locomotives was that those from General Electric used traditional AC traction motors. Those by Westinghouse had mercury arc rectifiers to convert the AC traction power to DC. In consequence they were able to use ordinary DC

traction motors A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles ( electric multiple ...

, identical to those on contemporary diesel-electric locomotives. The locomotives were

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

ped in 1964. However, the rectifier principle they pioneered soon became the standard for new AC electric locomotives,

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* * 11 kV AC locomotives E3c C-C locomotives Baldwin locomotives Experimental locomotives Westinghouse locomotives Electric locomotives of the United States Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1952 {{US-train-stub Streamlined electric locomotives