Engines of Metro North General Electric U34CH

In 1970 the Erie Lackawanna Railroad was doing it’s federally mandated duty running commuter services out of Hoboken Terminal to northern New Jersey and southern New York. Given the fact that the Erie Lackawanna and most other railroads were almost always on the brink of bankruptcy at the time, the service was unreliable, infrequent, and outdated. The New Jersey State government recognized the problem and began subsidizing the Erie Lackawanna and other commuter operations in the state.
The subsidy included the purchase of state of the art locomotives and coaches to replace the railroads older fleet of EMD E and F units and steam-heated coaches in commuter services. The government of New Jersey noted the efficient and modern commuter operations of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad out of Chicago. The railroad had gotten rid of steam heating on their commuter trains, replacing the steam generators on EMD E and F units with diesel generators. These generators could then supply electrical power for heat and lighting directly to a new fleet of Pullman standard galley bi-level railcars. Some of these new Pullman Standard Bilevel cars had been ordered as cab control cars by the Chicago and northwestern railway, which means that a train could operate in both directions without the need to turn trains or use extra locomotives. With cab control cars, the engineer switches from the locomotives to the control cab of a cab car to turn the train around.
In new jersey, the head-end power system would provide efficient heating during the cold northeast winters and push-pull operation would significantly increase the efficiency of commuter services. At the time when a train reached the end of the line, there was no way to turn the train around with all turntables, wye, and loop tracks removed as lines were cut back to save costs. Crews would have to uncouple the locomotive from the consist and run it around the train and couple it to the other end. This necessitated the need for dual cab locomotives such as the E60 and alp44 or to have two diesel locomotives coupled rear to rear and run that whole set around the train.

[@MrNJT]

Very nice! The U34CH is one great locomotive. Kinda forgotten but it’s always nice to see it getting its mentions.

[@jpprophete1988]

I miss those comet 1A’s. I wish they would preserve a couple of them instead of scrapping all of them.

[@pascackvalleylinerailfan5037]

Very nice video! The U34CH is one of my favorite GE locomotives and my favorite in the NJT fleet. It kind sucks that they just neglected them more than repair them. If they ordered more of them and repaired them I bet they still would’ve ran on these lines today. But anyways thumbs up! 👍

[@tom-and-mom]

nyrailfan 202, does the U34CH have 3,430 horsepower?

[@tom-and-mom]

@nyrailfan 202 Does the U34CH locomotive have 3430 horsepower?

[@fakecumberland]

The best thing about them was the sound.

[@daf827]

Nice video! So much great footage. One minor detail: Port Jervis, NY is pronounced JER-vis, not JAR-vis.

[@darrylwmurphy738]

GE U34CH is similar to the GE C30-7

[@thomasabramson100]

I remember seeing the U34Ch at Hoboken they looked SOOOO big compared to the old Alco RS3s the EL had

[@beelineenthusiast]

I could watch this series over and over again!❤

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

Another fascinating tidbit that might surprise people is why NJDOT stopped permitting the Bluebirds to run freight trains after the 1970s. Not because they were problematic units, but, because they were often returned with little to no fuel left in the tank. Had they been fueled before being returned to commuter service, they might have stayed on weekend freight runs. But, we may never know what might have been, just speculate.

[@generalfoxer2571]

Great video!

[@naddyt6520]

Great video man! Looking forward to the next one!

[@drguppy7861]

The trains in this video were very pleasing to me. I greatly enjoyed their metal exteriors. Very cool!! 😎

[@afleetcommand]

Another awesome video with a lot of information...not just about the railroads.... but some "civics" mixed in for those who understand. Very important historical video here

[@tom-and-mom]

11:45

[@empirestaterailfan4960]

Ok, not what I was expecting but great video 👍

[@MichaelN12]

Idk why but I see more dislikes on videos that the people say to not click the dislike button. Btw well done on this video

[@trainsfacepaint4876]

Engines of metro north

[@dominickmilano9972]

Great story 🚂