E44 Electric w/Proto-Sound 3.0 - 3-Rail - Premier(R) -- Conrail (blue, white)

The operating history of the Rectifier Electric Locomo- tive dates back to the 1890s when Peter Cooper-Hewitt discovered how a mercury rectifier actually works. About the same time, Charles Steinmetz of General Electric (GE) was also working on this operating principle to identify converters for commercial and industrial applications_for the process. A railway vehicle application occurred_in 1906, which initiated years of rail car experimenta- tion on a few railroad lines. Following World War II, a device known as the Ignitron came to the forefront in the experimentation of rectifier technology. The use of the Ignitron on railway units helped to open the door for electrification and modernization of railroads. The E-33 Rectifier Electric Train has a somewhat compli cated history in that it first made an appearance as the Virginian EL-3a. Once the Virginia Railway merged with the Norfolk & Western, these locomotives were classified as EF-4s. That's when the New Haven Railroad bought sev