The number 4037 on this unit intrigued me into doing some further research on this unit. According to Robert Reid's Penn Central System Bi-Annual, there is more to this E is more than meets the eye. 4037 is this units ORIGINAL number, being ex-Penn Central, exx- New York Central 4037 built 6/51. It's "brothers" 4036 & 4038 became Amtrak 256 & 257, while 4037 joined a small group of E-8s that remained under PC ownership despite being assigned to Amtrak service. 4037 MAY have been retired prior to coming under Conrail ownership, though Conrail also numbered their E-units in the 40xx series. What is incongruous with this heritage is the "ladder" of grab rails going up the side, as New York Central units were built with "smooth" noses and FEW PC units had such hand rails. The next mystery is HOW / WHY it ended up in New Orleans. Hopefully 4037 is NOT part of the "equipment pool" that is supposed to be used to evacuate people out of New Orleans in the event of a recurring flood.
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I thought I read somewhere this was an ex UP unit... I'm not sure as I can't locate my Amtrak By The Numbers book.
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Sad to see this beauty end up this way, as a rust bucket. If it,s a E9 it could not be ex New York Central, as N.Y.C. Only rostered E7,s and E8,s. Thanks for posting.
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This was located beyond the north side of Jefferson Hwy near the New Orleans/Jefferson Parish line. This lead was for the Louisiana Steam Train Association, where LASTA 745 was restored. I got in the cab one and all that remained were the seats for the crew and an empty instrument panel. If I find my pics I will post them but I believe they were lost in Katrina.
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I've been looking for exactly where this E9 was/is for a while now and I've finally figured it out thanks to Paul Alimia's comment. To my knowledge, the current owner of this locomotive is the Louisiana Steam Train Association. When you go onto satellite, you'll see in their yard an E unit that's paint scheme looks very similar to this E9's. Not exactly sure how old that specific satellite view is or if the locomotive has received new ownership since then, but that's what I know. Thanks for posting!
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