In the mid-1950s the Virginian Railway, a regional carrier known for heavy coal trains and electric locomotives, sought replacements for its fleet of aging “square head” freight motors.
Pleased with the performance of its streamlined General Electric EL-2B engines, the railroad approached GE for new power. Between October 1956 and February 1957 12 EL-C-class locomotives were delivered to the railroad.
The engines performed well until June 1962, when the Norfolk & Western, which took over the Virginian in 1959, terminated electric operations.
At about the same time, the New Haven railroad, looking for an affordable way to replace its own deteriorating fleet of electric freight engines, bought all 12 Virginian Rectifiers (11 operational and one for parts) for $300,000. Quite a bargain since the Virginian had originally paid more than $260,000 apiece for the engines!
The Rectifiers continued to deliver good service for the New Haven and later became the property of the Penn Central and, in turn, Conrail, which ran them until electrified freight operations were terminated in 1981.
The Pennsylvania RR fielded 66 similarly styled E-44 electrics, but that is another story.
A real model
If your image of a Rectifier is that of Lionel’s 1958 rendition, well, get ready for a surprise. The model by Williams Electric Trains is not at all what you might expect!
Even in the 1950s a majority of model railroaders lived some distance from an electrified freight railroad, so the advent of Lionel’s model wasn’t something that stirred the hobby. The model was different from Geeps and NW2s, but it wasn’t especially exciting. It was unmistakably toy-like in scale and detail. It was, for example, mounted on F3-style two-axle trucks when the prototype used three-axle trucks. For the last 40 years the Rectifier has been just popular enough for it to be included every few years in Lionel’s product line.
The Williams’ engine is the first scale-like model of the Rectifier by a major toy train manufacturer. It is a gem worth the wait.
The engine’s coupler-to-coupler length, including the oversized O gauge couplers, is 72 feet in O scale, comparable to the prototype’s 691/2 foot length.
After examining both the file photos and images in Virginian, New Haven, Pennsylvania and Penn Central reference books, the body is right on target. If you are into rivet-and-hatch detail, this engine will win you over. Vents and door latches are well represented, and items like add-on grab irons on the front and rear, scale-sized warning signs, and that great cab roof overhand are all there. There is also an added-on wire lever on top of the cab, near the pantograph.
Of special note is “the plug.” The Rectifiers had a unique resolution to the problem of keeping locomotives with broken pantographs in service: if an engine’s array was broken, it could simply plug into an adjacent Rectifier.
The Williams engine is not designed to actually do that, but it does simulate a plug-in near the pantograph, running along the top of the body, and inserted into the rear of the roof. Look very closely at the prototype photo and you will discover two units operating with one pantograph, and just barely visible is a jumper line connecting the two via the electrical conduit on top! This is another one of those details that would have been easy for Williams to ignore, but someone thoughtfully decided it was important enough to include.
The Rectifier is available in Conrail, New Haven, and two Virginian paint schemes. Decoration of our samples was superb. Paint and lettering were immaculately applied.
To keep the price low, Williams did compromise a bit with the design of the undercarriage.
The engine uses die-cast metal SD45-style trucks and the die-cast metal fuel tank designed for the firm’s U33C. The engine also has a frame with stamped-steel handrails, which are a plus for rugged handling.
Worth mentioning are the grab irons on the nose that reflect the prototype — flush against the side, instead of leading up to a front platform. They look pretty good.
Aesthetically, the Rectifier looks solid and industrial at the head of a train of scale-sized freight cars, and actually looks fairly good at the head of traditional 6464-sized boxcars.
In our tests, engine performance was great. The Rectifier pulled a 20-car test train around with ease and motor noise was minimal.
Four traction tires helped the 5-pound locomotive deliver 3 pounds of drawbar pull, enough to pull more than 100 pieces of modern, free-rolling rolling stock on straight and level track.
The speed range for the engine averaged 19.6 scale mph on the low side and 128 scale mph on the high side. Like many engines we test, we suspect the Rectifier could go even faster on a much longer straight-away!
The GE Rectifier is another well built, nicely appointed product by Williams. If you like distinctive looking locomotives or are interested in building an electric railroading empire with more scale-like dimensions, and want to take one step beyond the standard GG1/EP5 mix, check out the this rectifier.
Did the Great Northern actually use the E p5 ? as I thought Penn. and New Haven were the only roads to use this engine.
i am a rectifier fan as well as a fan of the virginian and new haven railroad. i have both roadnames in this engine and i love the ruggedness and detail of them. they look powerful even when they are not running. williams has done us a big service by producing this scale length engine
I m a recent "convert" to O Gauge Railroading. Always a lover of Electrics, my favorite being the Milw. Road N.W. Extenstion. As well the Great Northern is another favorite. I have purchased both the EF4 in GN By Williams, and the EP5 in GN. Both run very smooth and great running engines. As well I have the Lionel EP5 which is great and a Lionel E33. The EF4 is a great competitor.