Lackawanna Electrics in Operation on NJ Transit - 1984

Considering that Pullman and General Electric built these in 1929 and 1930 and that they are shown in this video 54 years later in 1984 is a testament to their build quality.

Your footage of the Gladstone Branch certainly brought back memories. Students from Peapack and Gladstone were issued rail passes in order to commute to Bernard's High School, and those of us who lived in Bedminster or Far Hills also took the train when coming home from after-school sports and other activities. I remember running from the school to catch the train while laden with bags of athletic equipment and school books, all the while desperately praying that I wouldn't miss it. It was a half-mile run or walk from the school to the station. After arriving in Far Hills, I had over a mile walk back to our house. It's no wonder that I never weighed more than 130 pounds!

I was five years old in 1984, but I can't seem to remember the Erie Lackawanna electric trains. My dad said that he used to take these trains (to and from school) during his high school years in the middle to late 1960s. The only trains I remember are NJ Transit trains. I remember Comet I cars...both the low-door "sliders" and the high-door regular cars. I remember Comet IB cars. They were like Arrow I cars, except they were built to accompany Comet I and Comet II cars...the latter of which were my favorite passenger cars. I also remember both Arrow II and Arrow III electric cars. And, of course, I remember the diesel locomotives that pulled and pushed the Comet cars...F40PH-2 locomotives, GP40FH-2 locomotives, and GP40P-2 locomotives. I really miss the trains from the #GoodOldDays. I may not remember the Erie Lackawanna trains, but I'm sure that they must have been really great, too. I want to go #BackToThePast again. And, this time, I want to stay there.

Lackawanna Electrics, imagine if these trains were still around today, OMGGGGG!!!

In the early 80's I would commute to Hoboken and then take the PATH trains to Manhattan. My dad rode these for years from Maplewood NJ and I remember going to Hoboken and then taking a ferry boat to lower Manhattan.

I do like how they stabilized the cars nowadays from how rocky they used to be.

While commuting into work yesterday, saw an ALP45DP and a consist of Multilevels in Erie Lackawana livery....very nice. Hope to see a full PRR version on the corridor one day.

This is an amazing video. Can't believe those old trains were still in operation in 84.

These Lackawanna Electrics are so old I expect the conductor to step out and say "Willoughby Willoughby, next stop Willoughby".

I used to ride these growing up to Hoboken on the Morristown line either with my family or later as a teen w friends going into NYC. We called them the green monsters. They were old railway coaches that had been converted to electrical use in the 1920s. Edison desigmed the system, it is why it used 3000v DC. The cars often had wicker seats, you opened the windows for ventilation and they had concrete floors. Heat came from electric heaters under the seats that burned your legs while your upper body was freezing. They had this old fashined lighting, too, very orange and somewhst dim. The conductors would yell the stops, no pa system. To us kids of course it was the best, it was a blast from the past. Commuting on them had to have bern rough, though. I remember being in dressy clothes going into hoboken with my mom and her warning me to be careful with the tights I had on w my dress, not snag them on the seats. Women back then wore pantyhose still,must heve been hard to keep them run free. Lot of the men riding wore suits ( prob worked in lower manhattan), keeping them clean must have been tough. The DLW was in poor financial shape , had been for years, so they weren't well maintained..it was sad, bc you coukd see that they once had been nice, there was translucent glass just below the roof that was long painted over that must have given the car a lot of light. Conrail took over in the mid 70s, wasnt much better.NJ transit took over around 1980. They initiated the power conversion pricess to switch to 50k v AC, to be able to use modern equipment ( also with the idea of being able to go into NY Penn, another story). They switched over in 1984. For several yrs they ran diesels on the weekend to allow working on the power ( lot of mondays they had trouble getting the power back). Was sad to see them go, was part if my growing up. Last time I rode the green monster was not long before the conversion, was going home to see my folks from college.

These cars reminds me of the 1926-1929 Old Dark IC PULLMAN STANDARD ELECTRICS

Excellent video! 👍These Lackawanna Electric’s are amazing! Wish I could have seen these in commuter service.

Love it. So much time has passed since these old motors ran on those lines that even the more modern U34CH's have been scrapped.

12:20 - ah, the good old days when they ran with the doors open and people started streaming off the train before it even stopped lol. Got forbid.If that happened today, that entire crew would be taken out of service pending a H&I, they'd all be sent for D&A screening, have to fill out all kinds kf statements, and somebody would have recorded it and sent it to the news and it would be "tonight's top story",. complete with language like "terror on the tracks", or "a commuter's worst nightmare"

Wow! I’ve never heard of the Lackawanna Electrics. I wonder if there are any left in storage anywhere.

Now this railroad is part of New Jersey Transit. I've also seen the Gladstone Branch very scenic! Diesel passenger service has been eliminated and now all electric on this line.

Metro North New Haven M2 MU Cars were about 15 years old at this time,so NJT had to catch up fast replacing these Lackawanna MU Cars

Eastbound commuter trains M-U approaches with horns 8:26 8:51 24:31 26:52

Thank you for sharing, very cool stuff

the old cars should be restored and used for holiday runs