Unfortunately, 2000-miles from “Gotham”, I have a dial-up ISP. It takes a while to download a “YouTube” thingie, but I will, at earliest convenience. I, usually, do that while taking care of my morning abloutions! I was under the impression that all P32AC-DMs had a combination over- and under-running retractable, sprung third-rail shoe, and could operate on ex-NYC or ex-PRR or LIRR third-rail. Where did this “Freedom Tunnel” sobrequiet come from? Never heard it before. What’s the deal with the front door “escape hatch”? I don’t remember the New Haven EP-5 “Jets”, or the “Dan’l Webster”, or the “Roger Williams” having them, all operating in GCT. More later, I’m sure.
A previous comment on the NH FL-9s running on Diesel, as soon as they were out of the tunnel, strikes me as strange. They were prob’ly on Diesel all the way from GCT, especially if the third-rail shoes got clipped off, due to inattention of the locomotive crew at Woodlawn on the in-bound trip. NYC would charge them for the electricity, even if they ran in and out on Diesel.
The “Freedom Tunnel” is a local name for the tunnel that comes from a graffiti artist who did most of the large artwork on the tunnel walls. This tunnel set unused for decades until 1991 and it was also where the so-called “mole people” lived in NYC. There was a big story about their eviction when Amtrak re-activated the tunnel, and more stories about controlling pedestrian access to the tunnel because people still get hit by trains in the tunnel to this day.
Regarding an FL-9 still “gurgling” while at Penn Station in 1968, it was probably idling all the way in from Harold Tower. Usually engine crews did not actually shut down the engine completely when using third rail power but simple had the engine idle, with very little smoke as a result, also at GCT. This avoided start-up problems on the outbound moveI don’t know what the practice is on today’s LIRR, Amtrak, and Metro North dual power, and would be interested in learning. In 1968, and FL-9 would run through to Penn Station only if an EP-5 was not available. I assume the FL-9 lashup was a pair, not just one, because of the grades to an from the Hell Gate Bridge and the lack of a place to turn at Penn. If you only saw one FL-9 on the head of your train, it may have been pulled into Penn by an electric of one sort or another (even possibly an ex-Virginian?) which had cut-off before you saw the locomotive, and this must have represented a real emergency! If the train had stopped at Harold Tower, it may have been to add PRR power.
No, it was a pair…the same pair all the way from Springfield. I saw them in the west yard at NYP a few minutes later as the train received its GG1 and new passengers enroute to Philadelphia and Washington. This train was the remnant of the Montrealer which up to about 5 or 6 years earlier would have originated in the named Canadian city and would have exchanged B&M power for NH at Springfield.
BTW…coming back from Philadelphia later that day on the Patriot, traded GG1 for EP44 I think at NYP and thought the NH provided a smoother ride than PRR had up to that point.
I think you meant EP-5, the “Jets”, but perhaps at one time they were labeld EP-44 for their 4400 HP. That would be the normal power. And I believe my explanation about why you heard the “gurgle” is correct. I heard the gurgle many times at GCT as well and got the explanaition I gave you at that time. Later, of course, around 1971-1972, they started actually running on diesel into GCT and from GCT. A court order brought on by the Waldorf’s attourney (really Restaurant Associate’s Attourny, my cousin Lester Klepper, rest in peace) stopped this practice because the fumes were leaking into the Waldorf’s restaurant. By that time, under PC, GG-1’s were handling all the passenger traffic between NY-Penn and New Haven, with most through trains no longer changing engines at Penn. The Turbo train was an exception, of course. And only a very few trains through to Springfield were left, replaced by shuttles to and from New Haven. There was a mass migration of FL-9’s to what became Metro North territory to eliminate engine changes at White Plains and Croton-Harmon, with E-7’s and E-8’s running north and east of New Haven, Pennsy and Central power mixed.