We all like to tells yarns about our greatest train deal.....for instance mine is my is my new, in the box 415 Diesel Fueling Station for $4 in 1963 at a discount house(Honig's Pkwy) in the Bronx in 1963 or 64. However, this one has to take the cake....
In 1963 the cash-strapped New Haven RR needed an upgrade to their motive power. The Virginian RR had merged with the N&W in 1959. Virginian electric service was no longer used so 12 barely used/nearly new Virginian electrics were surplus. Their GE technology was very similar to that in the New Haven EP5's.
The New Haven bought all 12 including spare parts from the N&W for $300,000, total. They had originally cost the Virginian RR $267,710 each just a few years earlier.
Some of these electrics lived to get Conrail paint......a pretty good deal.
Source: JW Swanberg. New Haven Power, 1838-1968.
Peter
