On a long summer evening, a former New Haven EP-5 class electric, now a Penn Central E40, races through Milford, CT, with a Grand Central-New Haven rush hour commuter train. These big GE motors were well suited to stop-and-start commuter trains because of their powerful acceleration, but by 1970 several members of the class were already out of service and within a few years they would all be gone.
The three biggest passenger carriers - Pennsylvania, New York Central, and New Haven - merged to create the ill-fated Penn Central, whose passenger losses and poor service led to the formation of Amtrak and state-owned commuter lines.
