PRR MP54

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The Pennsylvania Railroad's MP54 was a class of electric multiple unit railcars. The class was initially constructed as an unpowered, locomotive hauled coach for suburban operations, but were designed to be rebuilt into self-propelled units as electrification plans were realized. The first of these self-propelled cars were placed in service with the PRR subsidiary Long Island Rail Road with DC propulsion in 1908 and soon spread to the Philadelphia-based network of low frequency AC electrified suburban lines in 1915. Eventually the cars came to be used throughout the railroad's electrified network from Washington, D.C. to New York City and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The cars became a commuting tradition during their long years of service in several major cities.

Additional types of these cars were developed, all with the same overall length, body shape, and characteristic round end windows often referred to as porthole or owl-eyed windows and large roof-level headlights.[6]^[12] The passenger-baggage combination cars (52 seats) were designated MPB54. In 1911, baggage cars with 62 ft (18.90 m) baggage compartments were added and designated MB62. In 1913, baggage-mail cars with the same dimensions were added and designated MBM62. In 1914, passenger-baggage combination cars with longer baggage compartments and 40 seats were added and designated MPB54B. In 1915, passenger-baggage-mail combination cars with 24 seats were added and designated MPBM54.

Early DC MP54s

The first group of MP54 cars was delivered to the PRR subsidiary

In 1910, the PRR received its first group of MP54-type cars. Six of the coaches and two of the combination cars were provided with DC electrical equipment, and the rest were for service in trains pulled by steam or electric locomotives.[14]

Penn Station opened September 8, 1910, with service to Long Island points being provided by LIRR MP54 cars.

In time it was apparent to better distinguish between the non-electrified and electrified cars aside from the letter E, thus it was decided to make the initial M be a "small" capital letter for the non-electrified cars.[23] Small capital letters are awkward to use, so many books^[24][25] have used the LIRR scheme of omitting the initial M for the non-electrified cars (P54)^[11] while less commonly a lower-case m is used instead of the small capital (mP54).^[26]

In 1950, faced with the need for expensive new equipment for unprofitable suburban service,

consisting of 405 MP54, 42 MP54T, 10 MPB54B, 9 MPB54, 7 MB62, 4 MBM62, and 4 MBM62T cars.

Performance

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While state of the art in 1908, when the last brand new MP54 rolled off the assembly line 28 years later, the design did more to suit the PRR's desire for standardization than the comfort of the passengers that rode them. Each motor car was powered by a single truck at the pantograph end which in turn was equipped with two 200-horsepower (150 kW) 25 Hz

friction bearings

on unmodified cars retarded performance further. Noise from the primitive toothed gear drivetrain (a characteristic common to contemporary MU cars on other railroads) could become quite loud at high speed which made the relative quiet of unpowered trailer cars (if utilized) attractive to some regular riders.

Service history

The MP54 cars ran from 1915 until 1981 on many lines, through many years of PRR service and into

Steam-hauled P54 cars served well into the 1950s alongside their MU siblings. While these cars were more commonly seen in commuter service in the Pittsburgh area, they were also used over the entire PRR and perhaps even off-line in troop train service during World War II. Also during this time, several combine style cars were converted to completely coach seating by the addition of seats and porthole windows to the baggage and mail sections.[38] Two of these converted cars were sold to the Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad after the war.

At some point during the Penn Central era, several cars were de-motored and used in commuter service behind a GG1 locomotive. A single pantograph was retained on one of the cars to provide heat and lights.

Disposition of remaining MP54 cars

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• PRR coach 441 is in active (demotored) use, painted for the New York Central, on the Delaware and Ulster Railroad.^[39]
• PRR coach 442 is stored intact, converted into an open-bench car on the Wilmington & Western Railroad.^[40]
• PRR coach 444 is in active (demotored) use, painted for the New York Central, on the Delaware and Ulster Railroad.^[39]
• PRR coach 447 is in active (demotored) use, painted for the New York Central, on the Delaware and Ulster Railroad.^[39]
• PRR coach 450 is stored intact on the Wilmington & Western Railroad.^[40]
• PRR coach 542 is currently abandoned derelict (and is missing trucks and underfloor equipment) in Hiltons, Virginia, at the intersection of 709 (Mandolin Drive) and 712 (A P Carter Hwy).^[41]
• PRR coach 543 is in active (demotored) use, converted into an open-bench car on the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad operating as number 203.^[42]
• LIRR coach 1149 is displayed intact as part of the Central New York chapter of the National Railway Historical Society collection.^[43]
• LIRR combine 1398 is preserved as the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce office in Port Jefferson Station, New York.^[44]
• LIRR coach 4137 is stored intact as part of the Seashore Trolley Museum collection although in need of extensive restoration.^[45]
• LIRR coach 4153 was part of the Connecticut Trolley Museum collection^[46] but was reported by a museum official to have been de-accessioned in 2022.^[47]

MP54 cars on other railroads

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Unpowered MP54 cars (and/or combines and baggage mail cars) were built for or sold to a number of other railroads. These included

References

• Baer, Christopher T. "PRR Chronology:A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Predecessors, and Successors and its Historical Context". Archived from the original on July 7, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
• Ball, Don (1986). The Pennsylvania Railroad, 1940s-1950s (2nd ed.). Chester, Vermont: Elm Tree Books.
  ISBN 978-0-393-02357-2
  . Distributed by W. W. Norton, New York.
• Bezilla, Michael (1980). Electric Traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1895–1968.
  OCLC 5336721
  .
• Carleton, Paul (1982). Under Pennsy Wires. River Vale, New Jersey: D. Carleton Railbooks.
• Cudahy, Brian J. (2002), Rails Under the Mighty Hudson (2nd ed.), New York:
  OCLC 911046235
• Cudahy, Brian J. (2003). A Century of Subways: Celebrating 100 Years of New York's Underground Railways. New York:
  ISBN 9780823222957
  .
• Dill, Tom; Grande, Walter R. (1994). The Red Electrics: Southern Pacific's Oregon Interurban. Edmonds, Washington: Pacific Fast Mail.
  ISBN 978-0-915713-28-8
  .
• Ford, Robert S. (1977). Red Trains in the East Bay: The History of the Southern Pacific Transbay Train and Ferry System. Interurbans Specials. Vol. 65. Glendale, California:
  ISBN 978-0-916374-27-3
  .
• Hulick, Charles (Autumn 2000). "A Brief History of the Pennsylvania Railroad MP54 Multiple-Unit Cars".
  The Keystone
  . 33 (3).
• James, William (Winter 2010). "Pennsylvania Railroad MP54 Multiple Unit Cars".
  The Keystone
  . 43 (4).
• Middleton, William D. (1983). "2 The Heavyweight Steel Cars Part 15 Northwestern Pacific's Aluminum Suburbans". Traction Classics. Vol. 1 THE INTERURBANS The Great Wood and Steel Cars. San Marino, California 91108 U.S.A.
  LCCN 83-18482.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
  )
• ISBN 978-0-253-33979-9
  .
• Middleton, William D. (2002). The Pennsylvania Railroad under Wire. Classic Trains. Waukesha, Wisconsin:
  ISBN 978-0-89024-617-7
  .
• Staufer, Alvin F. (1962). Pennsy Power: Steam and Electric Locomotives of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1900-1957. Carrollton, Ohio: Standard Printing and Publishing.
  ISBN 978-0-944513-04-0
  .
• Staufer, Alvin F.; Pennypacker, Bert (1968). Pennsy Power II: Steam Diesel and Electric Locomotives of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Medina, Ohio: Alvin F. Staufer.
  ISBN 978-0-944513-05-7
  .
• Staufer, Alvin F. (1993). Pennsy Power III: 1847-1968, Steam, Electric, MUs, Motor Cars, Diesels, Cars, Buses, Trucks, Airplanes, Boats, Art. Medina, Ohio: Alvin F. Staufer.
  ISBN 978-0-944513-10-1
  .
• Treese, Lorett (2006). Railroads of New Jersey: Fragments of the Past in the Garden State Landscape. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books.
  ISBN 978-0-8117-3260-4
  .
• Volkmer, William D. (1991). Pennsy Electric Years. Edison, New Jersey: Morning Sun Books.
  ISBN 978-1-878887-01-6
  .

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PRR MP54.

• PRR Motor Passenger diagrams