When the PV&T bought the D&H, it came with a fistful of trackage rights on Conrail, including the Columbia & Port Deposit and the NE Corridor down to Washington, DC. Despite Conrail bailing on their electrification a few years earlier the wire was still up on the Port Deposit, which gave an ~150 mile stretch under wire.

The PV&T’s long-term roadmap for the system was to electrify everything, so they decided that the D&H should buy the C&PD’s overhead, some of Conrail’s recently retired E44s, have GE upgrade them to 6000 hp, then use them to run freight (under the wire, like G-d intended) between Harrisburg & Potomac Yard (and later between Harrisburg & Philadelphia via Perryville.)

These locomotives served well for many years, only starting to come out of service in the 2010s after D&H south was electrified and the Portland Shops had produced enough multi-system motors to cover the AC zone.