The (slow) ongoing march of electrification and the traffic demands of WW2 made it necessary for the PV&T to order another batch of electric locomotives. GE more or less stuck to the class B design, but modestly increased the power rating of the machines, switched to a low-profile cast truck, and reconfigured the carbodies to hold the new electrical systems.

9 were ordered in 1944; 4 were completed that year, but the other 5 were delayed until 1946.

All of them are in service, though all except #294 have been rebuilt into class BCC3 after #298 had a Pyrrhic victory when a pickup truck tried to race it to a crossing in 1998.