The first from scratch class E’s – the class E2, because the two prototypes were assigned to class E1 – came out of the Portland shops in 1968 with a handful of refinements that were new to this design.
- The lacy-framed trucks that GE supplied on classes B1 & B2 and the cast trucks that came on the B3s were replaced with Portland-designed welded plate trucks (a bit heavier, but this was sprung weight so it was a fair exchange for a design that was easier to fabricate)
- The traditional diamond-framed pantographs were replaced with modern single-armed units
- The electrical system was updated so that it could produce ~12% more HP.
- They were geared for 75mph instead of 60.
- And they were equipped with steam generators so they could pull passenger trains.
These were intended to be dual-use passenger/freight motors; not so much in the USA (the PV&T was down to two interurban passenger trains by 1968, and those trains were composed of class 10P EMUs) but more so in Canada, where the TdM & LT&L were in the process of electrifying their Ottawa ↔ Montréal ↔ Québec mainline, still used passenger equipment with steam heat, and needed a low profile unit to fit into the Canadian National’s tunnel du mont Royal in Montréal.)
Six were built in 1968, another pair were built (sans steam generators) in 1974 to replace recently retired class B’s 214, 216, & 217, but, alas, the US economy was falling down a well during the 1970s, so no further orders were made (the economy started to improve in the 1980s, but by then the Parsons Vale had purchased the Delaware & Hudson and was warming up to expand the tiny AC electrification at the NE corridor end of the D&H’s Sunbury ↔ Philadelphia, Newark, and Washington lines.
In the early 1990s, most of them (#449 was left as DC only for passenger specials) went to the Portland & Colonie shops to have the steam generators removed and to have their drivetrains updated to work under AC wire as well. As a result of these changes, all of the upgraded units were designated as class E3.
