ISBN: | 978-5-5093-1143-7 |
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The MU (multiple-unit) commuter cars of New Jersey`s Erie Lackawanna commuter lines were a type of multiple unit commuter railcar developed for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). Most of the construction for the overhead catenary (wire) system was done in 1929 and 1930. The MUs first served commuters on the DL&W`s Morristown Line starting in New Jersey in 1930, although most of the trailer (non-powered) cars had been already in service for several years already being pulled by steam locomotives. The subscription parlor cars (club cars) dated back to 1912. The MU`s were inaugurated with some fanfare in September 1930 when the aging inventor Thomas A. Edison, a key proponent of DC current (the source of electric power for the MUs), drove the first train from Hoboken, NJ to South Orange, NJ. The service was extended in phases to other towns that would have yards to store the trains: Summit, Gladstone, Morristown and Dover. Plans to extend electrified service west, for freight service, possibly as far as Scranton, PA, was investigated by the Lackawanna. The plans were abandoned due to cost, particularly since the timing of the extension coincided with the arrival of the Great Depression.