Did Altoona loco shops have cat wire for moving around electrics

[ronrunner]

I saw some remnants of what looked like Cat poles around the shops so maybe

[Overmod]

I believe there was only 'islanded' cat for testing locomotives, not running them around the shops.

The point is not that they operated them, but that they built them there (including the O1s, P5s, and many GG1s).  And it makes sense that they would shakedown-test them after construction...

 

[BEAUSABRE]

 I would doubt it. Penn Station was electrified with third rail in 1910 and the Philadelphia communter operation with catenary in 

"On September 12, 1915, electrification of the line from Philadelphia to Paoli, Pennsylvania, was completed.^[44] Other Philadelphia lines electrified were the Chestnut Hill Branch (March 30, 1918),^[45] White Marsh (1924), the main line to Wilmington, Delaware (September 30, 1928),^[45] West Chester (December 2, 1928),^[45] Trenton line (June 29, 1930),^[45] and completed on July 20, 1930 the Schuylkill Branch to Norristown, Pennsylvania,^[45] later followed by the rest of the main line to Trenton, New Jersey."

The FF1 (1917), the only catenary based loco for many years, was based out of Paoli and a solitary L5 (1924-28) also prowled around Philly while the other 24 ran on the New York area third rail. There might have been a short length of catenary to test the two AC units, or it may have been done by cables. It would have been much more economical to have the Altoona steam shop switcher shove them into place for other work than erect catenary for two orphans (the FF1 might have been permanently out of service by the time the L5's were built)

Wilminton as the PRR's electric shop would have come on line in 1928, so there would be no reason to have electrics go to Altoona, except for trials on the Test Plant, when they were probably cable fed. 

The question in my mind is the MP54 MU cars. They are usually listed as built in "Altoona", but I don't know if that is the locomotive or car shops or both, with the car shops building the car and loco shops installing the electrical gear

[BEAUSABRE]

 I would doubt it. Penn Station was electrified with third rail in 1910 and the Philadelphia communter operation with catenary in 

"On September 12, 1915, electrification of the line from Philadelphia to Paoli, Pennsylvania, was completed.[44] Other Philadelphia lines electrified were the Chestnut Hill Branch (March 30, 1918),[45] White Marsh (1924), the main line to Wilmington, Delaware (September 30, 1928),[45] West Chester (December 2, 1928),[45] Trenton line (June 29, 1930),[45] and completed on July 20, 1930 the Schuylkill Branch to Norristown, Pennsylvania,[45] later followed by the rest of the main line to Trenton, New Jersey."

The FF1 (1917), the only catenary based loco for many years, was based out of Paoli and a solitary L5 (1924-28) also prowled around Philly while the other 24 ran on the New York area third rail. There might have been a short length of catenary to test the two AC units, or it may have been done by cables. It would have been much more economical to have the Altoona steam shop switcher shove them into place for other work than erect catenary for two orphans (the FF1 might have been permanently out of service by the time the L5's were built)

Wilmington as the PRR's electric shop would have come on line in 1928, so there would be no reason to have electrics go to Altoona, except for trials on the Test Plant, when they were probably cable fed. 

The question in my mind is the MP54 MU cars. They are usually listed as built in "Altoona", but I don't know if that is the locomotive or car shops or both, with the car shops building the car and loco shops installing the electrical gear