By the late 1950s, with its P5a fleet aging, the Pennsylvania Railroad needed new electric freight locomotives.

The PRR took special note of twelve state-of-the-art EL-C electrics built by GE for the Virginian Railway, which was satisfied by their performance on their coal trains in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

While the E44 was short on aesthetics compared with the GG1 and P5 ("bricks" being a particularly common sobriquet), the units were long on performance.

Conrail subsequently swapped out the Ignitrons in all of the remaining units for silicon diodes in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in-house and without any horsepower upgrades.

Made redundant by Conrail's discontinuance of electrified freight operations, the rebuilt 4453 was briefly tested on the Northeast Corridor in 1984 by GE, which then scrapped the unit several years later after salvaging the newer components.

Until it closed in 2002, MERR shuttled coal in two automated consists from the mine to a powerplant at Relief, Ohio (across from Beverly, OH).

Amtrak acquired eight E44 units from NJ Transit in June 1987, intending to use them for work train service.