In the late 40s, as steam locomotives began to disappear, streamlined EMD diesels often had the honor of pulling the railroads' finest passenger trains. This New York Centeal E8 pulled many of its owner's named trains, the most famous of which was the 20th Century Limited. The URHS also owns the tail car from this train and it is likely that at some point in its career, it rode at the tail of a train behind 4076.

4076 was transferred to Penn Central, Conrail, and then later to NJDOT in December 2, 1976, where it wore the number 4323. It was rebuilt in March 1980 and was the second of three E8s rebuilt at Conrail’s Elizabethport, NJ shop. It served until 1982 when it was retired from passenger service. It was modified in 1983 for use in the M&E re-electrification to provide layover power to the Dover yard passenger trains so that the stored U34CH’s could be shut down overnight. Since it was equipped with a generator set for HEP coaches in place of one of its prime mover diesel engines, it has half the horsepower of the other E8 locomotives.

In November 1990 it was repainted as “Erie 834” to haul excursions with “Erie 835” (PRR 5788) through funds from URHS and the Jersey Central Railway Historical Society. It is currently stored in URHS’s Boonton Yard.