Do you have some photographs of similar-looking old American electrics? Anything ran by Pennsy or Milwaukee? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Most of the US is not electrified, and I believe it came late, so that locomotive designs borrow more from diesels, though double-ended. The noses are not as low as the crocodiles, and are more rounded--part of the streamlining that came in in the 1930's.
The main electrified line is the Northeast Corridor--the former Pennsylvania Railroad running from Washington DC to New York City and now extended toward Boston. As I understand it, electrification was chosen to avoid a stop for changing of engines at the tunnel under the Hudson River (to New York). Having trains able to run straight through gave the Pennsy RR a decided edge.
The topography of New York is a little strange. Coming from the southwest, something like ten miles of swampy land lies between the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers (in New Jersey). The skyscrapers of New York are visible, but as the Hudson River is approached, a ridge of hills right alongside the river partly screens them. The tunnel plunges into the side of the hill and then under the river.
There are electrified commuter lines radiating about New York City(the former New York, New Haven & Hartford; the Harlem & Hudson; New Jersey Transit; and the Long Island Railroad--the names are still used to distinguish branches), but they follow the design of motors in each car. The Fates are kind.
