New York Central bought their first E-units at the same time the first Niagaras arrived, right after WW2. As I recall, in comparing the two in service, they found that the Niagaras did an equally good job pulling passenger trains as the E-units did IF a lot of time and effort was spent keeping the 4-8-4s in absolutely top condition. If you let maintenance slide even a little, the steam engines fell behind. However, the diesels didn't require anywhere near the same amount of maintenance to perform. That is what ended up tipping the scales to the diesels.
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