The first electric road locomotives used by the PO were taken from General Electric due to a lack of experience in the USA. Accordingly, the locomotives had an appearance that resembled the box cabs. Some locomotives were later given contact shoes so that they could be used with conductor rail either on the Paris city lines with 600 V or on the Maurienne line in double with 1,500 V. The locomotives had many shortcomings, such as uneven load distribution on the axles when starting. Nevertheless, it took until 1980 for all 80 locomotives to be retired. 