True on the SN. They were maintaining the overhead and locos right to the end. And note that 654 and I believe 652 still run to this day. PG&E decided to up the power rates and that was that.

I have read in a couple places that ITR uses their unique motive power as a marketing strategy. They promise car movement within 1 or 2 hours of a call from a shipper, something they could not do if they needed to fire up a diesel and wait for it to get to operating temp. With their motors, they just pop the trolley pole onto the wire and wait for brake pressure, a much quicker process.