These locomotives were manufactured in the USA, in the late 1930s, by General Electric. The EP-4, as they were called, were an improvement on previous series of electric locomotives that were used on electrified railroads on the east coast of the USA, especially the New Haven and New York Central.

The first 6 locomotives of the EP-4 series were delivered to New Haven in 1938 and had 3600 HP of power, weighing 216 tons.
The first 4 that came to Brazil were delivered to Companhia Paulista, in February 1940.

They had 3800 HP of power and weighed 165 tons, less than those in New Haven, due to construction changes. In total, Companhia Paulista received 22 locomotives, the last being delivered in April 1948. At C.P. they were nicknamed “V-8”.

The Brazilian Central Railway received 15 locomotives in 1948, which were passed on to RFFSA in 1957. Their name at the Central was “Escandalosa”, due to their large size and the excessive noise they made during operation. In 1982, 10 existing locomotives were transferred to Fepasa.

All of them were deactivated at the end of the 90s with the privatization process of Fepasa, by Ferroban.