Famous and Infamous GG-1 Stories

[3rdrail]

Were all those wheels powered on the G's, Alan ? Or was it two sets of trailers and two power trucks ? Must have made quite the symphony rounding a tight curve !

[pennsy]

As they used to say in RR circles, "SAFETY FIRST".

And as the sign on the side of the old Union Pacific Caboose said," Safety Plus, That's Us."

Still have a buddy that likes to ride his bicycle, a ten speed, with me, with me on my Schwinn five speed. He always wears his helmet. And when he falls he always falls on his Fanny. And I always suggest to him that he wear his helmet on his fanny.

The GG-1 has the Whyte designation 2-C +C-2. Two axles either end, unpowered, and two sets of C, three axles, articulated, and powered. Or, twelve powered wheels.

[3rdrail]

If you haven't already read it, over on the Penn Central section, under "RFK and JFK Funeral Trains...", there is a link to a very haunting memoir written by a retired Federal Narcotics Agent who happened to be on the RFK Funeral Train. The memoir is submitted by "Boosie" on Railroad.Net. The Agent had the unsettling experience of witnessing a GG-1 plow into a group of bystanders waiting on the opposite tracks to see the funeral train go by. He obviously is still deeply troubled by what he saw. "Those also serve who stand and wait."

[pennsy]

Hi Paul,

Yup, I read about it. Sad story.

Here is one that turned out okay. Pentrex has a videotape of Northern Steamer 4449 coming into a RR station, headlights on, oscillating head lights going, bell ringing, whistle blowing, and yet people, bystanders and looky loos don't move out of the way. Old Doyle then plays his winning hand, he blows his air horn on the 4449, one of the few steamers to actually come equipped with one as standard equipment. Everyone scattered and it saved the day. Those air horns on the GG-1 could easily deliver over 100 decibels of Get OUT of the WAY !!!

Negative Perspiration on your IM.

[Nacho66]

Yup, anyone over 38 from the Philly Metrpolitan area who thought of 'power' on any train thought of the GG-1.
The Trenton Cutoff was the true arena for these babies...

[pennsy]

Hi,

Yup, Trenton was a good place to catch GG-1's. In fact you had two choices. Many a GG-1 train would slow down, take the crossover switches and stop at Trenton. Then you could get close up and personal with the engine. But, if the train stayed on the high speed express tracks, it would tear through Trenton at speed, approaching 100 mph. The ground would shake, and if the Air Horns sounded off, there would go your hearing for a few seconds.

As an aside, I never could get used to seeing a GG-1 in plain Black paint. Something wrong with that color on that engine. Best looking was the Tuscan Red with the Cat's Whiskers in Gold.

[Ocala Mike]

Nothing wrong for me with black GG-1's, and there were plenty of them around NYP and in Sunnyside Yard in my youth. Seemed like the black ones looked even larger and more impressive than the "colored" ones.

[pennsy]

Hi Mike,

Any GG-1, in any color scheme, is better than NO GG-1. We agree on that one.

But through photographs, and from eye witnesses, one can see and feel the difference between the livery of the GG-1's. As an example, the Brunswick Green GG-1's were slated for freight service, but were geared for 100 mph. The Tuscan Red GG-1's were slated for passenger service, and were geared for 120 mph. First Congressional I ever rode on was led by a Brunswick Green GG-1, and consisted of heavyweight cars. But it was quite a difference when you were led by a Tuscan Red GG-1 and a consist of stainless steel streamliners. For one thing, The stainless steel cars had air conditioning. All had steam heat. Yup, the GG-1's had a system for providing steam heat to both heavyweights and streamliners.