GG1's

The GG1 symbolized the PRR more then any other locomotive. When I was little and heard the PRR mentioned, a GG1 always came to mind. I was a mere 2 years old when the last GG1's were retired so I never knew them in person. Does anyone know how many have been preserved?

These are the Gs I know of:
4800-RR museum of PA
4859-Transit Center Harrisburg PA
4876-B&O Museum
4877-I think it's up around Hoboken NJ
4879-I think it is still in NJT black in NJT storage
4882-Natil New York Central Museum
4890-National Railroad Museum in Green Bay WI
4903-Age of Steam Museum Dallas TX
4909-The last I knew it was at Cooperstown Jct in NY
4913-RR MEmorial Museum in Altoona PA
4917-The last I knew it was at Cooperstown Jct in NY
4918-National Museum of Transportation St. Louis, MO
4919-Virginia Museum of Transportation Roanoke, VA
4927-illinois Railroad Museum Union Illinois
4933-NY state fairgrounds Syracuse, NY
4935-RR Museum of PA

For what it's worth; I'm 37 years-old and remember a re-painted GG1 (in Pennsy colors) hauling the Southern Crescent- leaving from 30th street.
This was 1978 and I was almost 12 years-old.
I rode the train to Atlanta with my Granddad (a one-time Pennsy fireman) and actually got to experience a REAL American passenger train.
GG1's were still a dime-a-dozen back then - I still saw them on the Trenton Cut-Off hauling freights along the Turnpike.
That train was truly the last of the 'old-days'.

Can you imagine travellers expecting their shoes to be shined by the morning - simply by leaving them in the hallway outside your roomette - these days?

I was out on the platform in DC when the GG1's were cut-out for the Southern E-units.
No wonder I love trains...

Such color - and shining aluminum.

Ahh, GG1s....(Takes a few minutes to stop drooling at the thought)

Sad to say Ive never seen one operate.
Glad to say Ive gotten to get real close....err....touch 4913, and more recently, 4935. Sadly "Ole Rivets" (4800) wasn't anywhere to be found when I went to the RR museum of PA.

Its been a year since I saw 4913, but she wasn't at the museum. they were doing renovations, and I found her on an old spur by an empty warehouse about a mile down the yard, deraled on the frog, and shoved into a passenger car...and in somewhat disrepair (Faded paint, deep dents, cracked or missing glass, etc.) Hope theyve been able to re-restore her.

4935 is in good condition, indoors, with their (Pretty sure it was an) L5, E44, and a few other pennsy electrics.

Which GG1 might opperate someday??--Are all their engines dismantled?--Thanks

There was nothing like watching a GG1 fly by with 18 cars in their heyday. My first memories of them go back to the mid 60's when we would pick up my grandmother at North Philadelphia station on her trips down from NYC. To a little kid, there was nothing better. A GG1 was also somewhat of a listening experience, the traction motors and gears had a very distinctive whine to them, even when slowing to a stop. Later, when I was first married in 1978, I lived behind Paoli station and would go trackside as much as possible. My favorite GG1 experience was one night when a G came up on Track 3 to a restricting signal which cleared just as the train entered the station. The engineer obviously notched her up a little too fast and there were instantly 12 rings of fire as the drivers broke loose. It dug in pretty quickly but the sight and sound was amazing. I too remember them pulling freight along the Trenton Cutoff, they were sure a lot prettier than the E44's that dominated that line.

David wrote:Which GG1 might opperate someday??--Are all their engines dismantled?--Thanks

Unfortunately, probably none will ever run again. In addition to age, their transformers were oil cooled. The oil used contained PCBs, which are carcinogenic, and thus banned. I believe that in all the saved GG1s the transformers were first removed before donation.

Stuart

The best place to watch a GG1 was on the high level platforms at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. The wine of the traction motors ( mentioned earlier) as that massive body slipped past you on the platform was a completely unique experience. Growing up in the Phila area in the 1950's and 1960's, the GG1 was the locomotive which I saw, and rode behind, most often. IMHO the best locomotive ever built.

There is so much written on the GG-1, their power and speed.
In the recently issued Triumph VI on pg. 120 it is reported that during testing in the Perryville area a light GG-1 reached a peak speed of 165mph and regularly ran 125mph. 125 possibly but 165?

That may be true, the locomotive was certainly capable of running at that speed with a light ( or no) train, but I would question whether the track at that location would have supported 165 MPH. During most of the GG 1's operating life, though, the PRR speed limit was 80 MPH.

I don't know what GG 1's could get up to but I remember a story from 1983 from a locmotive engineer who must have been as close to retirement as his former PRR motor,at that time NJT, GG 1. Travelling north on the coast line he met an Amtrak AEM 7 near Rahway and throwing caution to the wind decided to show that toaster what his motor could do. For miles the two ran neck and neck right into Newark. Whatever the Swedish meatball was doing so was the G.

I've read in a number of places that the passenger GG1s were geared for 95 mph and the freights for 85(?).
Unless those GG1s were regeared, those high speeds would be impossible.
There is a stretch of very high speed track north of Princeton Jct. I think that was used to test Acela and ICE trains approaching 150.

I think there is one GG1 tht still has it's original transformers. I cant remember which one it is, does anyone know of the G I am talking about?

Ed

Ahh. My numbers were wrong.
Here's what I found...

"Maximum Speed: 100 mph in service, 110 mph in testing (90 mph in service for freight gearing)"

I am 37 and remember the G's. Sometime in the early 80's my uncle gave me Karl Zimmerman's Remarkable GG1 book and told me that they were retiring them. He did not want me to miss this the way he missed Pennsy steam. I rode my bike from Union NJ to Elizabeth NJ the next day (it wa pretty far and dangerous for a kid). I saw an Amtrak black G fly by and I was hooked. I managed to see the E44's twice before getting retired. I only saw a few more Amtrak G's and then they were retired. The last group of G's were the ones operated by NJT. My dad and I went to South Amboy every Saturday to see the G's. Granted I have the same pictures of the same few engines on different days, going to SA was like hanging out with old friends as I got to know each and every motor. I even managed to befriend a few engineers who gave me cab rides. What a thrill. Alas, the E-60's came the G's were retired. I followed them from yard to yard when they were stored. I rode my moped one evening to Elizabethport to see them all lined up in storage. The last one I saw was the 4877 which is stored in Morristown yard. I think that once the transformeres were drained they were filled with sand which menas they will never run again. Somebody please prove me wrong.