(first posted 2/2/2017) The Pennsylvania Railroad was a great railroad, with a high opinion of itself; nowhere was that more evident than in what was (and is) perhaps the most distinctive electric locomotive ever – the GG1. For over forty years, these 240 ton giants powered the Pennsylvania’s expresses between New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Harrisburg, alongside fast and heavy freights and ultimately New Jersey commuters.
To understand the GG1, you have to understand the history of the Pennsylvania (PRR, or Pennsy to its admirers) – this was no ordinary railroad!
The PRR originated in 1846 as a link between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and soon extended to Chicago, New York and Washington. The Chicago route included the famous horseshoe curve near Altoona, which enabled the line to traverse the Alleghenies on a grade below 2%.
By the 1920s, the system reached over 10,000 miles, with a workforce of 250,000 – comparable in size to the British LMS, with greater traffic than even the New York Central, and PRR was the largest publicly traded company in the world. It called itself the ‘Standard Railroad of the World’, and it was said that its governmental liaison officer was the 51st member of the State’s Senate, such was the company’s influence.
And it holds the record for continuous dividend payments – over 100 years until things began to go wrong in the early 1960s
Electrification came early to the PRR, with systems in New Jersey in 1895, Long Island in 1905 and Penn Station in New York in 1906 (a Beaux Arts masterpiece that was sadly lost in the 1960s). These were suburban services, and the response to New York’s prohibition of steam locomotives in the tunnels under the Hudson River and East River, not main lines – electric power was swapped for steam at Manhattan Transfer. That changed from 1928, when the PRR began the ambitious electrification of its mainlines in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and DC, as traffic continued to grow and trains got heavier, using 11,000 volt / 25 Hz overhead catenary.
By 1928, electrification was complete along the southern half of what is now Amtrak’s North East Corridor, from Penn Station in New York, through 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and on to Washington Union Station. And by 1938, the wires had spread west from Philadelphia to Harrisburg – here we see the first electric trains to reach the state capital.
The first mainline express electrics were the P5 class, a 2-C-2 box cab built jointly by Baldwin Locomotive Works and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. 2-C-2 means a four wheeled truck at each end, with driving wheels in the centre on three axles and mounted on the engine’s frame. They were intended to match the performance of the famous K4s Pacifics, but the rising weight of traffic soon made them underpowered.
Following a grade crossing accident in 1933, the second half of the class of 92 were built with a ‘steeple cab’ body design, which moved the crew to a safer location.
But the P5 wasn’t enough to cope with the PRR’s needs for the New York – Washington electrification that was completed in 1935, and the railroad looked for something that would provide a lasting solution. Inspiration came from a borrowed New Haven Railroad EP3. This was a boxcab with two sets of six driven wheels under the centre of the chassis, and two four wheeled leading trucks at the outer ends – in effect, two 4-6-0 chassis mated back to back. Power outputs of the EP3 was around 3,500hp, compared to the 2,500hp of the P5.
The EP3 set the template for the new PRR electric, but the PRR went further. Prototypes were ordered from both Westinghouse and Baldwin / General Electric, for a locomotive capable of hauling heavy expresses at 100mph, requiring over 4,500hp, with cabs centrally located for safety, and with the style the EP3 lacked. Westinghouse offered the R1, which was an enlarged version of the P5 with an additional driving axle, but GE won with their GG1 proposal.
The first GG1, completed in August 1934, was no 4899 (no 4800 from late 1934), and looked like this.
The engine was based on two chassis, articulated at the centre. Each chassis had six driving wheels, and each axle had two 385hp GE traction motors. Two axle trucks at each end meant a wheel arrangement described as 2-C+C-2, or 4-6-0+0-6-4. This is the source of the designation GG1 – G was PRR code for a 4-6-0 steam locomotive.
The body was similar in style to the modified P5a, with a steeple cab and twin central crew cabins (one facing each way – the GG1 is bi-directional), but longer – the GG1 was 80 feet long, and weighed 475,000lbs, with a striking streamlined body composed of riveted sheets– the world had seen nothing like it in 1934.
The motors drove the axles through an unusual ‘quill’ system, in which a shroud (or quill) round the axle is linked to the driving wheels by a spring and cup arrangement. This drawing from Classic Trains magazine shows it better than I can.
The central part of the body housed the main transformer and train heating boiler, with the driving cabs looked as if they were perched on the outside – this is the compact driving position.The hoods at both ends held air pumps, sand boxes, fuel and water for the boiler and other auxiliary equipment. A large two arm pantograph was mounted on each of the long hoods. Normally the rear one was used, so that the front one was available if the rear was damaged.
No 4800 hauled the first electric train between New York and Washington in January 1935, touching 102mph in Maryland, and covered the 225 miles in 2 hours 50 minutes – the same as today’s Amtrak Acela
After testing no 4800, PRR ordered 57 production versions, some built at GE in Erie, some at the Pennsy’s own Altoona works, and the remainder assembled in Altoona from parts supplied by Baldwin and Westinghouse. By 1943, the class had reached 139 units
The production versions were dusted with a little magic, by Raymond Loewy, the French born designer. Already famous for his industrial designs, if not yet for cars, Loewy (1893 – 1986) smoothed the design of the GG1’s streamlined casing by insisting it was welded, rather than riveted like 4800. He also devised the Brunswick green livery, complete with five gold pinstripes running the full length of the body.
Later in 1937-39, Loewy also designed streamlined casings for some of the PRR’s new steam engines, notably the streamlined K4s Pacifics and the innovative S1 and T1 classes. These were used to haul reequipped passenger trains off the electric network, marketed as the Fleet of Modernism
He also devised this beautiful livery for the Northern Pacific Railroad
And even later, in the early 1960s, he designed another classic scheme we all recognise.
The GG1’s body is built like a through-truss steel bridge, giving it great crash protection. In 1953, this was tested when the brakes on a GG1 hauled train from Boston failed on the approach to Washington Union Station, and the train ran away into the station. GG1 no 4876 ended up crashing on to the station concourse, and collapsing the floor to finish in the basement baggage store. I don’t how you get 240 tons of GG1 out of a basement, but the Pennsy managed it and 4876 returned to service, and now rests the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad museum.
From 1935 onwards, the GG1 fleet was the Pennsy’s pride and joy, featuring heavily in the company’s advertising. Initially dedicated to passenger duty, in the 1950s, over 50 of the class were regeared for freight service – speed was down from 100mph to 90mph but power was up.
Among the trains that merited a GG1 in the Pennsy’s glory years of the 1940s and 1950s were services such as the Congressional and Senator between New York and Washington, and the Broadway, as far as Harrisburg on its overnight journey from New York to Chicago. But with a fleet of 139, they turned up hauling just about anything at one time or another.
One big event in the PRR calendar was always the Army-Navy football game, in Philadelphia. This is the temporary station built at the city’s Municipal Stadium in 1951.
And they remained the public face of the Pennsylvania for over 30 years; this is the Annual report from 1960, with a 25 year old GG1 taking pride of place
Loewy’s dark green with gold pinstripes livery ruled until the early 1950s, when six GG1s were repainted in a Tuscan red version of the same livery, to match the PRR’s coaches. Others were painted silver with a red pinstripe, to accompany new streamlined coaches on the Congressional in 1955.
Eventually, on the classic green and red, the pinstripes merged into one broader band, but then things took a turn for the worse when the Pennsylvania and New York Central merged as Penn Central in 1968, and the livery became plain black. Actually, it was usually even worse as the railroad’s finances headed for doom and the condition of equipment deteriorated. These two GG1s are typical of Penn Central trains of the era.
These two aren’t. They’re hauling Robert F Kennedy’s funeral train from New York to Washington, and it’s probably the only time two clean Penn Central GG1s were ever seen together.
This one is commemorating the centenary of the completion of the Overland Route at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869.
In 1970 Penn Central became the biggest corporate collapse America had ever seen, leading ultimately to the initially nationalised Conrail taking the freight services (and quickly trimming the network by thousands of miles) and Amtrak and the states of New York, New Jersey and Maryland picking up the passenger business, and the GG1 fleet was dispersed accordingly. The bright blue was a big improvement over the dirty black, even if it didn’t quite suit the GG1’s lines. This is 4800, which retained its unique riveted bodyshell.
Amtrak chose a striking silver and red scheme for the seven GG1s it managed to repaint – the rest stayed in PC black.
And in 1976, Conrail gave us this visual extravagance, to mark the nation’s’ bicentenary.
New Jersey Transit was the final operator of the GG1, with the last leaving service in 1983 – almost 50 years from 4899’s introduction. NJT never had a livery for the GG1, as they were presumably seen as a stopgap pending something more suitable being available. But 4877 was repainted, with railfan help and funds, in PRR Tuscan red for her last few years, including participation in the very last day, 8 October 1983.
16 GG1s survive in varying states of repair across the northeast USA; none are operational, and given the complexities and cost of rebuilding their electrical systems, we won’t see them run again. These are at their peak, resting at the Pennsy’s yard at Sunnyside, in Queens, before hauling heavy expresses south and west.
You can, if you’re lucky, still Tuscan red on the mainline. PRR successor Norfolk Southern painted 20 modern EMD and GE units in the liveries of predecessor railroads. GE ES44AC no 8102 now proudly bears the Pennsylvania name, and roams across the NS network with the same power as a GG1,but not the same style.
But then, ask yourself what else looks and sounds like a GG1?
Great write up, Big Paws. Thank you. I’m just starting the book “FDRs Funeral Train” by Robert Klara, and the GG-1s get some mention there, too. Fascinating machines, I would loved to have seen them in full cry.
Marvelous work, showed me many new versions and facts about my favorite locomotive. Thank you!
Someday the US will catch up with the rest of the world and electrify our main lines. It’s the greenest way to move heavy freight long distances, powered by sun, wind, water and atom.
Great article Big Paws.
MikePDX, also the most expensive.I don’t think we will ever see a total or even close to total electrification of US rail lines in the next 100-200 years. The distances are too great and there are less miles of electrified RR in the US today than 90-100 years ago and that was when the railroads were rich. The N&W and the CMStP&P had gone through great expense to electrify portions of their freight lines but by the 60″s had given up and tore out their catenary. Just too expensive to operate in the US. Maybe if they eliminated the heavily subsidized diesel trucking and airline industry by limiting trips to 50-100 miles it might pay but would mean way higher freight charges and prices for goods. Remember the railroads not only have to buy,install & maintain all their equipment and right of way but also pay property taxes on it but then also have to pay taxes on their earnings. The trucking and airline industries have little infrastructure that they have to maintain and pay taxes on in comparison to railroads and only have to pay ridiculously low use fees which is actually the biggest corporate welfare program in the US and has been since the 50’s. It is also an impossibility for aircraft to fly without without a propeller if not powered by fossil fuels which puts them back where they were 60-70 years ago in terms of speed even if they were able to develop economically feasible electric aircraft. The diesel electric locomotive saved the railroads from extinction 60-70 years ago which was brought on by the government subsidized trucking and airline industries and I don’t see it going away anytime soon just to make the greenies feel good..
In the short run you’re probably right, Loco. In the long run, a low-to-no-carbon economy, maybe, maybe not. Maybe electric semis will be practical and keep their share. Airplanes can run on hydrogen fuel, which is essentially another form of battery, and the economics of hydrogen airplanes make far more sense than hydrogen cars.
But trucks and planes are not carrying the heavy freight, hundreds of cars full of food or lumber. Why do we think it’s OK to have “socialized” i.e. govt-paid-for highways and airways but not railways? That could change over the long term.
Once the catenary is up its lifetime is long and operating costs are low. Interesting story here: (link, scroll down to The Milwaukee Road). Milwaukee abandoned electricity just before the energy crisis drove fuel prices up and it killed them.
It’s easy to imagine a locomotive that can run electric when available and diesel or battery power when not. Or hydrogen fuel from electric power, like the airplanes.
Time will tell.
I don’t know — maybe someone knowledgeable could pencil in the math. But if battery technology gets good enough, and they could roll-out hundreds of tons of charged battery cars along the way, that would certainly be preferable to catenary spanning thousands of miles.
“It’s easy to imagine a locomotive that can run electric when available and diesel or battery power when not.”
This was done in the late ’50s, the EMD FL9 locomotives for the New York, New Haven & Hartford. Ran on 660v DC from third rail.
Metro North still uses GE P32DM diesel-electric/electric locomotives for their service to Grand Central Terminal from the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines.
The core problem boils down to a (somewhat trite) saying.
“Americans think 100 years is ‘old.’
Europeans think 100 miles is ‘far.'”
Mike, it’s not exactly “the rest of the world” as there is along way to go in electrification in other countries yet too. The EU is at 52.3%, and France is only at 52.4% and Germany is only at 58.8%. The UK is below 30%. Never mind most of South America, Mexico, Canada and Africa. There’s a long way to go in the rest of the world.
The return on investment given the low usage still on many lines will make electrification a slow process in the US. Right now the industry is struggling with the capital demands of needing to double-track crowded lines.
How about fuel cell electric locomotives?
Those numbers are still far higher than North America. Petroleum fuel costs them so much more, that’s probably why they like electric trains. Certainly France which gets a majority of its electricity from nuclear power. Eventually petroleum like all carbon fuels will be less economical and electric long-haul rail will look good here, one way or another.
Maybe fuel cells make sense for railroads, the hydrogen infrastructure required would be small since there are so few fueling points and it’s all professionally operated, unlike with cars.
I was in France last summer. The main lines, of course, and all electric TGV. The service is convenient, fast and, in my opinion, excellent value for money. The SNCF website is excellent, and getting your tickets in the station a breeze. We went from Gare de Nord in Paris to Arras, to see the Canadian memorial at Vimy. The train service was excellent. It was 17 Euro each, one way, or about $100 USD for two people return. Excellent value.
“my favorite Locomotive”
Heard that from family and more inportantly…My grand Father.
Worked 30th Street Station.
Used to have to run from office to office….the walkways were in the far glass wall…as you stood behind the WW2 Statue.
Speaking of that Monument/Statue….I just learned from my Father….His Family has a male Sailor/Merchant Marine…lost in the North Atlantic…from Nazi Uboats.
His name is carved in the base of that Monument
Great Write Up Big Paws on my most favorite locomotive ever!
When I was a kid, I grew up a few miles away from the Chesaco grade crossing of the Penn Central (Pennsylvania RR). I was a train fanatic, and this locomotive was my favorite. I can still hear them in my minds ear, as I could as a kid in my bedroom when they went by late at night.
In the first grade (1966), my teacher was surprised that I could spell such a long word “Pennsylvania”, having not yet learned to read or write. (Times were different then, I think they teach kids astrophysics in preschool now.) I told her that the word was prominently displayed on the tender of a K4 on my train set, and that I memorized it.
My Dad used to take me down to the railroad crossing to watch the trains go by. I always knew when the approaching train was pulled by a GG1 before she ever even came around the bend. Two long, one short, and another long long blast of that deep noted horn, gave away the GG1.
As an 8 year old kid, right after the Penn Central merge, we all went down to the railroad crossing and lined up for a very somber event… RFK’s funeral train. My Dad explained that this was not our normal trip to watch the trains go by, and to be on my best behavior. To this day, the sound of the approaching GG1(s), and the near silent, saddened crowd (some crying), are seared into my memory banks.
Later on, as an early teenager with a fairly extensive HO scale train layout, I set out to purchase a GG1 with some money I’d saved up. My Dad of course accompanied me to Klein & Sons, a locally famous (Baltimore) model railroad shop. There in the display case were 4 GG1(s), a Brunswick Green Pennsy, a Black ‘Hook Worm’ Penn Central, an Amtrak unit in the red silver and blue livery, and on the top shelf, a Tuscan Red 5-Stripe Pennsy that was $10 more than the others (due to rarity the proprietor said). My Dad encouraged me to buy the Tuscan Red one (like the real thing pictured below), and even offered to cover the additional cost, but I grew up with the Penn Central, and the black hook worm is what I picked. One of my few regrets in life was choosing unwisely that day, even though I was very happy with my new HO scale GG1.
This was the one I had (it’s still in my Dad’s house somewhere)… an AHM-Rivarossi HO Scale GG1. (Pic found on the web)…
Always enjoy reading your train features. That first photo is just amazing.
Very enjoyable read Big Paws. Thank you for the research.
I really like the diagram of the dual motor quill drive.
Back in the 1990s there was a GG1 on a siding north of the main lines just outside Hoboken terminal. It was obviously inactive and stayed there for years. Then one day it was gone; hopefully to one of the many rail fan sites.
The GG-1 at Hoboken in the 90s is in good hands, preserved by a NJ-based museum group.
Thanks. If yo haven’t already, follow the link to Classic Trains – a great feature on the GG1 with a series of cutaway drawings
To answer your question about the 4876 in WUS’s basement, well, they cut her in half! Read somewhere that the 4876 was a couple of inches shorter than her sisters after her repairs.
And after being reassembled, 4876 went on to be among the last to be retired, finally biting the dust in 1983!
It survives today at the B&O Museum in Baltimore, though in rough condition.
I’ve always heard they had to cut it into three pieces so they could hoist it out by crane. Pretty amazing that it returned to service and still exists today! Apparently it’s not on display because it really is in bad shape, but hopefully the museum will take on at least a cosmetic restoration at some point.
The crash of PRR 4876 into Washington Union Station occurred in the days leading up to the inauguration of President Dwight Eisenhower. Nowadays the station would probably be shut down to the great inconvenience of attendees arriving in Washington. But the PRR and the Washington Terminal Company didn’t take that way out. They built a temporary floor over the big hole where the GG-1 had fallen into the basement. Most visitors to the station were unaware of what had happened.
The crash was caused by a New Haven coach whose car body had an unintended interference with an angle cock, a valve in the air brake line. The angle cock was moved gradually to its closed position as the coach bounced up and down, shutting off the air line. The result: brakes on only the GG-1 and the first few cars of a very long train. That wasn’t going to work…!
Never knew the cause of that accident, very interesting. Thanks.
From what I’ve heard they didn’t have time to remove 4876 before the inauguration, so they built the temporary floor over the hole with the locomotive still down below…wonder how many visitors knew the whole story!
Grew up along the North Shore Line between Chicago and Milwaukee.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_North_Shore_and_Milwaukee_Railroad
I never knew there where these huge electrics. The electrics I knew where
just commuter trains.
Bring back electric trains, eh?
Many thanks Big Paws
Seeing the GG1’s in NYC when I went there on vacation in 1966 was one of the highlights of the trip. By then, the PC merger was coming and the train we were on was pretty sad and dirty. I wish there were the little video cameras back then, I saw a lot of GG1 action. One of my most vivid memories was as we approached the station, a trainless GG1 flew by our train at a speed high enough to impress me. The whole trip there was odd. I’m not sure why, but we went over Horseshoe Curve in the middle of the night(It was an NYC train, the 20th Century we were on) and stopped in Pittsburg for about a half hour in the middle of the night. We went the normal NYC route back to Toledo on the return trip. The train on the return trip was in general much better shape than the one we went to NYC on, even though we had the same pair of E-Units on the front of it. They were CLEAN on the return trip too! We didn’t go back to NYC while PC existed, but we went to Chicago several times and the trains on them ranged from decent to amazingly bad. We got stuck with no AC in Gary, IN one time in August for 2 hours. I have no idea what was wrong, but apparently both E’s had died and they eventually put two new units on the train and got us to Lasalle St Station, where we had one of the best meals of my life at some place inside the station. We went there a few more times and then it suddenly closed when the owner/chef had a stroke. I loved that place, but I can’t remember the name of it anymore.
Funny how this discussion got tracked onto electrification as the measure of railroad improvement. Meanwhile, on the RR forums I frequent, the chatter and news suggest other pressing needs, such as improved rights of way, more grade separation from roadways, and more investment in maintenance. There are hundreds of collisions at road crossings every year. The largest inefficiency in the freight rail system my lie in the tangle of tracks leading in and out of Chicago. We can’t even agree on how to replace the century-old tunnels that link NYC with the mainland. I’d put universal electrification way down the list, somewhere below the bottom.
Outside the NE corridor, the longest stretch of electric operation was from Seattle to the east side of the mountains. Electric locomotives were required because the nine-mile unventilated tunnel wasn’t survivable behind a steam engine. Once the tunnel was replaced with a shorter, vented one, the lines came down and diesels took over.
Can you imagine every mile of remote railroad track that winds through scenic mountains and river valleys… accompanied by a row of silver posts every 25 feet, supporting a network of catenary wires? Ugly!
And though I also envy the fast passenger service in Europe and Asia, let’s recognize our successes. The US moves much more of its heavy freight by rail, as I understand it, than those regions. I like riding trains as much as anyone, or more, but sharing the roads with lumber and gravel trucks is the worst!
One minor correction to a fine article: I’ve never hear Penn Station described as an Art Deco structure. By Wikipedia, it’s “considered a masterpiece of Beaux-Arts style.” The exterior was neoclassical, and heavily ornamented, and the interior’s glassy concourse suggested a Victorian conservatory. Twenty years later, Art Deco had taken over, providing the Empire State and Chrysler buildings with unprecedented flair and futurist drama. By the 1920s, an streamlined, simplified geometric style took over. We call those famous Miami Beach hotels “Art Deco,” but they’re really Streamline Moderne. So you;re not the only layman or critic to be confused by this…
Quite right. Text amended.
Thank you for this article (as well as all the previous ones!) Learning a lot with these.
In September, 1979, I rode the National Limited on business from STL to NYC in the last week of its life before being discontinued.
E44 electric freight locos as well as Amtrak E60s also were on hand.
Repainted GG1 4935 hauled us from Philadelphia to NYC. The conductor knew I was a rail enthusiast and gave me the yellow train order for the locomotive!
Sadly, that train order got lost in the move to Ohio in 1992.
I do have a rather dark photo of 4935 in Penn Station, NYC, but really restricted for a good shot.
I am late getting here but am glad I did. This one hits close to home for me, as I took a handful of train trips from Fort Wayne Indiana to Philly as a kid in the 60s. The earlier ones were on the Pennsy (I still have a deck of PRR playing cards from one of those trips) and the last ones were on the PC. On one of the last trips, I recall my uncle making a crack about those old red passenger cars that he was surprised were still in use.
In my visits east, it is remarkable how much trains are a part of life there, whether for commuting from the burbs to center city or for travel between cities up and down the eastern seaboard. Here in the midwest, trains are for freight. Passenger travel (say from Indy to Chicago) is doable but is inconvenient in both timing and getting to and from a station.
Thanks for this great piece of work!
JP, I have a deck of cards for the Frisco! I got then from my aunt many years ago.
If you think taking a train to CHI from Indy is inconvenient, try Cincinnati! I’ve done it twice, on business at that, back in the late 1990s.
Fabulous article.
After Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Highway Bill of 1944 which eventually leads to the interstate highway system starting in the postwar 1950’s and 1960’s, the Pennsylvania Railroad began its economic decline, posting its first yearly loss in 1947. The relentless decline and deterioration of the Penn system infrastructure lead to the eventual demolition of the beautiful NYC Pennsylvania Station in 1963. Some pictures to follow:
Penn Station #1
And during the same time period, air travel became more common. It was certainly more expensive in the days before deregulation but was also significantly faster for those able and willing to pay for it. The train sort of sort of found itself in a bad spot – you could have about the same speed for cheaper with car travel, or you could travel much more quickly (at added cost) by air. The train had the disadvantages of both (slow speed and having to get to and from a terminal over fixed routes and times) but the advantages of neither.
Fundamentallly since there were no subsidies for the railways , in contrast to highway trucking and to a lesser degree for the airlines of that era to pay for their enormous infrastructure maintenance costs, the railways were doomed.
Railway freight revenues paid the way generally, and with declining passenger travel revenues and the persisting to increasing maintenance expenses of huge, costly passenger terminals combined with decreasing passenger traffic revenue, these issues doomed the huge, beautiful passenger terminals like the NYC Penn Station. Even the NYC Grand Central Station was threatened, but was fortunately, from an artistic, architectural standpoint was saved from the wrecking ball.
Unfortunately from an architectural standpoint grand railway stations like those in Detroit, Michigan and Buffalo, NY, became abandoned relics, as they were financially unsustainable given the financial and political trends in the USA over the past half century plus to the prior three quarters of a century.
So, J P, you are correct in your assessment, and it’s why I enjoy reading your viewpoints.
Old NYC Penn Station #2
Old NYC Penn Station #3
Great article on these fantastic beasts! While I’m way too young to have ridden on one, but I have seen one–4919 lives at the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke, VA, which I visited back in 1995 or so. It wasn’t in great shape at the time and apparently still isn’t (they’re fundraising for a cosmetic restoration) but still a very impressive sight! Need to find those old pictures…probably in an album at my parents’ house somewhere.
Thanks for the good article. However, I’d like to make a correction about the design of the GG1.
The shell of the locomotive was designed by Donald R. Dohner, who was one of the best known industrial designers in the country at the time and certainly better known than Loewy (who, by the way, was not “already famous.” That came a little later). You can read a little bit about Dohner in the summer 2009 issue of Classic Trains.
Years later Loewy claimed that he was responsible for the welding and smoothing of the body. My research indicates that this is simply not true. Nor did he pick the color scheme. My research has not been published yet, but am hoping to reveal it in a book I am working on about the development of the GG1.
Thanks for the update, and standing by for the book.
Thanks for reading
All I have read about Lowey and the GG1 was that he was responsible for the butt welding of the body and the gold pinstriping on the body. I have a copy of Lowey’s book “Industrial Design” that when the GG1 was first introduced it was so silent that working track maintenance crews met with accidents. The gold striping with its light reflection was added to increase its visibility and that proved to work.
Pale Blue G in Utah….OMG
Sexy Gorgeous Creature
Never have I seen that paint color on a G.
I grew up in northeast NJ. I was able to see CNJ, LV, PRR and RDG. some B&O in it’s waning years. The GG1s were a constant on the Pennsy. Watched them pull the Philly Clockers and the Southern Crescent, the ACL Champion and the Seaboard Silver Meteor.
I miss those days.
Thank you for these wonderful memories.
As an aside ,as far as hydrogen power goes, we get our hydrogen gas from fractionally distilling it out of methane. A hydro carbon. so much for this green sham.
Thanks for the great article on these electric trains from my childhood years in Metuchen, NJ…….circa 1954-1957. I do remember seeing them and riding on several long distance runs all the way to Chicago where we changed to D/E units of the Milwaukee Road to end up in Milwaukee. As we were not in sleeper cars, it seemed like a VERY long somewhat boring ride to a 10 year old!
The trains, especially with these streamlined engines and the stations all made a very lasting memory!! 🙂 Of course, at the time I had no idea about their background, development and finally the Industrial Design work done by Lowey. Given I put in 42 challenging years as an Industrial Designer articles like this are simply fascinating…..thanks again!! DFO
Nice writeup, nice photos, the complexity of costs and subsidies between rail and trucking etc are at least Masters Thesis worthy, if not book.
But that leading picture, the very first one. Wow. That one is art, it belongs in a gallery, it’s just gorgeous. If I’d taken it, it would be hanging on a wall in my house.
Very impressive loco. Nothing to compare to here on our side of the pond. Not even the famous DRG E18 / E19.
Here another video on the GG1s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSuEjJ3pxb8
Each take a delicacy, today. At 3:51 even hauling freight as a triple unit.
I’m curious how the cost of maintaining and operating the electrics compared to the steamers and diesels. I would think the electrics had to be a cheaper than the steamers not sure how they would compare to the diesels.
The idea of swapping battery cars to power an electric would be interesting.
Could go the 50’s Buck Rogers approach, nuclear reactor power.
As children with Lionel Trains, we, my brother and our friends, always wanted a GG1. It was also the most expensive loco from Lionel and weighed a lot, too! In 2001, I rode in the cab of a GG1 on a restored railroad. Indeed, the space for the engineer is not much. It was a great experience to see the behemoth in operation.