When my grandfather passed, he left all of his O gauge trains to me. I have a post war GG-1, number 2340 dating from the late 40's very early 50's. Still running and pulling hard around the track. I also have steam locomotives from him as well that date back into the 30's and they still run with a little coaxing and tune up. Cool to see them!
I grew up with the GG-1 in the 50s and 60s. My grandmother and aunts lived across the street from the New York-Washington line while my other grandparents lived in Washington DC. We almost always went to and from Wilmington DE, where the platforms were low, unlike in Philly and Washington. I vividly recall from early childhood how HUGE they seemed as they eased by the platform at Wilmington, and when waiting for the local to Philly at Moore/Prospect Park, how terrifying the expresses seemed as they roared by at 75 mph. By my time I think all the grade crossings had been done away with other than at Newark DE and Aberdeen MD. I'd listen for the sound of that gorgeous horn, unlike anything on other locomotives. Altogether I think the GG-1 is the best industrial design of anything ever. I was astonished when I learned the design was pre-WWII.
Not only the GG1's were legendary, but they also made history. For example, in 1945, a Pennsy GG1 pulled the funeral train of President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Washington, D.C.'s Union Station to New York City's Pennsylvania Station. Another example is on June 8, 1968, Penn Central GG1s #4901 and #4903 pulled Robert F. Kennedy's funeral train. The 3rd example is during the Flying Scotsman's American Tour in 1969, which was hauled by a Penn Central GG1 through Pennsylvania.
Love the difference in proportions between the 2 versions. Had to pause and show it to my friend. It’s really like comparing a person in a live action show with one in an anime.
We have a GG1 at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco Texas. Our was one that pulled Bobby Kennedy Funeral Train, when he was shot in California and flown to NY City. Bobby Kennedy funeral train went from NY City to Washington DC and he was laid to rest at Arlington Virginia, next to his brother John who was assassinated in Dallas Tx. Sadly when the Funeral train was running, there were people on the tracks and were killed by a train running in the opposite direction. Also the GG1 has no front or back, it has two fronts and can run in either direction. Also it pulled passengers and freight as well and our ran over 40 years before being retired.
Love your videos Eric!! The smoke simulates the pop valves from the GG1s steam generator for the steam heat on the passenger cars. Im glad Lionel added this feature as it is very prototypical of the GG1 locomotive. Once again, great review!!
The GG1 Locomotive design is simply beautiful! I myself have always been a train lover. I love the way You explained and the presented this model. Thank You for this video!
Thank you for showing the GG1's. When I was a young boy I received a new GGi together with three Madison, Manhattan and Irvington cars. The GG1 that I got always had the dull stripes right from when it was new.
I love watching these videos. I can only imagine how much money these people have warped up in there layouts, the average Jo can't afford this hobby anymore. Twenty years ago you could buy a Rivarossi engine for around $200.00 dollars and were considered top of the line. Now junk HO engines go for $ 500.00 To $ 700.00 dollars, pricing the hobby out of most peoples pocket book. It is sad but it's become a rich mans world.
There's an additional two GG-1's in Cooperstown Junction, NY about 6 miles east of the city of Oneonta on NY-7. They've moved off the track paralleling the D&H (now Norfolk Southern), and across NY-7 onto a spur that eventually leads to the village of Cooperstown on the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley, paralleling Otsego County Road 35. Worth a trip! Both are still PC black, and carry their Amtrak road numbers, and a faded PC stencil can still be seen on the southern most unit. I want to say their road numbers are 4912 and 4934 if memory serves. Enjoy!
Hey Eric... I hope you get a chance to read this. Just a friendly tip: As a photographer if you want smoke to be visible in any visual medium, it requires a backlit source. Any source brighter than the ambient light. So grab yourself any desk lamp, flash light (focus light), or bare-bulb light source and place out of lens sight and behind the smoke and your locomotive smoke should be beautifully visible. Hope this helps. Aaaallll abooooard...!!!
I recently got an HO scale model of one of these GG1s. The one I got is PRR 4890. The reason being that is that that’s the first GG1 I got to see in person.
Lionel's postwar, MPC and Richard Kuhn era GG1s were all built with scale height and width but was shortened to be only 2/3rds the length of a scale model as can be seen when the two are side by side in your video. Even back in the 1940's, Lionel was aware of scale proportions and determined that it would have been too long or heavy for young children to handle, much the same as the prewar standard gauge 381e. When you pointed out that 'seem' down the middle of the GG1 over the headlights, I examined my JLC model and they addressed that seem perfectly. That's weird that Lionel, while their earlier JLC models casting seem was completely removed, their Legacy/Vision Line version actually still had this casting 'flaw'.
If you think about it, the GG-1 is GE's version of the 4-6-6-4 Challenger. If the PRR ever order there own steam challenger locomotives, i'm sure they would be classified as GG-2. If the Milwaukee Road ever owned their own GG-1's I'm sure they would classify them as EC-1's EC standing for Electric Challenger.
WOW! Lionel hit it out of park with this one! And, so did you Eric with the review! One of only two Pennsylvania engines I would like to have some day. This AMTRAK scheme is very nice (the blue stripe reminds me of the solid stripe that the Pennsy used.) "Old Rivets" as built, is the version I am interested in. Enjoy them Eric!
I love this video. This video has inspired me to find an original 2332. For me, when it comes to finding a Postwar engine, I’d want to find one that’s in operating condition.
Eric, Thank You again. Another hour of pure entertainment and features. It is funny I always know which feature you are going to like best, it is in your voice in the review. The likely hood that I will ever be able to put up a layout of this scale if not high. I am an n scale man. Boy do I enjoy all of the things you outline. I will make a strange request, I would like to see you do a "dark" video. A night view of your layout with your favorite engine. (By the way, the sound of the GG1 arc sound it is very real. I have never seen a GG1 run, but I live right on the Harrisburg PA, Station, and let me tell you looking down on a "toaster" during an ice storm several years ago, you could see the flash and hear the arc! Vaporizing the ice on the lines in a flash of blue white light).
One GG1 in Amtrak livery is at they New York State Fairgrounds near Syracuse. Of course, it never ran on the Water Level Route (NYC Main Line) but it still looks cool.
Oh my god, i got introduced to the gg1 in such a weird way, in the form of a lopsided wooden Christmas ornament that i picked out because it looked cool, with the sleek yet industrial shape and the dark red paint with gold pinstripes
Hi Eric! Thanks for a very informative video. Lionel really outdid themselves with the new GG1 even with the errant mold line. I've often wondered if the GG1, first built in 1934, came about in part due to the Cleveland Union Terminal (CUT) P1a electrics which possessed the same wheel arrangement and were built by ALCO & GE in 1929. Although the CUT electrics lacked the streamlined carbody of the GG1's they shared a lot of similarities. Thanks again for the video and all the hard work that made it possible. It is greatly appreciated.
That wheel arrangement was also used on the New Haven electrics of the same era and the Pennsy borrowed one of them during the design phase of the GG1.
kiwitrainguy You are correct. I do believe that the New Haven electrics preceded the Pennsy GG1 by a few years. I guess that CUT, GE and ALCO came up with a winner and the GG1 was the icing on the cake.
I got to see the engineers seat in a GG1 in the Pennsy Museum . Loco is enormous. Place for engineer is small and cramped like an airline bathroom. The “fireman” chair to the left is a narrow crooked aisle.
another awesome video! i was wondering, when you do the passenger car video for the gg1's could you show us the interior lighting stuff? im sure its not easy to get with a camera but love to see details like that. this video was worth the wait regardless!
That’s an amazing engine if only things with this quality did not cost about 500-100 bucks I would by a t1-4444 duplex if I had the money great review and nice engine by the way
Can you do the Amtrak x996, the Rc-4s, the e60s, the aem-7s, all different kinds of Amtrak turboliners, the Amtrak ice train and x2000 the Amtrak Acela Express, the hhp8s, the acs64s and the SC44s, and do Canadian pacific and Canadian national steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, and do GTW 6407 and CN 6400
The GG1 will probably never run again. Aside from the re-vamped electrification issue, One of the main reasons they were retired was due to serious repeated cracking on the truck frames. When they retired these engines, they were OLD. In fact, when NJ Transit retired 4877, it had almost no cab floor. The engineer's feet were dangling into a void during it's last runs...
What can I say more about the arc lighting effects... It's perfect! The only way I can make it more realistic is to strap a taser onto that pantograph xD
