I remember my wife and I took our first train trip to Florida from Pennsylvania Station, NYC. Our first leg of the journey, NY to Washington DC was powered by a GG1.
More History on the GG-1: The Pennsy first used the FF-1 but was so slow they scrapped it. First came the L-5 electric in the 1920s. The rail supply then was 3rd power rail supply.Then they used the P5 but the driver was killed in a grade cross accident. So the P5a was introduced. Then after some time, they decided to use a New Haven electric locomotive's wheel arrangement by putting the P5a streamlined body on top of the frame. The GG-1 was then born. There were 2 that were constructed and delivered in August of 1934. None were built in 1933. The first was the R1 electric locomotive. Only 1 R1 was made but it was retired in the 1950s. The most famous GG-1 was Old Rivets numbered 4800. Classification: In Electric locomotives, Numbers referred to the unpowered axles and letters referred to the power axles. A jack shaft was not a powered axle. So a GG-1 is not a 4-6-0+0-6-4 Eric it is a 2-C+C-2 wheel arrangement. It also works for steam locomotives: Example: a (2’C)C2’ was a Challenger, and a 2’E1’ was a Texas type engine.
This was always one of my favorite engines, I have a load of 35 mm slides I took of the GG1s at the Sunnyside RR yards in NYC. Some of my shots have as many as 30 engines in the yard. That was a great site to see! Great review!!
Ricardo Palomo i grew up in Sunnyside. I used to train watch at a lot on 43rd street along side the tracks. Penn Central, Amtrak, and NJ Transit were the operators at that time.
The GG1s were great They hauled freight, passengers, and mow trains. The were so reliable 50 years of service. The second best locomotive ever made. It was to electric what the SD40-2 was to diesel
Very cool engine Eric. Reminds me of the two K-Line Interurbans that I have that give you the option of a cantenary system or track power. Great video as always.
One of my favorite locomotives, hands down. One detail, that I thought could have been included, is the hand grabs on the lead and trailing trucks. MTH may have chosen to omit these as they could be delicate. On the Lionel 14 1/2" versions, these hand grabs are cast as a solid sort of "Fin" on the tops of the trucks. Just an observation.
Really nice GG1 set Eric! You're making me want another GG1, had a premier model but let it go when I figured out the pantographs hit my bridges. Maybe it's time for new bridges! lol
I had the opportunity to run two class GG1 now in Strasburg RR museum when I was an Engineer she was the pride of the old Pennsylvania RR. I caught the ending Era in 1979
GG1 is one of my favorite engines. I have a Lionel 2360 GG1 built in the 60's. I love to have the MTH one but my largest radius curve is 054. Great review and enjoyed seeing it run.
Ok thanks I think I was looking for the reason for few dcc in O. GG1 sure iconic. Marklin has/had it from the late 50's I remember, along with the similar swiss krokodil/Crocodile. From the days e engines had character. Now they are boxes on wheels under pantos. LOL. Robert
At about 12:44 you say you don't understand why you can't have both the catenary and the p/u rollers hot at the same time. Eric, I am surprised at you. Think about it. The engine is sitting there idling. There's 18 volts on the track and, ergo, 18 volts on the catenary. OK. So you go to pick the unit up - and touch the _all metal body_ and the catenary at the same time. What's going to happen? ZAPPO! - Because the shell of the engine is always at ground potential. The last thing MTH needs is some kid getting electrocuted by one of their engines. Other than that, a terrific review.
Great review Eric! I like the value that MTH adds to their Premier Line and HO sets by adding five cars or so for around an extra $100.00. But just to let you know, the fact that the set comes with a Pennsylvania Railroad single stripe GG1 is not a pro nor a con, it's a feature, and should be regarded that way. Other than that one little nitpick, nicely done!
I recently picked up three of these with Proto Sound 2.0 and one of them is PRR/Conrail 4800 in her bicentennial livery. The other is Conrail 4800 in it’s one-off blue livery (4800 is the only GG1 to actually receive the Conrail “Big Blue” paint) and the other is a PennCentral unit. I can’t believe even today, Lionel hasn’t made to where we can power our Legacy or Vision Line GG1’s with a overhead catenary like on the MTH GG1’s. Closest thing to overhead power Lionel has done is the “spark” effect on the vision line GG1.
Hi Eric • Enjoyed the GG-1 history. It would be cool to get the overhead power from the pantographs. Very interesting on how they work. Looks & sounds great on the layout. * Cheers from Michigan
Do the lanterns on the caboose have lights in them, I noticed the caboose was running in reverse doing your review, so they may not have been illuminated.
Hey Eric, I have an MTH RailKing Southern Pacific GS-4 (converted to Protosound 2) which I absolutely love, but when I try to run it with my DCS Commander System, none of the buttons work and the engine won't start up, even though there's plenty of power to the track. I tried cleaning the track, but to no avail. Not to mention that the engine is very sensitive and won't move in conventional mode when there's more than 1 passenger car on the tracks. Also, when it runs conventionally, the whistle & bell work, but only on 1 section. My layout is a set of 2 tracks; on the outer track, the engine is very jittery, and on the inner track, it runs smoother, but not all of the functions work. The DCS Commander System doesn't work with the engine on either sections, but yet all of my other engines work fine with it. Do you have any ideas on how I can solve this problem?
Eric, you got me interested in GG1, my question is what is the reccommended curves for GG1 like this one in the video? I'm looking also into switches for my yard. I'm new to this and I'm planning to buy 2 sets of trains in DEC and my Bday in Jan.
Im trying to get more of the higher end lionel trains, and I was wondering what are some cheaper lionel sets in the vision line and legacy lines. I don't use the Legacy Control System, but I can run them conventionally with a transformer.
It won't do 0-54 since the loco is quite long in length as stated in the video. It might do 0-60 but if so, the speed would be restricted and the overhang would look ridiculous. If you want a GG1 for tight turns, the best possible way is to get a Lionel Postwar GG1 or any Railking, Imperial, LionMaster, etc.GG1 rated for 0-31.
hmm, ya i thought so, well i got the railking one which is still good, the biggest curve i have is 0-54 because of the train table size i had to work with, hopefully this summer i will expand it, because a layout is never finished!
I don't think it can do 0-54. I got a JLC Y6b and its min curves are 0-72 but can run on 0-60 though the overhang is ridiculous. It might run on 0-60, though that is pushing it literally, but the drive shaft and gearbox will wear faster out on 0-60 than 0-72 so I all I can say is: No for 0-54, Maybe for 0-60. For any 0-72 rated articulated loco, if the engine can do a max swing identical to 0-54 I would say try it but you got to do it when the train is powered on to get the final result.
Oil-fired steam generator? Having a steam generator in an electric locomotive is odd enough, but why oil-fired instead of using electric heating? It seems overly complicated to me, most European electric locomotives have HEP outlets on both ends and that's it - plain and simple.
PrekiFromPoland simple reasons really. despite the success of the GG-1, electric has never been king on American railways. Coal and steam ruled first. Then oil and steam, and then finally diesel. Second thing is that Pennsylvania was an oil producing state. The Pennsy probably found this method to be cheaper and more reliable.
The locomotives were equipped with Vapor Company steam generators to provide heat to the passenger coaches. No...you would not have smoke when running in freight service. But you would when in passenger service.
