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The 4-6-6-4 GG1 electric locomotive was built for high-speed passenger service, but it was so well- made that it actually served for both high-speed and heavy freight, remaining in service for nearly fifty years. Built for the PRR, these monsters were either incredibly ugly or beautiful, depending on the angle of the photo. Those that survived into Penn Central were painted black, but the PRR had a variety of colors. Some even survived into Conrail.
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Vincent Massi -
A college classmate of mine just retired as president of Conrail. Turns out they still own a ton of real estate, and some railroad stuff, too.
But yeah, I have a soft spot for GG-1s, my grandfather commuted from Paoli on trains pulled by them.
daveModeling 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to)Comment
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A Pennsy classic that outlived the Pennsy.Curt Webb
Freelanced PRR Bellevue SubComment
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What a great loco.....I remember being on a Seaboard Silver Meteor going from Ft. Lauderdale to New Jersey back in the 60's that was pulled by a GG1 north of Washington. It was real late at night and the train was in south Jersey and I was in the vestibule with the top half of the Dutch door open and the train was going at what Tom calls "Greg Speed" across the flat landscape.
The conductor came out and we chatted for a few minutes and one of my questions for him was about the speed of the train. He grinned and told me that the railroad limited the engines to 110 MPH. I commented that the speed we were going seemed to a bit over that limit. He grinned and said that sometimes the engineers would need to make up time, but was sure that they would never exceed managements limits by going a little over 120 MPH.....
The thing I find hilarious is that today a company is spending billions of dollars on a "high speed" line from Miami to Orlando and touting it to have speeds of 120 MPH so they can get all of the mouse tourists here in 3 hours. It is a 3-1/2 hour trip by car, without any accidents or traffic jams on I-95 or the turnpike. How are they justifying spending that much money on something that is over 60 years behind the times?
Gregory P. DeMayo
Chairman of the Board
St. Louis & Denver Railroad Corporation
Longwood, FLComment
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Greg, Think of all the lined pockets of politicians, cronies, and construction associated buissness's.Curt Webb
Freelanced PRR Bellevue SubComment
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One of my favorite engines.
I remember as a kid when my parents drove on RT 1 in Morrisville, PA and seeing the PRR yard with all the GG-1's parked outside.Follow along as my dog and I travel the country in our van.
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In my first job I made a lot of trips to Wilmington, DE at a time when GG-1s and MP-54s were still in service. I have a couple of good photos of Amtrak GG-1s on the Corridor and MP-54s painted SEPTA. The NJT GG-1s I caught at Perth Amboy were all PC black and the light wasn't great.JamesComment
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James, with some effort, I found out how GG1s wound up with New Jersey Transit--Conrail lent them to NJT. NJT is the third largest passenger transportation company in the US. From the photos I can find, NJT often kept the Pennsylvania Railroad emblems on some GG1s. Others were painted without any logo.
NJT was the last company to use GG1s, retiring them while they were still serviceable due to high maintenance and operating costs.Vincent MassiComment
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Here's a not very good picture of the GG1 at the RR Museum in Strasburg, PA.
Amtrak used it last.
Follow along as my dog and I travel the country in our van.
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Back in 1978 or 1979 I was a college student attending the Penn State Middletown Campus. As I was driving to class one day, on Route 230 which runs alongside a stretch of train tracks, a freshly painted GG1 in the PRR colors went past me. I'm 99% certain it was the 4935 Rick posted above. She was probably on her way to the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum in Strasburg.
Bob Butts
Lake Mary, FL
L. In case of danger to the Company's property employes must unite to protect it.Comment
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Here it is! This magnificent beast arrived today, and it runs great on 22" radius trackVincent MassiComment
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