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ThePennsylvania Railroad Class GG1 is a class ofstreamlinedelectric locomotives built for thePennsylvania Railroad (PRR), in the northeastern United States. The class was known for its strikingart deco shell, its ability to pull trains at up to 100 mph, and its long operating career of almost 50 years.
Between 1934 and 1943,General Electric and the PRR'sAltoona Works built 139 GG1s. The GG1 entered service with the PRR in 1935 and later ran on successor railroadsPenn Central,Conrail, andAmtrak. The last GG1 was retired byNew Jersey Transit in 1983.
Most have been scrapped, but sixteen are preserved in museums.[1][2]
The GG1 was 79 feet 6 inches (24.23 m) long and weighed 475,000 pounds (215,000 kg).[3] Theframe of the locomotive was in two halves joined with aball joint, allowing the locomotive to negotiate sharper curves.[4] The body rested on the frame and was clad inwelded steel plates. The control cabs were near the center of the locomotive on each side of the main oil-cooled transformer and oil-fired train-heating boiler. This arrangement, first used on the PRR's ModifiedP5 class, provided for greater crew safety in a collision and provided for bi-directional operation of the locomotive.[5] UsingWhyte notation forsteam locomotives, each frame is a4-6-0 locomotive, which in thePennsylvania Railroad classification system is a "G". The GG1 has two such frames back to back, 4-6-0+0-6-4. The relatedAAR wheel arrangement classification is 2-C+C-2. This means one frame mounted upon a set of two axles unpowered (the "2") and three axles powered (the "C") hinged with the ball and socket to another frame of the same design (the +). The unpowered "2" axles are at either end of the locomotive. The GG1 was equipped with a Leslie A200 horn.
Apantograph on each end of the locomotive body was used to collect the 11,000 V, 25 Hzalternating current (AC) from theoverhead catenary wires. In operation, the leading pantograph was usually kept lowered and the trailing one raised to collect current, since if the rear pantograph failed it would not strike the forward pantograph. Atransformer between the two cabs stepped-down the 11,000 V to the voltages needed for thetraction motors and other equipment.[5] Twelve 385-horsepower (287 kW) GEA-627-A1 traction motors (AC commutator motors, not AC induction motors[6]) drove the GG1's 57-inch (1,448 mm) diameterdriving wheels on six axles using aquill drive. The power required was such that double traction motors were used, with two motors driving each axle.
The traction motors were six-pole field, 400 volts, 25 Hz rated each at 385 hp (287 kW). The motors were frame-mounted using quill drives to the sprung driving wheels, providing a flexible suspension system across a relatively-long locomotive frame, which allowed full wheel weight to rest on the rail for good traction regardless of track condition. A series-wound commutator motor's speed is increased by increasing the applied voltage to the motor, thus increasing the current through the motor's armature, which is necessary for increasing its torque and thus increasing motor speed.[7][8] The engineer's cab had a 21-position controller for applying voltage to the motors. Four unpoweredleading/trailing wheels were mounted on each end of the locomotive.
In the 1930s, railroad passenger cars were heated with steam from the locomotive. The GG1 had an oil-firedsteam generator to feed its train's "steam line."[9]
Beginning in the late 1910s, the PRR received theFF1, but decided that it was too slow for passenger trains; it was relegated to heavy freight service. In the mid-1920s, it received the L5 electric, which had a third-rail power supply at the time. When the Pennsylvania built the O1 and the P5, it chose the P5 over the O1 for its ability and power on the rails. After a grade-crossing accident with the P5a, the cab was moved to the center and was designatedP5a (Modified). The P5a’s rigid frame did not track well at high speeds and began developing cracks, leading the PRR to seek an improved design. They found two contacts as early as 1932. The mechanical design of the GG1 was based largely on the EP3, which the PRR had borrowed from theNew York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad to compare it to the P5a.[10] In 1933, the PRR decided to replace its P5a locomotives; it asked General Electric andWestinghouse to design prototype locomotives with a lighteraxle load and more power than the P5a, a top speed of at least 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), a streamlined body design, and a single (central) control cab.[11]
Both companies delivered their prototypes to PRR in August 1934.[12] Westinghouse'sR1 was essentially "little more than an elongated and more powerful version of the P5a" with an AAR wheel arrangement of 2-D-2.[12] General Electric delivered its GG1. Both locomotives were tested for ten weeks in regular service between New York and Philadelphia and on a test track inClaymont, Delaware.[13] PRR chose the GG1 because the R1's rigid wheelbase prevented it from negotiating sharp curves and somerailroad switches. On November 10, 1934, the railroad ordered 57 locomotives:[13] 14 assembled byGeneral Electric inErie, 18 by the PRR's ownAltoona Works, and 20 more in Altoona with electrical components from Westinghouse inEast Pittsburgh andchassis from theBaldwin Locomotive Works inEddystone.[14] An additional 81 locomotives were built at Altoona between 1937 and 1943.[15]
On January 28 1935, to mark the completion of electrification of the line fromWashington, D.C., toNew York City, PRR ran a special train hauled byPennsylvania Railroad 4800 before it opened the line for revenue service on February 10.[16] It made a round-trip from D.C. toPhiladelphia; it completed the return leg in a record 1 hour and 50 minutes.[16]
In 1945, a Pennsylvania GG1 hauled the funeral train ofPresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt fromWashington Union Station toNew York Pennsylvania Station.[17]
In the mid-1950s, with declining demand for passenger train service, GG1s 4801–4857 were re-geared for a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) and placed in freight service.[18] They initially retained their train-heating steam generator, and were recalled to passenger service for holiday-season mail trains[18] and 'Passenger Extras' such as those run for the annualArmy–Navy football game in Philadelphia.[19]
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Timetable speed limit for the GG1 was 75–80 mph (121–129 km/h) until October 1967, when some were allowed 100 mph (160 km/h) for a couple of years. WhenMetroliner cars were being overhauled in the late 1970s, GG1s were again allowed 100 mph for a short time when haulingAmfleet cars on trains scheduled to run 226.6 mi (364.7 km) from New York to Washington in 3 hours and 20 to 25 minutes.[citation needed]
On June 8, 1968, two Penn Central GG1s hauledRobert F. Kennedy'sfuneral train from New York Penn Station to Washington, D.C.[20]
The first designer for the GG1 project was industrial designer Donald Roscoe Dohner, who produced initial scale-styling models, although the completed prototype looked somewhat different.[21][22] At some point, the PRR hired famed industrial designerRaymond Loewy to "enhance the GG1's aesthetics",[13][21]leading to the final 'Art Deco' design it became known for.
Although it was thought until 2009 that Loewy was solely responsible for the GG1's styling, Dohner is now understood to have contributed as well (Dohner's GG1 designs influenced the modified P5as, which debuted before the GG1 — not, as was thought, the other way around[22]). Loewy did claim that he recommended the use of a smooth, welded body instead of theriveted one used in the prototype.[23] Loewy also added five goldpinstripes and aBrunswick green paint scheme.[23]
In 1952, the paint scheme was changed toTuscan red; three years later, the pinstripes were simplified to a single stripe and large redkeystones were added.[24]
OnSeptember 6, 1943, theCongressional Limited crashed atFrankford Junction, in theKensington section ofPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. The train was pulled by GG1 4930. The accident was caused by ajournal box fire (ahot box) on the front of the seventh of the train's 16 cars. The journal box seized and an axle snapped, catching the underside of the truck and catapulting the car upwards. It struck asignal gantry, which peeled off its roof along the line of windows "like a can of sardines". Car #8 wrapped itself around the gantry upright in a figure U. The next six cars were scattered at odd angles over the tracks, and the last two cars remained undamaged. In total, 79 passengers died, all from cars #7 and #8, and 117 were injured, some seriously.[25][26]
On January 15, 1953, train 173, the overnightFederal from Boston, was approaching Washington behind GG14876. The train passed a signal 2.1 miles (3.4 km) north ofWashington Union Station between 60 and 70 miles per hour (97 and 113 km/h), and the engineer decreased the throttle and started applying the brakes.[27] When the engineer realized that the train was not slowing down, and applying theemergency brake had no effect, he sounded the engine's horn. Asignalman, hearing the horn and noting the speed of the 4876, phoned ahead to the station master's office.[28] 4876 negotiated severalswitches at speeds well over the safe limits and entered the station at around 35 to 40 miles per hour (56 to 64 km/h).[29] The train demolished the bumping post, continued through the station master's office and into theconcourse,[29] where it fell through the floor into the station's basement. Thanks to the evacuation of the concourse, no one died, either in the station or aboard the train. A temporary floor was erected over the engine, and the hole it created, for the inauguration ofPresidentDwight D. Eisenhower.[28] 4876 was eventually dismantled, removed from the basement and reassembled with a new frame and superstructure in Altoona. The reconstructed 4876 survives at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.
The accident was determined to have been caused by a closed "angle cock", a valve on the front and rear of all locomotives and rail cars used in the train's airbrake system, on the rear of the third car in the train.[30] The handle of the angle cock had been improperly placed and had contacted the bottom of the car. Once it was closed, the air brake pipe on all the cars behind the closed valve remained at full pressure, keeping the brakes released on those cars while the brakes on the locomotive and first three cars were applied in emergency.[31]
The only major electro-mechanicalbreakdown of the GG1 was caused by a February 1958 blizzard that swept across the northeastern United States[32] and put nearly half of the GG1s out of commission. Exceptionally fine snow, caused by the extreme low temperatures, passed through the traction motors' air filters and into the electrical components.[33] When the snow melted, itshort-circuited the components.[33] On about 40 units, the air intakes were later moved to a position under the pantographs.
In 1968, the PRR, with its 119 surviving GG1s, merged with theNew York Central Railroad to form Penn Central.Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970 and its freight operations were later assumed by government-controlled Conrail, which used 68 GG1s in freight service until the end of electric freight traction in 1980.
After its creation in 1971,Amtrak purchased 30 GG1s for $50,000 each[34] and leased another 21, of which 11 were for use onNew York and Long Branch commuter trains.[35] Amtrak initially renumbered the purchased GG1s as Nos. 900 to 929; later the railroad added a prefixed "4". This replicated some of the numbers of the leased units, which were renumbered 4930 to 4939, except 4935, which kept its old PRR/PC number.
Amtrak unsuccessfully attempted to replace the GG1s in 1975 with the General ElectricE60.[36] An E60 derailed during testing at 102-mile-per-hour (164 km/h), forcing an investigation (the E60 used the same trucks as theP30CH diesel then in service with Amtrak) that delayed acceptance. The hoped-for 120 miles per hour (193 km/h) service speed was never achieved (timetable limit was 90 mph, then 80, then 90).
A replacement was finally found after Amtrak imported and tested two lightweight European locomotives: X995, anRc4a built byASEA ofSweden, andX996, a derivative of the FrenchAlsthom-MTECC 21000. The railroad picked the ASEA design, initially nicknamed the "Swedish swifty"[37] or the "Mighty Mouse"[38] and later often referred to as the "Swedish Meatball".Electro-Motive Diesel, then a part ofGeneral Motors, was licensed to build a derivative called theAEM-7.[37] As AEM-7s arrived, Amtrak finally ended GG1 service on April 26, 1980.[39]
The last GG1s in use were some of the 13 assigned to New Jersey Transit (#4872–4884) for itsNorth Jersey Coast Line between New York andSouth Amboy (the former New York and Long Branch) that ran until October 29, 1983, thus retiring the locomotive after 49 years of service.[40]
Fifteen production locomotives and the prototype were preserved in museums. None are operational; their main transformers were removed because of thePCBs in the insulating oil.[citation needed]
During the mid-1930s, many railroadsstreamlined locomotives and passenger cars to convey a fashionable sense of speed.[41] While theUnion Pacific had theM-10000 and theChicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad theZephyr, the PRR had the GG1.[41] The GG1 has "shown up over the years in more advertisements and movie clips than any other locomotive."[42] It was also featured in art calendars provided by PRR, which were used to "promote its reputation in the public eye."[43]
PRR-painted GG1s appear in the filmsBroadway Limited in 1941,The Clock in 1945,Blast of Silence in 1961, the 1962 version ofThe Manchurian Candidate, andAvalon in 1990.[44][45][46][47][48] Two GG1s appear in the 1973 filmThe Seven-Ups—a black Penn Central locomotive and a silver, red and blue Amtrak locomotive.[49] A Penn Central GG1 also appears in another 1973 filmThe Last Detail.[50] PRR GG1 4821 appears briefly in the 1952 filmThe Greatest Show on Earth, hauling theRingling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus into Philadelphia's Greenwich Yard, as the movie's director Cecil B. DeMille narrates the scene of its arrival. Near the end of the 1951 filmBright Victory, GG1 #4849 is shown pulling into the station.
A GG1 and theCongressional were featured on apostage stamp as part of theUnited States Postal Service'sAll Aboard! 20th Century American Trains set in 1999.[51]
The PC gamesRailroad Tycoon II,Railroad Tycoon 3,Train Fever,Transport Fever andTransport Fever 2 allow players to purchase and operate GG1 locomotive engines on their train routes. The GG1 is also available with the default Trainz Simulator Games in recent years, and is available as add-ons for Railworks, Train Simulator by Dovetail Games and Microsoft Train Simulator. A GG1 in a fictional Soviet color scheme appears as an environmental prop in the 2023 first-person-shooterAtomic Heart.
Model GG1s have been produced in G, O, S, HO, N and Z scales by Rivarossi, Bachmann, Tyco, Lionel, MTH, USA Trains, Kato, Astor, Fine Art Models, Märklin and other manufacturers.
