GG1: Not just for passengers

Just goes to show, there is a prototype for everything.

I love the GG1's in PC livery. I always double head them, either pulling Robert Kennedy's funeral train, or freight  consists.

PRR/PC/CR 4800 I believe was regeared to be a freight locomotive.  They were definitely used in freight service.

My Lionel JLC single stripe #4925 was probably in the thread you mentioned.  I bought an N5c caboose to go with it.  Last time I ran it was on March 4th at the head of a 50' long military train with various diecast models on flatcars.  It was very heavy and the G had no problems pulling it.

I remember seeing them pulling freight in the 70s.

I remember seeing the PRR GG-1s handling freight in the mid 1950s thru the early 1960s. I have some B&W negatives of night photos I took at South Amboy "motor servicing" facility, back in the 1950s. GG-1s, P5a modifieds, P5a box cabs, and even a pair of the ignatron rectifiers.  The good old days.

Hope you aren't running them with those red class lights on the front!

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=47171

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=47540

Rusty

Plenty of GG1's were used in freight service.  In fact, I believe Conrail continued to use some GG1's after Amtrak took their out of service.  I'm not sure if any were originally intended for freight, but with the decline of passenger service many G's were regeared for freight service to replace the P5a's.

They are standard Williams Bachmann locos, apart from re-lighting them, that's how they are. So, what should the correct lighting be? I usually end up installing Evan Design LED's, so I may as well get them correct.

For the most part, class lights on the front of locos most often were not lit. That's because just about every train was scheduled, be it freight, express or passenger.

The only time the class lights were used was if a train was running 'extra'. That meant

it was not in the timetable and was running under written orders. The class light color would be white or clear.

If a scheduled train was running with more than one section, all sections running ahead of the last train would show green class lights. The last train of the sections  would not show any class lights, because it was THE scheduled train, running in its assigned time table slot.

Red was not used as a front classification light. Most RTR locos have them because they 'look nice.'

Red was indeed used for tail end marker lights. They were only on the rear end of a train, to mark its end. 

The rear marker lights could also show combinations of amber and red or red and green according to individual railroad rules. Those set ups were generally used when a train took a siding. The color would be changed on one side to show it was in the clear for any overtaking train approaching from the rear and mark the clear side.

Ed B

in my youth living alongside the PRR main line in New Jersey, I saw just as many freights pulled by G's as I saw passenger equipment. it was fairly common for two G's to have a 100 car train trailing behind, at all hours of the day and night.

in the 60's, I would guess at least a third of the fleet was geared for freight work.

>>

Red was indeed used for tail end marker lights. They were only on the rear end of a train, to mark its end.

So, a light locomotive might operate with white class lights at the front (extra movement) and red markers to the rear. Were the GG1 markers equipped with 3 sets of lenses at both ends?

From my train watching days at Princeton Jct in the late 50's, freight power was more likely to be GG1's than anything else!  I got really excited if I spotted a boxcab P5!

Hi Kent and Ed, there are red markers and a headlight both ends. I will remove the front red plastic and fit with white LED's. Don't know why Williams did this, it would have been just as easy to do it right.

I was wondering how they changed colors on the prototype - Did they use filters behind the lens?

Yep, filters.  Changed by a flip of a lever at the light.

Rusty

The PRR dropped the use of classification lights around 1940.  After that time the small number board lamps on GG1's functioned as red marker lamps.  They would be lit only in the rare instance the locomotive was at the rear of a "train" - such would be the case in a light engine move.  

Is there only one pantograph up?  Feeding all 3 GG1s?

Excellent catch, Mark.

Back in the 1950s and early 1960s, when I still lived in New Jersey, I can recall seeing two GG-1s on the head end of heavy freights, but not three. The other two GG-1s in the posted photo above, are obviously dead in tow.

The pantographs are raised on all three locomotives in the picture. They're just tough to see agains the trees in the background.

The GG1s were not good freight locomotives as they tended to be slippery when starting heavy trains. Once they got going they were fine but getting underway could be problematic hence the reason behind consists of multiple locomotives. That said, they were still better than the alternatives available prior to the arrival of the E44s. In fact, Pennsy really did not solve the challenge of finding a suitable electric freight locomotive until it ordered the E44s.

Bob 

I cropped and blew up the photo, I see all three rear pantographs raised...look up by the overhead wires and you can see light reflecting from the pantograph bars.

Here's another note of interest regarding the original poster's picture. The lead locomotive appears to be the 4877 which became famous when it was painted in Pennsy Tuscan with pinstriping in 1981 and finished its career in this livery. The locomotive, now part of the URHS collection, was recently restored to its more historically accurate DGLE scheme. 

Bob

I never realized I would learn so much about real trains here on OGR. And, interesting coincidence about that lead GG1 on the freight being 4877. I ran across her (again, it turns out) in 1997 and 1998 during trips behind C&O 614 out of Hoboken. The first side view is October 1997, the 3/4 view 1998. I don't know what a DGLE scheme is, so if anyone has a photo, please post.

Hi, B&O Bill.

Thanks for the pictures of the 4877 in storage at Hoboken following its retirement. Here are links to a few of my images of the 4877 while it was still service:

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr4877hrc.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr4877grc.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr4877drc.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr4877brc.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr4877crc.jpg

In answer to your question, DGLE is the abbreviation for Dark Green Locomotive Enamel which was the official terminology for what is often referred to as Pennsy's Brunswick green paint. The 4877 never wore the red livery during actual Pennsy days so the decision was made to restore the locomotive to an historically accurate appearance. 

Here's a link to the news blog of the Volunteer Railroaders Association with an update regarding the 4877's restoration:

http://vratrips.org/blog/2012/...oration-yard-update/ 

Regards,

Bob

That you, Bob, for the great information and really nice photos. I do like it in the DGLE scheme, as seen in the Volunteer Association link.

I can't wait to get my two DGLE motors and one Tuscan motor back running. (Currently Out Of Service while basement redone.)

B&OBill

"I don't know what a DGLE scheme is, so if anyone has a photo, please post."

Dark Green Locomotive Enamel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P..._colors_and_painting