Adriatic posted:CNJ 3676 posted:sleepmac posted:2 comments about the above video:
1) To me, that diesel horn sounded like a steam whistle.
Dan Weinhold
That's a Hancock air whistle.
Bob
I keep wanting to hear it again. It sounds almost like a tired post war whistle when turning low RPM, and the lower pitch is a little more prominent.
Question for the electrical engineers among us - Just curious, but if a few traction motors were restorable and a 400V / 25Hz power source was built, is limited GG-1 operation possible?
I believe there is still some 25 Hz generating equipment here and there in North America.
Rusty, I can't seem to enlarge that picture enough to see it. Not in any way; not on the site, by browser, or by saving and using another program (breaks up too much on zooming). I'm curious how only some pics get like that too. Do you load from a phone, or something? I appreciate the effort, it's just very frustrating when pictures can't be seen well.
Adriatic posted:Rusty, I can't seem to enlarge that picture enough to see it. Not in any way; not on the site, by browser, or by saving and using another program (breaks up too much on zooming). I'm curious how only some pics get like that too. Do you load from a phone, or something? I appreciate the effort, it's just very frustrating when pictures can't be seen well.
I use a good ol' desktop computer running Windows 7 Professional.
The GG1 cutaway was downloaded from a Google search. The original image is 1200 x 564 pixels as uploaded by who knows. Clicking on the embedded image will enlarge it to the full 1200 x 564.
Rusty
Thanks Rusty, nearly the same here. I do get a slightly enlarged image when I click on it, but my monitor is small, it's still not big enough to see. Some things I can zoom on fine when posted here, others I can't. I've been curious about the "why" for a long time. It was so common for a while I nearly stopped looking close at anything.
I figure maybe it has something to do with Adobe based images. I've had problems when using things associated with them for the last three machines.
Firewood- That even one even had the worn PW whistle's "chatter" going 
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Talking about limited room within the interior space of the GG1, the cab was by far the most cramped of any I've been in. I was friendly with a number of engine service employees and was aboard GG1s many times. A visitor was limited to standing in one of the doorways behind the Engineer or Fireman. There was a bulkhead which bisected the cab roof from front to back. Regardless of how careful I was over the years, I still managed to give myself more than one headache by conking the old coconut on it!
Bob
Didn't this same group have a pair of NYC electrics as well. An SW1 motor (the original #6000) and a T motor. I had heard those might be going to the Danbury Museum. 
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CNJ 3676 posted:These are the former Amtrak 4932 and 4934. According to the website of the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society, the 4932 was acquired by the LRHS from Steamtown. The LRHS subsequently sold it to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. The locomotive has been awaiting transportation from Cooperstown Junction for a number of years due to anticipated challenges associated with its movement.
The 4934 is privately owned and leased from Leatherstocking Railway Resources Corporation. As seen in the pictures above, it is stored along with the 4932 at Cooperstown Junction.
Here are they are looking a lot better back in the day with Amtrak:
Bob
Your lower shot looks like it was taken in Orangeville (Baltimore). Was it?
There was a post on restoring a GG1 to service. An engineer posted the requirements it would take to restore one and it was very cost prohibative. All the traction motors would have to be replaced. even if you tried to drop in modern gear it wouldn't be cheap.
Looking at the video the switcher is defiantly slipping trying to pull the beast.
I met with the owners of the units several years ago, 2008. If you recall the Ford museum had purchased the one. had the asbestos and PCB's abated, causing the local outrage on doing an abatement out in the open. You can see the offended neighbor across the street. The loco was ready to move, the brakes had passed the COTS test and were ready to go to Dearborn.
THEN FORD found out how much it was going to cost to move it. 250K? They about died and then the economy tanked, and I think they gave up.
I went all through the one. They pulled all the goodies out so no one would steal them. The C&C had hoped to throw up some cat and run them up and down the line. Then they probably found out how much that would cost. Amtrak gave the units away to museums, delivered, back in the day. That is how they got them.
I took these from the top of 4932 with the owner. I thought 4934 was miss painted and actually 4932. I was on a speeder trip at the C&C.
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I read somewhere that the electrical gear from one of the AEM-7's would be excellent to transplant into a G to get one to operate again. And Amtrak is retiring those now. I think most of the G's were showing fatigue in the frames from all the miles they had ran at the time of thier retirement. That being said, it would be really neat to see one move either under the wire or with a couple small onboard diesel gensets powering a couple of the traction motors, maybe enough to pull a couple coaches. Mike
rheil posted:CNJ 3676 posted:These are the former Amtrak 4932 and 4934. According to the website of the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society, the 4932 was acquired by the LRHS from Steamtown. The LRHS subsequently sold it to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. The locomotive has been awaiting transportation from Cooperstown Junction for a number of years due to anticipated challenges associated with its movement.
The 4934 is privately owned and leased from Leatherstocking Railway Resources Corporation. As seen in the pictures above, it is stored along with the 4932 at Cooperstown Junction.
Here are they are looking a lot better back in the day with Amtrak:
Bob
Your lower shot looks like it was taken in Orangeville (Baltimore). Was it?
Yes, Sir. That was indeed taken at Orangeville by Mr. Bill Kalkman. Although not of GG1, from the Conrail Historical Society website, here's a view facing the opposite way:
You can see the shadow cast by the bridge in the foreground of the picture.
Bob
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Bob, Thanks for your reply and the shot of the Conrail diesels. The coaling tower is still standing in that photo. The closer tracks led to the sanding facility and roundhouse as you probably know.
My grandfather and I used to go to Orangeville a few Sundays per month to see the activity, and took some color movies there in the late 1940's- early '50's. One of them shows a set of Centipedes coming in to the engine servicing area. DGLE 5 stripe and actually very clean.
Another shot taken from the same point as the ones you posted shows the coaling tower and ready tracks filled with active steam power.The last steam passenger train I saw at Orangeville was in about 1954-55 headed south - a K4 with a bunch of P70 coaches. Most likely was headed to the non electrified branch to Bowie race track.
Rusty Traque posted:Clarence Siman posted:If I may take a moment and show my lack of knowledge. It has been asked and answered why a GG1 couldn't be restored to original condition and operated. Is it even feasible to retro fit one with diesel engines and operate it that way?. Just wondering,
Then it wouldn't be a GG1.
It could be possible some group could fit contemporary electrical gear into a GG1, but for all its size the GG1 is pretty cramped on the inside.
And it would take considerable financing.
Rusty
That is a drawing done by a Trains Magazine author. He also just released a cut away big boy. Does anyone know the status of these two G’s in 2019? I apologize for bringing up a thread from 3 years ago, but I thought it contained some great pictures of comparison between 2016 and 2019 with the locos.
They are still in the same place, rusting away. I would have to say that the chances of saving either of them is zero. They are in a place far from everything. I never understood why they needed two, or even one for that matter. They could not run so all you could do is a cosmetic restoration. The group never got anywhere with restoration; so they sit.
The cost of ownership is different from the cost (almost none, or none, in this case) of purchase. This is just a sad situation.
Corporate politics ultimately enabled the 4014 to come to fruition. I doubt senior UP management would have wanted their FEF or Challenger to constantly be eclipsed by a Big Boy owned and operated by a private investor. In addition to the hurdles that had to be overcome by the $5-7M 4014 restoration, consider these additional constraints for any investor or company wanting to restore/operate a GG-1:
1. The G’s original owner is decades out of business hence there is no political or advertising clout to incentivize a restoration. Even CR is decades gone and AMT has better things to do with what little money it has at its disposal.
2. With the exception of rail fans, the visual impact of ANY operating electric locomotive is quite boring when compared to steam.
3. I believe there are at least 3 different voltages used in the NE by MN, AMT, NJT, SEPTA and MARC. Assuming the restoration was to include the capability of adapting to various voltages, I’m not sure the required electrical control equipment could be installed not to mention cost. I also agree with a previous poster that ALL traction motors (12 of them, not 6 as is often mistaken) would have to be replaced.
4. G’s can only go where there is catenary. The electrified lines in the northeast are very busy, it would be quite a challenge to schedule an excursion especially considering the hostile environment with which excursion operators must often deal with. The revenue generated by ticket sales would probably be insufficient to cover the many costs.
According to the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society website, 4909 was sold to The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI and is awaiting shipment from Cooperstown Junction, NY. LRHS originally acquired it from Steamtown.
This sale was originally announced 11 years ago, and yet the motor still sits, rusting away, at Cooperstown Jct., NY.
Nick Chillianis posted:According to the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society website, 4909 was sold to The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI and is awaiting shipment from Cooperstown Junction, NY. LRHS originally acquired it from Steamtown.
This sale was originally announced 11 years ago, and yet the motor still sits, rusting away, at Cooperstown Jct., NY.
The reason it’s still there was covered above here and here.
Pennsy had 139 GG1's and 16 have been saved, that's a pretty good survival rate considering how many classes of top-performing locomotives were scrapped without a single one left in a museum or park. The Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha 4-4-2's and 4-6-4's for example. However I doubt that either of those GG1's at Cooperstown Junction will ever turn a wheel again, or be cosmetically restored. The owners may have good intentions but restoration is an expensive process.
