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Actually, I see an SP unit every few days still in SP paint on the Mesa local. Keep meaning to get off the freeway and photograph it. Hmmm ... I have a meeting out that way next Tuesday. Subject for another thread.

On subject, no new photos to show, but the smooth side G's from 3rd Rail are looking pretty sweet too so far. They will be pretty rare in 3 rail. Perhaps Scott will share some photos when he is ready.
A bit of a sad day for me. One of the several GG1's in my collection, and a particularly collectible HO one gave it's own life to further the cause of one of its O gauge brothers.

A 1957 G on it's way to CA for color matching was destroyed by FedEx. Upon arrival, the chassis fell and the pantographs were torn apart even though the model was double boxed. This particular G was the very first one released by Penn Line and has very good color. While later Penn Line G's are a dime a dozen, this one was the original.

Funny how it has safely arrived half around the world safely, but it couldn't survive a small trip from AZ to CA. This is not a particularly valuable model, but collectible models not always based on value.

The good news is that I hoard spare parts and I still think I have an instruction sheet on how to rebuild it. Never made a claim to FedEx, but I will need to learn quick.

Today, however I mourn the loss of the little G that only wanted to help it's bigger brother out. Frown You died for a good cause and you will be missed.
Joe,

There is really no way to properly assess the color of Tuscan Red. It changed over the years and Dupont closely protects the formula to this day even though the actual paint has been discontinued since 2002 or 2003. Even the paint that they discontinued was 'reconstituted' from the original formula which was likely lead based so there is no guarantee on an exact match.

Having prefaced myself well Big Grin first, the 4912 would have pulled any passenger train in the electrified network. While they were specifically painted to pull the Congressional in 1952 and 1953, the PRR assigned available motors as needed to trains. Tuscan G's would be put on the Congos if available, but if not, whatever motor was ready would be used instead.

For that reason, you could almost not put a non-prototypical consist of passenger cars behind the G's. Think every railroad that went into Penn Station, NY and you could have a train with cars from them behind a G. Think about matching consists off the ACL, SCL and the Southern that ran into DC. New Haven came south from Boston. Through sleepers off the UP, CZ, Golden State, and others out of Chicago. Both heavyweights and lightweight streamliners in the PRR fleet. Lots of solid consists of P70 coaches with a heavyweight D78 diner, a lounge or both thrown in.

Contrary to what would seem logical, the Tuscan GG1's were not normally assigned to the Broadway Limited and the lone R1 electric that was built at the same time as the GG1 4800 for testing often did the honors on the BW until 1960.

GG1's did not pull freight much if at all during the brief period that the Tuscan 5 stripe scheme was on these units prior to the single stripe DLGE. The 90 P5a and P5a modifieds did most of the freight duties along with 10 experimental GE and Baldwin electrics. GG1's only started being used in freight service when the decline in passenger services freed up the older G's for freight service during the period when E44's came into play. They were not an ideal freight locomotive, but could handle the job. The units ultimately designated for freight can pretty well be traced through the end. 4800-4871 went to Conrail, 4872-4884 went to NJT and 4885-4938 ended up with Amtrak.

Now, to step back a bit - if you are looking for a great matching trainset behind the 4912 that would have been protoypically correct, the Congressional being pulled by the 4912 is in the original promotional information. Wink
quote:
Now, to step back a bit - if you are looking for a great matching trainset behind the 4912 that would have been protoypically correct, the Congressional being pulled by the 4912 is in the original promotional information.

Jonathan Peiffer



Thanks Jonathan, very much appreaciated..
I had been thinking of getting a set of heavyweights for the engine.
Joe
Dominic:

All four schemes will be shipping on that date and include:

Baldwin as delivered (Whiskers)
Wide five stripe of 1935
Standard PRR post 1943 Clarendon five stripe
Bicentennial

After the last round of painting corrections, these are drop dead gorgeous models. While I'm biased, they are the best looking 4800's ever built in model form and the closest to accurate you will find. Research indicated that this is ahead of anything done in HO and N including some pretty fine models by PSC in HO.

The Bicentennial is my favorite because of the unique nature of this model compared to any one done previously, but the wide five stripe is the most elegant. Wish I could afford them all though!
I am getting a 2-rail wide sripe "Rivets". After I saw the pictures of this Strasburg scheme, I e-mailed Scott Mann and switched from the latter 5-stripes to the earlier one. Max Gray imported a "Rivets" in the late 50s or early 60s. I have never seen one or knew anybody who had or seen this model. I have always liked the GG-1 since I grew up in NYC and went on many trains pulled by this engine (including the Congressional Limited). When I was in middle school, I purchased a Penn Line Tucsan-solid stipped GG-1 for $12.00 on Dec. 26, 1962. I thought I was on top of the world. I had this model all through high school. I don't remember what happened to it, but I wish I had another one.
I really like the wide spaced stripes too. It's what makes this version stand out and is very elegant. From a prototype standpoint, the individual stripes are actually thinner than the standard 5 stripe scheme we are all familiar with and I think it enhances the looks of "Rivets".

From an operations standpoint, if you are a stickler for dates, it does limit you to the pre-war period, but the model is just interesting enough that it did not bother me that it is prior to the dates I model. Those GGD P70's will look very nice behind it.
quote:

Originally posted by GG1 4877:
There is really no way to properly assess the color of Tuscan Red.


Jonathan,

May I suggest purchasing a set of the PRRT&HS Color Drift Cards which can be ordered at the PRRT&HS Interchange.

Secondly, from Jerry Britan's website, there is this page which gives an extremely close (if not bang on) coloring matching system by Bruce Smith and Greg Martin. Both are recognized PRRT&HS experts whom I have called "Walking Encyclopedias" for their knowledge on this and other PRR areas. To use the old, trite phrase, "If they can't do it, no one can!".

Bill
I also have a House of Duddy GG-1 with a Bill Wolfer drive. This has an aluminum body, but with nicely detailed brass frames and trucks. It has a chain drive. I painted this up with brunswick green (actually black) with a solid stripe as was in the late 50s and early 60s. It looks nice. I also have an old Lionel 2330-the first 2-motored one with magne-traction. This engine runs lke a Swiss watch and is 50 years old!
Mr. Bradley,
As I understand it Max Gray only imported around a half dozen of the riveted GG1's. I did see one. It belonged to a fellow by the name of Henry Van Auken (sp?) in Florida who had a huge collection of rare and custom built (Waller, Icken, etc.) locomotives. I was at his house and purchased several locomotives including Overland NH FL-9's and a Crisi NYC S motor from him about 8 or 9 years ago. He was a transplanted New Yorker. What a character !!
ChessieMan,
While you are waiting for Jonathan's opinion I will offer mine: I have owned Weaver, MTH, and Lionel tuscan GG1's and have a friend with the Williams version. I believe by far the Lionel is the closest to being the shade of a freshly painted locomotive. The only issue with it is that the striping is not correct on the ends.

I believe the new Sunset GG1 will be similar in color to the Lionel but with the correct striping on the ends.
That was a concession to make for this model to be truly scale. Williams, Weaver, and MTH get away with the 054 radius on some of their models due to the smaller than scale size (about 3/4") and added articulation in the frame that detracts from the prototype. Lionel's JLC version is true to scale and is 072 minimum as well.

Sorry you had to drop the reservation. It is going to be worth the 072 curves.

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