Scale GG1 Comparison - GG1s live on!

Good afternoon!  I asked the moderators of the forum to reopen this thread in light of all the new Vision Line GG1s being posted now that they are on the street.  I'd love to see all your photos, videos, comments and comparisons.

Thank you!

Bravo!  I had mentioned earlier about reviving this topic.  Anyone wanting a comprehensive history behind the different O scale GG1's, this is it! 

Bruce

Bringing this topic back because I got quite a surprise in the latest issue of "The Warbonnet".  There is an excellent article about the Chicago Rail Fairs of 1948 and 1949.

I've taken an interest in ATSF in the last several years, but sill love my PRR.  Imagine my surprise when on Page 25 I see this photo!  Surely pure beauty all around!

I would encourage anyone who is a fan of a specific railroad to join the respective historical society.  The wealth of information available is out of this world and has enhanced my enjoyment of the hobby greatly.

Gentlemen,

   A while back Rocky Mountaineer (David) sold me a fantastic Lionel Scale TMCC/O JLC Brunswick Green, GG1.  Great big beautiful Engine, that pulls extremely well.  Now the only problem with these Scale GG1's is that they take a min 072 layout and I have just started to be able to run mine on the new over head FasTrack layout in my new Train Room.  These big Scale GG1's take up a lot of space, a nice size layout is required to run them correctly!  The big engine covers our entire 29X18 room very quickly.

PCRR/Dave

Dave, I picked up the 5 stripe version this last year as well but haven't run it yet. I had the Tuscan version on our old layout and you're correct  it DOES eat up a lot of track!

Here's my Tuscan motor double headed with a BLACK Williams dummy.

Thanks Jonathan for reviving this thread - always one of my favorites.

That's a terrific photo with the Santa Fe F unit...

Jonathan,

Since this thread has been reopened,would it not be appropriate for you to post that pic of all of those GG1s that you published years ago?

Norm

C.Sam,

   Great looking GG1's!   Love them all.

Correction made to prior post, it should read Brunswick Green, not Tuscan Green, guess my mind was wishing for the Tuscan GG1 also!

PCRR/Dave

GG1 4877 posted:

Bringing this topic back because I got quite a surprise in the latest issue of "The Warbonnet".  There is an excellent article about the Chicago Rail Fairs of 1948 and 1949.

 

 

I read that article with great interest also. I attended the Railroad Fair in one of those years when I was about 9 yo. The thing I remember most was  in an auditorium where an ear of corn was popped in a huge radar oven affair.

Norm posted:

Jonathan,

Since this thread has been reopened,would it not be appropriate for you to post that pic of all of those GG1s that you published years ago?

Norm

I have several photos now.  Unfortunately my yard is two layouts ago so I can't quite recreate the same scenes anymore.  There is obviously some duplication in some of the photos.

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

Correction made to prior post, it should read Brunswick Green, not Tuscan Green, guess my mind was wishing for the Tuscan GG1 also!

 

Just Christmas GG1s PRR Style.

Here are some photos of my GG1 AA combination I ran at last year's Kids Fest Fairfax on the National Capital Trackers' layout.  The photos are a little blurred because the train was going pretty fast pulling a 12 car consist of Williams heavywieghts.  After all, this was Kids Fest and kids of all ages love fast toy trains.

The scale GG1s are conventional WbB.  I was glad they ran well together with no reverse unit sync problems.  These are my train show engines so I will not upgrade them with command control.  I do plan to connect the two together so the reverse units will always stay in sync.

Here is a video.

Love those G's.....just sent my former basket case 2332 to Len Carparelli for a paint job...black/5 stripe....this makes a total of 7 G's.........

Besides the two WbB GG1s above, I also have an MTH GG1.  I was not going to buy any electrics for my home layout since I was modeling mostly the Pennsy west of DC, but I could not pass up this new in the box engine for over 60% off retail.  Great looking and operating engine.

GG1 4877 posted:

Norm posted:

Jonathan,

Since this thread has been reopened,would it not be appropriate for you to post that pic of all of those GG1s that you published years ago?

Norm

I have several photos now.  Unfortunately my yard is two layouts ago so I can't quite recreate the same scenes anymore.  There is obviously some duplication in some of the photos.

Geez, Jon...  That is a lot of Gs in those pictures.  While I am somewhat distraught at the lack of AEM7s or catenary, the plethora of pantographs rather warms my heart.  I also note some E33s in the mix, and I believe a Williams E60 waaay in the back.  Some of that stuff would look awfully nice under the catenary over here...    I am just not sure if the scale Gs pantograph travel would stay under the wires.  On a layout with an O63 ruling curve I suspect that is doubtful.

It's been a while, so I thought I would update this thread with some a newer GG1 photo.  Ive posted this to other threads, but not here.  This is the Weaver PC brass GG1.  Since I've last posted, I've acquired two new scale O GG1s to bring my total to 17.  One of these day's I'll get my Vision line 4877 out to finally photograph.  Enjoy!

@Pantenary posted:

Geez, Jon...  That is a lot of Gs in those pictures.  While I am somewhat distraught at the lack of AEM7s or catenary, the plethora of pantographs rather warms my heart.  I also note some E33s in the mix, and I believe a Williams E60 waaay in the back.  Some of that stuff would look awfully nice under the catenary over here...    I am just not sure if the scale Gs pantograph travel would stay under the wires.  On a layout with an O63 ruling curve I suspect that is doubtful.

Nate,

I have had the Amtrak AEM7 for some time.  I also now have the Septa and MARC versions as well as the NJT ALP44 variant. 

For you newer guys who haven't seen this thread before, you will learn a lot about these amazing machines from the material here. Take the time, go back to the beginning and enjoy...

Thanks to Bob Heil for the addition of another GG1 to the fleet!  This was the first project I consulted with Sunset models on, but never actually acquired the streamlined version of this locomotive from Sunset.  The prototype 4859 is proudly displayed in Harrisburg, PA for all to enjoy.  One day, this one will see service on my 1:48 NY&LB if I ever get to building the layout!

I hope Sunset does another run of GG1s in the Futura scheme this time.

@chris lepore posted:

I hope Sunset does another run of GG1s in the Futura scheme this time.

I would be interested in the Futura scheme even if it is outside of the era I model.  My 4800 is in the wide stripe Futura scheme.  The biggest improvement I could see for a future run however are al drive axles powered using larger motors.  One of the challenges with the first run is that they are a bit underpowered.  Personally, I don't see that as an issue as I don't plan on pulling more than 5-6 P70s on a fairly level grade.

I'm not sure Scott would be interested in a second run of these or not.  There really isn't tooling as the original model is all brass.  Interesting thought.

Wow... I can't believe that this Thread is Living again.  Wonderful.

JohnnyJT

South Philly

@johnnyjt posted:

Wow... I can't believe that this Thread is Living again.  Wonderful.

JohnnyJT

South Philly

Finally picked up a Bachmann N scale GG1 Brunswick Green SS with sound on sale at TrainWorld.  Looks nice but Sound is not as good as BLI but when their GG1 finally comes in I'll get one with all the Great sounds.  I also picked up  BLI N scale P5 Box Cab awesome.

JohnnyJT

South Philly

I was looking at that sale as well.  The price was certainly right on those Bachmann Gs.  Do you have pictures to share?

I have no real interest in "bells and whistles" (Hmmm, the G did not have a whistle, it had an air horn of which I have one) but in good running. I have one Weaver Gold Edition, an MTH in silver for the Congo Service (both center three-rail), and a few old "door-stop" cast bronze (probably E. P. Alexander) versions (outside third-rail and two-rail); but unfortunately I do not have any photos of them that I can post.

I also like the Baldwin Model Locomotive Works New Haven EP-3 (the father of the GG1), I have several of these also:

That wire around the body was to keep the unattached roof from coming loose during shipment. As I took the photo right after unpacking, the wire (unnoticed at the time) was still there.

@GG1 4877 posted:

I was looking at that sale as well.  The price was certainly right on those Bachmann Gs.  Do you have pictures to share?

Hi Jonathan

It's been a few years to say the least but I'm glad the your Old Link is back.

JohnnyJT

South Philly

I have been looking for one of these at a reasonable price for some time and was lucky enough to finally find it.  Now I just need to track down the Weaver Conrail model and I will have all eight paint schemes Weaver offered.  Granted it is not totally accurate as all the Amtrak Silver Gs had the modified air intakes, but still an attractive paint scheme on this locomotive.

The latest addition to my GG1 collection.  This is final model I was missing from Weaver's offerings of brass GG1s in the 1990s, Conrail 4800.  It is far from accurate.  The nose emblem is incorrect, the fuel and water filling location stencils shouldn't be there, it should be covered with over 9000 exposed rivets and it's not.  However, it does complete a collection and I am happy to have found one in very nice condition to add to my GG1 collection.  Weaver only made 52 in 3-rail. 

A brief summary of Weaver GG1 offerings in numerical order:

• 4800:  Conrail blue
• 4816:  PRR DGLE 5 stripe with Clarendon lettering
• 4866:  PRR Silver single stripe
• 4876:  PRR Tuscan 5 stripe
• 4901:  Penn Central black
• 4904:  PRR DGLE single stripe
• 4911:  PRR Tuscan single stripe - note that this in note prototypical.  4916 and 4907 were the only GG1s to wear single stripe Tuscan
• 926:  Amtrak red-silver-blue

The initial Weaver offerings of 1992 were 4816 and 4876 and do not come with flywheels.  I have been trying to track down the release date for the other models but haven't been successful.  I believe it was 1996. These had flywheels and a plug in for a QSI sound module.  Much more reliable in many ways over the MTH Protosounds system since the sound module wasn't integral to running of the unit.  None of my mine have sound, but I'd like to see if the QSI sound modules are even out there. 

MTH acquired the tooling for the chassis and other parts in 1997. 

Congratulations Jonathan! That is great news. I know you’ve been looking to complete the collection for some time now. How did you find the missing piece?

I can’t help but ask – could this finally turning up for sale be in any way coincidental with the completely unrelated Lionel 2024 Volume 2 catalog release?

@Norman R posted:

Congratulations Jonathan! That is great news. I know you’ve been looking to complete the collection for some time now. How did you find the missing piece?

I can’t help but ask – could this finally turning up for sale be in any way coincidental with the completely unrelated Lionel 2024 Volume 2 catalog release?

Thanks Norman!  I think it is coincidence.  These turn up on eBay from time to time but rarely at a reasonable price.  This particular seller has another Weaver in a different paint scheme listed currently, but I have that one already.

Looks brand new Jonathan, nice catch.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Looks brand new Jonathan, nice catch.

Thanks John.  Funny you should mention it.  I had the same thought.  It still has the original foam inserts including the black foam that stabilizes movement between the drive wheels and the pony trucks.  I've never seen that on a Weaver before. 

@GG1 4877 posted:

Thanks John.  Funny you should mention it.  I had the same thought.  It still has the original foam inserts including the black foam that stabilizes movement between the drive wheels and the pony trucks.  I've never seen that on a Weaver before.

I've gotten stuff for upgrades that have never been unpacked.  I just wrapped up command upgrades of two 3rd Rail steam locomotives that were never taken out of the box, the original tissue paper and masking tape securing them to the boards was factory fresh.  Always nice to unpack a virgin.