Eddie:
Thanks for sharing your recollections with us. I enjoyed reading them.
In the early 80s, Pemco introduced its model of the GG1. As Pemco turned out to be a short lived endeavor, the tooling for the GG1 passed to IHC. IHC released a few variations of the G over the years. The best version to get is the "Premier" model which features dual can motors. The combination and two motors and substantial weight gives the locomotive impressive pulling power. I have a Premier model decorated for the Conrail/NJDOT 4876. These models were built by Mehano. I'll have to post pictures of my 4876 one of these days.
Bob
You're very welcome! Even though I was a kid in the rise of TYCO sets and AHM, through the store and my father's affinity for earlier makers, I grew up with quite an education with things from Scale Craft, John English, Mantua, Penn Line, Hobbyline on up to the 1980's with Pemco, TYCO, AHM, Bachmann.
We even had to weather the period when Rivarossi used some brittle plastic on their drivers. Imagine seeing a Cab Forward majestically rounding a curve, only to see the drive rods drop and the drivers just fall apart! I had the Pacific painted for the Daylight, and she just had her drivers disintegrate!
For the GG-1's, I was able to gather a collection of pretty much every GG-1 offered by AHM, which included the ones in the boxes made to resemble wood grain. They are simply gorgeous! My favorite has to be the blue American Railroads one for 1969.
IHC did a great job with what they put out, actually. Mehano produced some very nice trains for them. Their passenger cars upgraded with lighting and interiors are quite beautiful.
