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With the GG1 being an endearing favorite for train enthusiasts, here's an informal survey. Among you OGR forumites who own GG1 locomotives, irregardless of their scale or manufacturer, being part of a set or just the engined, what roadname(s) and style(s) are the GG1s you own? (Example - PRR tuscan single stripe, PRR green 5 stripe, Conrail, Bicentennial, NJTransit, PRR silver, etc.) Wondering which GG1s are favored o the point of owning them by both collectors and operators. Record what you have in your collection. 

Last edited by ogaugeguy
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OK here goes

 

Green 5 stripe--6

Red 5 stripe-----3

Green single stripe-2

Silver red stripe----1

 

 

Interestingly I am not sure a NJ Transit unit was manufactured on O gauge.

 

In the prototype, most GG1s wore the Green 5 stripes for the longest period 20 years or more. The Green single stripe lasted from 1955 through 1970 or so into the PC era, about 15 years. Amtrak colors from 1971 through early 1980's about 10 years or so.The red units were about 10 or so and the silver PRR only 3.

 

Color photography became popular in the postwar period and affordable in the 1950s so the most photographed in color are likely the PRR single stripers and the PC and Amtrak in black.

 

I believe there are about 25 or so GG1s surviving today and none operational

my Penn Central Lionel is my favorite, bought it sealed in the box, its pilot trucks like to come off the track so it doesnt get ran much, same problem with my williams silver 4866.. i picked up a Kline GG1, runs smooth, doesnt derail. no sounds though.

 

I’ve always had a fascination for PC, growing up my grandmother would take me to watch the trains on the platform at Lancaster train station, back before they made you buy a ticket before going down, there were these two grey ex NYC penn central marked baggage car's sitting on the siding closest to the station, just something about them. Penn Central had some of my favorite equipment, the best from NYC, New Haven, and PRR. just the multitude of equipment.  

 

You cant forget about New Jersey transit, they had the last operating GG1, Big Red. someone had a NJT gg1 for sale on the fourm not to long ago. think it was kline

Originally Posted by rrbill:

Interesting post, LIRR-, I have wondered if any GG1's survived, and if any survivors were operational. Where are they stored, and are any of them museum-bound?

Bill

NO preserved GG1 is operational.  The transformers were removed and the carbodies had to be flushed to remove any trace of PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyl, not printed circuit boards...)

 

By the way, my favorite is Brunswick green single stripe.

 

Rusty

i thought i had read somewhere that one of the G's sit had its transformer's... if there was a possiblitly of one running again it would be that one... it would still never happen, though would cost way too much money...

 

but you never know... people dump millions into restoring old planes, look at that P-61 out at reading, its over 80% new parts.

Originally Posted by Joe Hohmann:

I rode behind many a dull, dirty Penn Central GG1, and why anyone would want to own a model of that one is beyond me.

 

There are plenty of good reasons the Penn Central still has a following. Many of us have fond memories of the railroad. Some of us had relatives that worked there. Many others enjoy and appreciate the wide and colorful array of motive power and equipment that was inherited by the merger. And some simply take a liking to the utilitarian engine paint schemes. I am a fan of the Penn Central for all the reasons above.

 

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Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence:

       

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i thought i had read somewhere that one of the G's sit had its transformer's... if there was a possiblitly of one running again it would be that one... it would still never happen, though would cost way too much money...

 

but you never know... people dump millions into restoring old planes, look at that P-61 out at reading, its over 80% new parts.




It comes up every so often on a railfan forum I participate in, to much groaning and consternation.   The ultimate truth is Yes, you could put enough modern electronics inside a gutted GG1 carbody to make it run off of a catenary (or a generator car for that matter) but the ONLY reason the Gs we're retired in the first place was because they all had stress fractures appearing in the frames.  Which, Yeah, you could probably machine a new frame, but if you have all new electronics and a new frame, have you restored a GG1 or killed one and put it's skin on some Frankenstein's monster you built?
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