Scratch-built (or kit-built?) O Scale Pennsy GG1

That is a Lobaugh Challenger tender truck.  They are quite common.

The rest is probably best identified by your 3-rail buddies.  There were maybe four different O Scale kits offered from maybe 1937 through about five years ago, but all were more to scale than that, with non-ferrous cast bodies.

Hello John ....nice piece ..

Bob ...I think this could be a Alexander casting ? ...

John ....Alexander introduced a one piece GG1 body of bronze in 1937 ...measuring 19 1/4" long ...  post war the GG1 was marketed by Walthers ,made by Baldwin ...now made in Aluminium....  later Wolfer ? and later still House of Dudley ...  some changes to the body casting were made along the way ..... 

Someone could have bought the body casting and added the lionel drive when building  and chossing the Lobaugh  pilots ....  mix and match ..as building ....  

thanks for posting .

Cheers Carey 

Just sticks in my mind that the Alexander castings were aluminum......and Bill Wolfer's stuff was a little more accurate looking.

Simon

Thanks everyone for the replies on this, I shall see if I can hunt up the needed Lobaugh tender truck. Interesting about the Alexander Models, the TCA website has a photo of one of their GG1's, but the shell appears to be a bit different than what I have. However, I am certainly enjoying learning about these early "classic" models, really appreciate the posts in reply.

Let me check my pile.  Some folks think that unique truck is valuable.

Carey - he said a magnet stuck to the side.  You guys are now about to be subjected to some doorstop GG1s.

Hah!  You outbid me John!  I'm glad you got it!  I actually fell asleep at the switch and forgot about it.  I thought the hand striping was way cool too.  I was going to bet Carey picked me off, he either wasn't interested or missed it too.  Those are of course 224E/225E/226E motors.  I couldn't tell by the auction pictures if the shell was one piece or not. It seemed like there was a vertical seam between the cab section and the two end sections.  It had me curious as to if it was a real home build or possibly an Alexander (or other) casting).  Did they machine down the flanges on the motor wheels?

PS, may not be Alexander, check the grills and probably other details.

The chassis look home-made to me; specifically designed to fit those Lionel drives.

Bob, go ahead and start the doorstop GG1 post. I have a couple to post. 😂

OK - Here we go.   I have Walthers, Alexander, Jack Collier, and unknown castings, all typically on Alexander or Wolfer trucks.  Don't ask me which is which in the photos - some of the castings had the whiskers inset, and auto body putty was the cure for that.  All are baked on Scale Coat, Champ decals, and Future Floor Wax, which is now made of unobtanium.

That one is "unknown" - bronze body from Dan Henon in exchange for an Egolf Pullman.  This one is one of the "whiskers" castings - I think it is my favorite body style.  Trucks are Wolfer.

Two more - later.  One will be the stunning Sunset - probably the best ever, in terms of price vs. quality.

Here are two GG1's from a vintage collection I became aware about about 11 years ago. These were just 2 of many vintage pieces, most dating from the 30's thru the 50's. Not sure where they ended up going, but not home with me. The green one I believe is a Baldwin. But it has spring belts instead of chain like one I did used to own. The red one, more basic, but has chain drive. Those things were heavy. Wow.  Both have that embossed Keystone so they may be both Baldwin body's, just two different chassis. 

Oh, yeah - I found a box labeled "Centipede Tender Front Truck - way too many."  delighted to send you a set of two sideframes for postage.  You will need to find wheels.

You can find them on eBay for $35/set of four, with wheels, so this is one of those good deals - I need your mailing address.

bob2 posted:

Oh, yeah - I found a box labeled "Centipede Tender Front Truck - way too many."  delighted to send you a set of two sideframes for postage.  You will need to find wheels.

You can find them on eBay for $35/set of four, with wheels, so this is one of those good deals - I need your mailing address.

Bob- awesome, thank you. You can email me at jsmatlak@earthlink.net and I'll send you the address and pay for the postage.

Here, first, is the Alexander/Duddy that Dennis Mashburn gave me.  It is a beauty as-is, and while I have filled in the holes, I have not yet painted it.  Next is the Sunset welded version.  If you are really a GG1 nut, and demand accuracy, these are for you.  All metal, like God intended!

And finally, you should understand that I am mostly SP, with a penchant for back up malleys, so do not think I am your normal SPF:

The top two are of course bronze GG1s.  The E-7 is Adams with cast sides - the very best Adams E-7, and the end of the line, and finally the Penn-Erie aluminum cast Shark.

While not O scale, here is a custom built HO GG1 I found at York for a reasonable price.  It would require 1:1 curves to fully operate even if it has motors.  Not a lot of flexibility in the frame.

Of interest, to me anyways, is the wrong placement of the air intakes.  What a huge undertaking only to make such a glaring mistake.  None the less, I like it just fine. Hey, it's a GG1.  What's not to like?

Bruce

Thank you for posting all the great photos of the early GG1's ..feels like the morning commute in South Amboy in the 70's.

The Alexander 1937 catalog states bronze one piece construction . The first cast ones have the nose angle all wrong .. Later corrected ...prior to the the cast model there was a sheet brass built up model.  Jack Bramble also built one up.of sheet brass ....but in 17/64ths!!!!!  ( same vintage)...

Cheers Carey

From Alexander's 1941 book

John - you get my e-mail?  Ready to ship, with bolster and screws.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Bob has been helping me with the replacement truck. I will post some progress pictures as things continue. Thanks again for all the interesting info!

A progress update on the refurbishment- first off a big thanks to Bob for setting me up with the missing pilot truck, I still need to create the proper swiveling connection to the body, but having all the trucks obviously makes a huge difference. I've also done a lot of paint touch ups- somewhere along the line someone had taken flat black and repainted the roof and dabbed it on a few places on the sides, all of the flat black has now been repainted gloss to match the original paint. Work is in progress on touching up all the scratches and chips as well, it already looks much better. Next comes replacing some missing clear "glass" in a few of the windows, and re-gluing one of the body side sheets that has started to come loose along two of its seams. Some pics appear below, posed alongside a Lionel GG1. More to follow!