Certainly the greatest electric locomotives.

Certainly the most elegant locomotive ever built?

Certainly the most beautiful !!!

What was it like running them? I feel that I was born in the wrong time period, the 50's thru the 80's are the most appealing times in history to me.

@@jonsmith584 Hi Jon. It was not glamorous. They were extremely loud. Dirty. Cab accommodations were rudimentary at best. But, boy, could they pull!. And pull fast. When snow knocked out metro liner service, they used GG1'S to pull and upped speed from 80 to 100. No problem, but interlocking at 100 scared me to death. The engines would pitch hard left and right and you could hear the frame bottom out. I was 19. Not experienced. But the vet drivers all thought it was normal. Unique monsters. Amazing. No one ever died in a GG1 wreck or so the rumor said. With a nose that long, its possible, but track view was horrible. Getting the picture? At the time I thought these were ugly as hell. Now I really appreciate their beauty and power.

I rode the NY/DC route as a boy in the late 40s and am still riding it today. I loved those locomotives. There was a GG1 painted in Pennsy livery still operating on Amtrak as late as 1980.

@@Alanpie314 However unlikely as it may be, there is the slightest of chances i was running your train. Stranger things have happened.

@@johnhauser4589 Maybe. I made at least 10 round trips, and as many as 15, while the GG1s were still running.

wow!...thanks!

@@RustBeltRailfan Sorry for the delayed reply. After January 1 1982, I operated all GG-1’s that NJTRO acquired, from South Amboy NJ to Sunny Side Yard Queens and Penn Station NYC and return. Yes I operated the 4877 and the GG-1 that was painted in the Brunswick Green. I don’t remember what number that one was. Thanks for the like

@@RustBeltRailfan It was the 4883. Thanks for reminding me. It’s been 40 years since I operated the GG-1.

@@RustBeltRailfan I also operated the AEM-7 on Metroliner Service on Amtrak when they were put in service until Conrail broke up into the CSX and Northfork Souhthern and some of the freight stayed Conrail. Then passenger service on Amtrak,NJTRO, SEPTA and some other passenger railroads. The AEM-7’s were excellent locomotives. They were powerful and very reliable. They had Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Electro Pneumatic Brakes, Head End Power and Dynamic Braking. These locomotives were an absolute pleasure to operate. You could hit station platforms at 50 to 60 mph, Put the Automatic Brake into electric holding. Which keeps the brakes applied while charging your air brake system. Then gently reduce the EP braking effort bringing your train to a smooth stop. PS, I also have an original, not a copy of the operating manual for the AEM-7.

Can’t beat 25 cycle power the transformer in the loco was very heavy but quiet

@J D Yes I have. I believe they were 50's 60's generation. They used AC overhead, tapped down the voltage, but then rectified (ignitron then later silicon diode) to DC for traction motor purposes (series wound motor). The GG-1 were AC overhead, tapped down to lower voltage AC and fed AC series wound traction motors at 16 cycles. I think the E-33 44 would only be freight and not found on the NEC? It's interesting how GG1's, an older technology, could out last newer tech such as E-33 44. Are you modelling AC units with the overhead catenary structures? You have my respect.

Yeah instant power is fun. Electric and steam same diff are instant torque, crucial to big boy's design 5 miles of train fully loaded. Absolutely incredible power. Gas and diesel cannot achieve this.

Now I'm gonna go look up "ozone" lol.

O3

How could they give off p.c.bs or was that hogwash?

And to think, it all started with a garbage can... As a joke, no less.

you haven't seen a New York Central Mohawk yet have you

Why because too top heavy or more rail contact with all the wheels?

Kitty Muffins I think something with the 3-axle freight trucks?

Yeah, I think a fighter pilot has more room than a G driver.

Raymond Muench haha, or anywhere in Jersey.

Anywhere that’s not Elizabeth station

Hi Jim, are you familiar with the erstwhile Great Northern's W1.? Those things were so huge and handsome. But i can't find any film of them working.? PS I cut all the traction gearing for the Brush 92's, if that's a claimed any fame.? Oh and the channel tunnel Bo-Bo-Bo's.

@@nigelmitchell351 I'm a newbie to US railroading really, I'm still learning daily (although I'm getting to know my Geeps and Alcos lol). I'll add the W1 to my "must research" list :-)

@@jimdieseldawg3435 Add the Milwaukee roads Little Joe's too. ! I'm not a huge contemporary fan but I do love the historic or fallen flag railroads and of course the monster steam locos.

True that that was big time railroading back then this stuff now cheese cloth gg1 badest engine to do it speed and power

Haha

One of those HEP cars is still in use on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Northeast Ohio, powering some of the ex-PRR "Congo" cars they own.

Excuse me, the nickname is centipedes?

@@rebooted.jupiter_ crapton of legs (wheels)

@@rebooted.jupiter_ Baldwin built those. Complex and a pain to keep running.

15:52 was probably a power balancing move. Or else a "rescue" of a failed unit.

The original films were silent. Sounds were dubbed in from various sources, not necessarily always GG1 sounds.

@@fmnut I was wondering that. You did an excellent job of adding audio knowing how involved this can be!

John Perry My parents use to take me to Honeywell street near Northern Blvd. Got to see GG1’s as well as LI S2’s humping cars.

This was digitized on consumer grade equipment. It has already been processed for color and stabilization. The cost of commercial copying at a higher quality is prohibitive. If you wish to shoulder the cost, I would be happy to provide the original film. Otherwise, what you see is the best I can do.

Don't see how the GG1 could have used 750 motors, they were DC. G's had AC motors.

Hideous? Really? Bridget Bardot was a skunk.....just sayin.

I was fortunate to operate the GG-1’s from 1974 through their retirement on NJT. The GG-1s used in freight were geared differently than the ones used in passenger service. I only had the privilege of running Double Header GG-1’s on freight TV-24 & TV-23 during Locomotive Engineers Training Program during on the job training. Let me tell you. Each of these trains had over 100 TTX cars that each held Two Trailers and the GG-1s had no problem getting up to speed. Which was 60 mph for TTX freight Cars. Don’t tell anyone but on a few occasions. When the train was late at Potomac Yard in Alexandria Va. or Meadows Yard in South Kearney NJ, when the Engineer told me to get the speed up to 80 mph until back on schedule. The TV Freight Trains were Scheduled Trains that we’re in the Timetable along with the Passenger Trains. I also operated these locomotives on the North East Corridor and on the Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Branch. From South Amboy NJ to Penn Station NYC,NY. Then with New Jersey Transit on the now North Jersey Coast Line until their retirement. Before the AEM-7 came out. Amtrak used GG-1s to pull their new Metroliner service. Pulling at least 5 cars and a updated Mail Car that provided electricity for the coaches. The speed indicator only went up to 100 mph on the GG-1. Believe me when I tell you. We were running these locomotives at 120 mph on the many straight stretches of rail between Penn Station NYC,NY and Union Station,Washington DC. We had to use our watches second hand the Amp gauges and on average every 20 Catenary Poles was a mile to calculate our speed. These Locomotives ran real smooth at 120 mph on their 12 drivers and 8 truck wheels. I only had the Privilege of operating the GG-1 number 4800 once on a freight train from Meadows South Kearney NJ to Harrisburg PA. The 4800 was the Prototype and it was the only one that the Shell was riveted together. There were some slight differences between this locomotive and the other 138 made. The only things I can remember is the Throttle and the Shell were slightly different. The 4800 and a few others have been saved from the scrap yard and are either in Museums or privately owned. Sorry for rambling, but I’m now retired and there aren’t many Engineers left that are alive that operated these locomotives. As I Fireman I worked with Engineers that hired on in 1929 and were there in 1934 when these locomotives started coming off the assembly line in Altoona Pa. Shops and operated them up till retirement. The GG-1 was way ahead of its time and as far as I’m concerned. It was the most reliable locomotive I’ve ever had the privilege to operate. Of all the times I either fired or was the Locomotive Engineer on them. Not one time did any break down and had to be towed.

@@mdlanor5414 mate anecdotes like that make the history real and personal. For a train fan and history teacher 12000 km away in Australia, that counts. Not rambling, humanising.

Only because it was repowered with an EMD diesel.

@@fmnut Ah didn't know they repowered any of them. There were so few built I assume most were just scrapped. Are there any still in existence? I've seen somewhat recent footage of one on a tourist line and Indiana & Ohio had one but from what I hear it broke down on its first run.

@@thenekom the only operating example I'm aware of is on the Whitewater Valley RR in Indiana. Illinois Railway Museum also has one.

Yeah 8062 and 8063 got EMD V12-567's in the early 60s I believe. Still feels strange seeing them in Philadelphia since the Lima's road switchers were exclusive to the NYC, but at least these two finished their careers around coaches, the same as they started

Imho, yes. Others may differ.

There was only 1 G painted blue, the 4800. It only got the CR scheme as a repaint over the rather hideous bicentennial scheme it got in 1976.

The small electric switcher was a B-1 nicknamed the "Rat".

That's the 4877, now repainted Brunswick green.

Albert Cyphers I used google earth, and I am correct it’s sitting on a siding at the rr historical society.

Not likely for various technical and financial reasons.