GG1

I see the September photograph in my CEDco all-Pennsy color calendar (CEDco went bankrupt — I got it from Ebay) is red, cat-whiskered GG1 #4977 at South Amboy, north Jersey, the last place the mighty Gs ran.
My train Christmas card is a G on the Northeast Corridor.
Both continue the common misconception Raymond Loewy styled the GG1.
Yes and no. The basic steeple-cab layout of the G is Pennsy, as exemplified by “old Rivets,” #4800, the first G, originally 4899, an experimental that competed with 4-8-4 electric R1 #4800, much like a P5 (the G tracked much better — tests were held at Claymont, Delaware).
All the Gs would have looked like “Old Rivets” had not Loewy convinced Pennsy to use an all-welded steel shell instead of riveted panels.
“While he did not design the shape of the railroad's famous GG1 electric locomotives, he improved their looks by recommending welded and smoothed, rather than riveted construction....” (Raymond Loewy)
Loewy also made a tiny styling filigree that looks fabulous: namely rounding the top of the narrow front man-door so it follows the curve of the single headlight (the Cyclops eye).
“Old Rivets” had a rectangular man-door. It doesn’t follow the curve of the headlight.
These minor inputs by Loewy make the mighty G the most beautiful railroad locomotive of all time.
Loewy went on to become a major force in Pennsy styling, bringing ultra-conservative Pennsy out of its stolid past.
He did the streamlining for K4 #3768 to haul the newly redesigned (also by Loewy) 1938 Broadway Limited. His streamlined K4 looked turgid (as did his experimental S1, a steam-turbine), but his DD2 (a 4-4-4-4 GG1; only one was built, #5800) looked great, as did his first Ts.
Only one or two Ts were built to the Loewy design; the rest had Loewy styling cues, but were redesigned by Pennsy to be more work-friendly (not much of Loewy was left).
The Ts were not very successful: Pennsy’s attempt to build a modern 4-8-4 steamer — except the Whyte system had them as 4-4-4-4, since the eight drivers were divided into two pairs of four, each pair powered (four cylinders instead of two).
Unlike most engines having one or more sets of drivers powered by one boiler, the T wasn’t articulated; i.e. the front driver-set wasn’t hinged — free to bend more easily into turnouts (switches).
All eight drivers were on a single frame, so it had a longish wheelbase, and the rear set, not loaded as much as the front, liked to slip.
The Ts were notoriously slippery (also an 80-inch driver), and also made a lot of smoke. Their days were also numbered by the coming of diesels. Diesels bumped the Ts off their plumb passenger assignments.
Regrettably I never saw a T, or a J, or even a Dek. Too big and heavy for PRSL. But after we moved to Delaware I saw plenty of Gs.
Once Bruce Stewart and I rode the Congo from 30th St. to Wilmington. 18 cars, but boombita-zoombita in no time at all. Incredibly powerful, but gorgeous too.
Loewy went on to become the premier post-war industrial-designer — this despite his doughty streamlined K4 being a turkey compared to Henry Dreyfus’ streamlined NYC Hudson.
Loewy designed the most beautiful automobile of all time, the 1953 Studebaker Starliner Coupe.
He also styled the Avanti automobile — still being made, independently, with minor deviations from Loewy’s styling; e.g. rectangular headlamps (they’ve since changed back). The first Avantis were Studebakers.
His start with Pennsy, in 1937, was designing trashcans for New York City’s Penn Station (since torn down, although the station is still there, under the new Madison Square Garden).
The GG1 is a triumph; fiddled by Loewy, but not completely styled by him.
If all the Gs looked like “Old Rivets,” they’d still be remarkable, but Loewy made them great — the most beautiful railroad locomotive of all time.