GG1 Correction

#4896. (This the only GG1 I ever went through, at Washington Union Terminal in 1966. This is also the only pik I got of 4896, although I saw it many times. (This is at Wilmington Shops about 1970.) —I have this pik as my monitor wallpaper for my ‘pyooter. (Photo by the so-called “old guy” with the Spotmatic.)

Constant readers of this here blog, assuming there are actually any at all, will know I consider the Pennsylvania Railroad’s mighty GG1 electric locomotive to be the greatest railroad locomotive of all time.
I choke up every time I write that, because I was lucky enough to have experienced hundreds, and it seemed like every time I did they were doing 90-100 mph.
The GG1 was incredibly powerful, ran a long time, and received styling input from industrial designer Raymond Loewy, which made it look fabulous.
Loewy made a few minor styling fillips to the GG1, and convinced the railroad to use a welded steel shell.
They were gonna use a shell of small steel panels riveted together, which looked awful by comparison.

Loewy with the first GG1, #4840, at Wilmington Shops along the Pennsy electrified main to Washington, in Wilmington, DE in 1935. (Photo from the Raymond Loewy collection.)

Loewy was an expatriate Frenchman, who became a major factor in American industrial design. A lot of designs are his: e.g. the U.S. Postal Service moniker, the Lucky Strikes cigarette moniker, many Studebaker cars, and the Coca-Cola moniker.
He designed trashcans for Pennsylvania Station in New York City, and went on to consult the railroad; designing the appearance of various Pennsy streamlined steam-locomotives.
Pennsy knew they had an impressive design with the GG1, so they brought in Loewy.
He looked at their original experimental prototype, Old Rivets (#4800; at that time #4899), and went to work.
Loewy’s GG1 was a styling success. Not only was it a great locomotive; it looked the part.

The all-time classic shot of a GG1 blasting southbound around Elizabeth Curve in Elizabeth, NJ. (The train is probably doing 75-80 mph, and Wood is panning.) (Photo by Don Wood.)

I’ve been rereading my March 1964 Trains Magazine, my all-time favorite issue. It has a giant 17-page treatment of the GG1, trumpeting its incredible success.
I’m probably reading it harder than I ever did before.
1964 was my sophomore year at college, and I’ve also learned quite a few things since then.
So my first read in 1964 was quite cursory. There were a whole lotta things I had no idea what it was talking about.
Over the years I got the misconception the GG1 was secondary to the R1 4-8-4 electric; the GG1 a mere trial balloon.
This is a misconception.
Pennsy had road-tested New Haven’s EP-3a 4-6-6-4 box-cab electric locomotive, and found it pretty good.
So they built a 4-6-6-4 GG1 experimental for road-test, and found it exceptional.
They were sure they had an excellent design, but there were Pennsy men allied to massive power outputs through few drive-axles — a principle found in many Pennsy steam locomotives, and found on their O1 (4-4-4) and P5a (4-6-4) electrics.
Pennsy had been maximizing the 4-4-2 Atlantic wheel-arrangement, when other railroads were developing Pacifics (4-6-2).

Southbound through B&P junction in Baltimore. (Photo by Herbert Harwood, Jr.)

Pennsy wanted to maximize power output out of fewer driving-wheels; so the R1 4-8-4 was built too, essentially a P5a 4-6-4 extended to 4-8-4.
But they also knew they had a fabulous design in the GG1.
The R1 offered stiff competition, but was no match for the GG1 in tracking.
This is side-impacts on the track; the locomotive nosing side-to-side.
The GG1 tracked much better. It was much less abusive to the rail at speed, and therefore safer.

You better know what you’re doing this close. That thing is probably doing 90 mph! (Photo by Don Ball.)

So the GG1 was not a mere trial-balloon.

“‘Pyooter” is computer.

RE: “‘Old guy’ with the SpotMatic.......” —My macho, blowhard brother-from-Boston, who is 13 years younger than me, calls me “the old guy” as a put-down (I also am the oldest). The “Spotmatic” is my old Pentax Spotmatic 35mm film camera I used about 40 years, since replaced by a Nikon D100 digital camera.

Pennsylvania Railroad did maintenance of the GG1 at “Wilmington Shops” in Wilmington, DE. (The shops still exist; although as Amtrak.) —Pennsylvania Railroad no longer in exists. It merged with New York Central Railroad in 1968 as Penn-Central, and that tanked in about eight years. It (“Pennsy”) was once the largest railroad in the world. —“Amtrak” is a government corporation promulgated in 1970 to take over rail passenger service. It mainly runs passenger trains over the independent railroads with its own equipment, but it it also owns and operates its own railroads; e.g. the old Pennsy electrified line from New York City to Washington D.C., the so-called “Northeast Corridor;” although the Corridor has been extended to Boston over the old New York, New Haven & Hartford line.

“Pennsylvania Station” was the Pennsylvania Railroad’s passenger station in New York City. It’s been since torn down (and replaced by a new “Madison Square Garden”), but the underground trackage still exists, which means the station still exists. —Pennsy was the only railroad west of the Hudson to actually access Manhattan Island; New York Central railroad accessing from the north. Pennsy did it with tunnels (“tubes”) under the Hudson. Other railroads used ferry-service.

A “4-4-2 Atlantic” is a small steam-engine. They came use about the turn-of-the-century (or even before), a development of the 4-4-0 “American” in standard use at that time. By adding that extra trailing wheel (one wheel per side: the “2”), the firebox could extend farther back and allow a bigger steam-boiler. The 4-6-2 Pacific was even larger, having six driving-wheels instead of only four. (But Pennsy was loathe to use that extra drive-axle, when they could get equal performance out of four drivers.)