The GG1’s aren’t the loco type I want to model but still,I’m always fascinated to learn about trains,whatever era,type,etc.
On a short video my brother gave me,a GG1 can be seen arriving in front of a service building with it’s pantographs down and no wires could be seen overhead.And I couldn’t see if it was pushed so that puzzled me for a few minutes,until later on the video it was seen pushed by a “device” that they called a “pig”.This erased my theory that a GG1 had an auxiliairy diesel engine for yard duty.
But then,I noticed on the side of this loco there were two supply ports identified “fuel/oil” and “water”.I imagine that the water was for passenger car heating and that water was likely heated with electricity,so what was the “fuel/oil” port for?Did GG1’s still have an auxiliairy engine in case of power failure or for yard operation?Just curious.Thanks.
Not that I am aware of. The fuel/oil was for the water boiler for the car heater. The boiler didn’t pull it’s power source from the overhead. My thoughts on why? Too much of a pain for when the loco’s were built, and then too much of a pain to retrofit.
The ‘Fuel’ port was for fuel oil to power the S/G(train heat). If they lost the overhead electricity, there was no way to ‘heat’ the boiler and keep the passengers warm.
hello jack and welcome. if you are ever down in the Syracuse area, there is a GG! at the NYState Fairgrounds. in fact there is a train show the first weeken of November, kil 2 birds with one stone as it were.
One of the fireman’s duties on a GG1 was to operate the boiler. It had to be shut down at certain locations ( e.g. when standing in 30th St Station IIRC) and blown down once in a while.
There is a two part video on You Tube of movies taken from GG1 cabs. Type “prr gg1 cab” into the search box. They are titled Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 in Cab Part One and Part Two.
Incidently, the GG1 boiler had to have a monthly boiler wash, just like a steam locomotive.
If you want some interesting reading, do a Google search for prr gg1, prr e44, prr e33. All electrics.
I just spent a couple hours looking up the e44 and it ties in with many other electrics. The three sometimes ran together with each other. MU’d or pushers.
Remember reading that many electric locomotives were also equipped with outside 3rd rail pickup shoes, to insure motive power in areas where overhead was missing or damaged. Always wondered if GG1 was so equipped. TTFN…papasmurf
The motors had AC motors and used 11,000, 25 HZ. From what little I know, third rail is DC and about 1,200 volts max, at least at the time of the GG1. Not sure what DC voltage the US had at the time.
I magine being a railroad worker, that you have to step over the 11,000 volts thrid rail.
The GG1s didn’t have any 3rd rail shoes, but they could drop pantographs and coast through phase breaks and some moveable bridges such as on the old New Haven. Also, they would coast into unwired tracks in South Philadelphia with Army-Navy Game Specials.
Here’s a link to, GG1 An American Classic, at YouTube for “Part 1” of a 4-part documentary for the final run of GG1 #4877 – Big Red – in 1983. After just a few minutes, you be even more impressed, by GG1’s safety track record and decades of steady performance.
Here’s another at YouTube, PRR Film: Wheels of Steel, “Part 1” of a 2-part promotional series by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Note at apx. 3 1/2 minutes into the film the close-up of the fuel-oil & water being serviced on the GG1.
Third rail pretty much couldn;t be 11KV, 11KV can arc over the distance that typically seperates the third rail from running rails. Usually outside third rail has a protective cover over the thrid rail, but that’s not really goign to prevent you from contactign it if you walk across the tracks - after all the shoes on the loco have to be able to reach it.
That’s also why pedestrian and road bridges over the PRR Main Line have tall sides and warnings - you don’t have to touch an 11KV line to be fried, you just have to get near it.
One of my clients is a company that does a lot of overhead wiring and stuff like building and repairing catenary. In their office they have a really spectacular picture of a pantograph passing from one power district to another, across an insualted section. The arcing is incredible when photographed with a high speed camera. Standing trackside, you most likely would have heard a little bzzzt and MAYBE seen a small spark.
A GG1 was often used as the tunnel helper in Baltimore. Sometimes on the head end, sometimes pushing. It also served as protect power in case a passenger train had engine trouble.
