They show you a photo of the compartment where they placed the ENGINE DCS switches and controls.
Problem it is very close close up.
No mention of where on the engine it is placed.
After a lot of turning around and over. I picked at every thing I seen.
Then my nail caught the top hatch and WA LA the hatch on top pulled up. Very nice design. But they should have placed a colored ribbon to show off the hatch.
It is great looking. I had a bit of problem getting it to load into my MTH Proto controller. After a lot of playing around it loaded. From then on it worked great.
I can not get the Pantographs to work properly.
My problem is I run on an over head loop. I can not see how it operates to set it up properly. I can hear the pan control working inside the engine. Some times the pan will move a pit then nothing.
I never seen a GG-1 run. I do not know how it sounds.
It does have some engine sounds. They installed a smoke unit. It puts out a puff of smoke to simulate the steam generator releasing over pressure.
The engine runs smooth.
Horn and bell sounds great. (onknown if factual),
One more thing they should have done. Inside the Engine switch hatch is black. They should have white painted the labels. The labels are small and hard to read.
Toad, A real GG1 was a sight to see, having grown up along the east coast corradoor and seeing them close up was a real treat. My former inlaw’s live within spiting distance of the Boston - Washington D.C. main line I loved sitting on the front steps watching trains go by. When i was young( 0-9 ) we lived about a long block away from a spot were the PRR crossed over the B&O. YES I LOVE TRAINS!!!
I have plans to build a GG-1 at some future date. However the more I research into this monster the scarier it gets… I believe I have cracked the problem of building a Quill drive (even though my test pieces all self destructed). It was without a doubt a very classic piece of design for it’s day -but have to say -it would never be built like that today. My model would be all battery DC rather than the AC of the original and it would have air cooled electronics. The very thought of all those HUNDREDS OF GALLONS of Bi-Phenyls used as coolant makes my flesh crawl just thinking about it. (Don’t ask -just run away very fast!!!)
It is curious that the only people I know that have modelled any of the GG-1 style Penn electrics have all used wood for the nose…
I call MTH. After a conversation with the service tech. I had to make up a special test track. Reason, Inside I run on a overhead track. I had to look down into the slots where the pantographs actuators go. The actuator on one side of the engine did not work.
MTH sent me a return shipping label to have the engine repaired.
I included two suggestions with the return.
1 – The switch hatch is very difficult to find. I suggest that they slip a ribbon under the hatch to highlight it.
2 – Attempting to mount the pantoghaphs. They move as you attempt to aline them into the slots. That scratches the roof paint. I suggested that they include a piece of cardboard, cut out to match the slots, to place over the roof to protect it during mounting.
Yes -but you would have to strip all the electrical switch gear, motors and rebuild most of the chassis of the locomotive, and then you would have to crash test it… This is a problem we are having here in the UK with our preserved Electric Locomotives. Non of the “classic” electric locos could ever run on UK main lines as they are 1,500Volt DC -rather than the 50Hz AC line of the modern system. A similar problem would exist trying to run a GG-1 as all the systems are wired for 16.3Hz AC and would require the removal of the transformers and coolant pipework. Most of the exhibited ones have their coolant system pumped full of concrete to “cap” the emissions of PCBs…
I would love to see a GG-1 rebuilt. But it would only be an outline shell not a real one -the technology of the time is just too dangerous nowadays to contemplate!!!
I bought shares in the restoration of an electric loco in the UK -the sole example of Class 89. The project brief had stalled because -no one makes that type of thyristor anymore. However replacements have been “cobbled”… This is modern electric loco and you see the problem???
You are quite right -my mistake!!! It should be 25 Hz. The 16.3Hz was used for early AC traction in Europe being 1 phase of 3 phase 50Hz. It was late at night is my only excuse… here is the easy source of information!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRR_GG1 regards ralph
Between 1904 and 1914 The New Haven electrified its line from Mount Vernon, NY to New Haven with the first High Voltage AC system in the U.S. Designed by Westinghouse it was based on 11,000 volt, 25hz Catenary. Transformered down to lower voltage to feed series wound AC / DC motors the locomotives could switch to DC third rail for the final run over NYC tracks to Grand Central Station.
In the 1920s GE built for The New Haven a new, high speed passenger locomotive, called the “EP-3”. The wheel arrangment cought the eye of the Pennsylvania in the 1930s who, as they prepaired for there great New York to Washington electrifcation project, “borrowed” a New Haven “EP-3” for testing. The PRR liked it and based the GG-1 on this running gear and voltage (they had used third rail into Penn Station). The GG-1 replaced the “Box Cab” with a beautiful streamlined carbody riding on roller bearing equipped running gear. The change to 60hz power by Amtrak, NJT, Conrail put an end to the old locomotives and the need to generate there own 25hz electricity to power them. It would be nice if someone would convert a GG-1 to a “Cab Control Unit”. Hook a diesel behind it and run it on a Tourist Railroad.
Still, today, 75 years later, Amtrak uses on there electric line the AEM-7 (7,000 hp), the HHP-8 (8,000 hp), and the Acela (2 power cars totaling 12,000 hp), far more than a GG-1.
