A pink GG-1? There must have been a mind numbing disease raging through Lionel management at the time. Can you imagine the reaction by PRR employees who also happened to be model railroaders?
The pink locos have got to be one of marketing’s worst travesties.[tdn][tdn][tdn]
Jon
I believe that was Lionel’s attempt to market to young girls. It assumed I guess that girls would be attracted to anything painted pink. Oh, how quickly we’ve evolved! I’m aware of at least one female PRR prototype modeler through PRR-Pro who is casting her own PRR-prototype resin N scale gondola cars. I doubt she’s going to paint them pink.
Misguided or not, though, I hear those girls’ train sets are worth big bucks!
That is it. In the late 50’s, Lionel came out with a trainset dedicated to trying to get young girls interested in the hobby. The locomotives were pink (but I thought it was a steam locomotive not a GG1) and the cars were light pastel colors intended to get a young girls attention. The promotion was a big flop, but if you have one of those sets now-a-days, collectors will pay big bucks for them…chuck
The History Channel has run an hour long show about Lionel and that was one of the stories they discussed. It was one of a series of miscues by Lionel after the company’s founder turned the reins over to his son. Another was a move to try to appeal to the Cold War mentality of the 1950s and 1960s by introducing equipment with a military theme such as a flat car that fired rockets. Lionel had been losing market share to HO and this was another failed attempt to get it back. The history of Lionel has been a series of rises and falls.
Yes the original Lionel girls set was a steamer. I don’t know who belongs to the GG1. The cars in the girls set were various pastel shades - blue, green and pink. It is near impossible to find an intact girls set.
I did see a set of those at a show sometime in the past year. The price wasn’t too outrageous, but nobody had bought it yet. It was the pink steamer. I suspect the GG-1 is a current attempt to duplicate the same mistake.
I even remember trying to get my little sister interested in that train. She didn’t take the bait.
Be aware that the Lionel “Girl’s Train Set” has been reproduced and the unsuspecting hobbyist can get burned purchasing one at an inflated price thinking they’re getting a true and valuable collectible.
CNJ831
I’m glad i wasnt the only one that thought that was a bit odd. 
That Pink GG-1 locomotive is the product of Williams Trains, not Lionel.
Take a look at the Williams Trains website for conformation of the strange idea.
This is on the Classic Toy Trains Forum.
Andrew
Are you trying to tell me that the GG1s were not painted pink!!! Where did I miss the boat on that one? I just figured that anyone with an [arrogant] advertising department that could cockamamie up The Standard Railroad of the World would have had no problem at all painting a locomotive pink if they were trying to cockamamie up The Standard Locomotive of the World.
Dave,
Misguided covers it.
Purchasers male chauvinists? [;)]
Jon
Andrew,
Is that Classic with a K? As in, “Isn’t that kute.”
Jon [:D]
This is just a play off the Lionel Girl’s train from the late 50’s. KLine did a repro, now Williams has their repro and a pink GG1 as an added twist. These are really for the collector market. As Lionel found out, girls interested in trains want ones that resemble real trains, girls not interested in trains don’t care what color they’re painted they don’t want them.
I heard that some dealers repainted the Lionel trains just to be able to sell them.
Enjoy
Paul
Doesn’t BNSF run some pink warbonnets now?
Heh, Lionel wasn’t the only one who didn’t know their female market in the 1950s - witness The Dodge La Femme
Not exactly bright pink I must admit, but same condesending marketing concept (and same kind of retail floppage).
Actually, keep in mind that a surprising number of automobile models in the 1950s were available in Pink (as flipping through ‘Cars of the Fabulous 50s’ will quickly show you) - it seemed to be a pretty common color option (but not the most common color chosen, of course).
Bruce didn’t sing about a Pink Cadillac for nothing (and not for Mary Kay either)
And finally, the HO scale Lionel missle-launching flatcar I had once was pretty darn cool - until I somehow lost the missle…