Hello everyone,
I read that the PRR GG1’s were painted 5 Stripes/Tuscan Red to pull the Congressional. Does anyone know if the 5 Stripe/Tuscan Red GG1’s ever pulled the regular PRR Tuscan Red Passenger Cars or were they used specifically for the Congressional?
Thanks,
aceape
GG1s 4908-4913 were painted Tuscan for the Senator and Congressional in January, 1952, and put into service on March 17. Numbers 4856, 4857, 4876, and 4929 were also painted red in 1953; and 4907 and 4916 were painted red in March, 1955; and the 5 stripes were merged into one. At the same time 4866, 4872, and 4880 were painted silver, specifically for the Congressional. I think that we can infer from this that those 12 red GG1s must have been used for other trains. After 1955, they would not have had 5 stripes. But if so many were red before 1955 although only 3 were needed for the Congressional, some of those pre-1955 5-stripe red GG1s must also have been pulling other trains.
All the red and silver GG1s were eventually repainted Brunswick green.
Thanks for the information. With that in mind, would a Williams Semi-Scale GG1 look better pulling the Williams 0-27 PRR Streamliners, the 60’ Semi-Scale Madison Passenger Cars, or the aluminum Luxury Liners? Going to pick up a set in the near future but wanted to be sure it was a “match”.
aceape:
I spent a bit too much time staring out the window at GG-1’s hauling passenger trains across the bridge over the Raritan River in NJ on their way to and from New York and Newark. The “Brunswick Green” GG-1’s predominated on just about everything, but also saw quite a few of the “Tuscan” GG-1’s on a wide variety of consists, especially on the “Clockers” (short express trains that made hourly runs between New York and Philly).
The PRR had a LOT more P-70 steel coaches (“Madison” type) than streamliners. I have a Williams 5-Stripe Tuscan GG-1 that I use to pull a typical PRR mixed “Clocker” consist of three MTH Madisons (baggage combine, diner, and coach) and a single streamlined coach. You could do the same with the Williams Madisons.
Have fun!
Mike
I think the only thing you wouldn’t want to do is pull a freight train with a non-green GG1, since the red and silver ones were undoubtedly geared for passenger service.
The Tuscan and Silver units were part of the last series of G’s built and according to Zimmerman’s book, all G’s were regeared for freight service by 1967. PRR was morphed into the PC in Feb 1968. Equipment tended to be painted only as needed and the units were converted to PC black. They just steam cleaned them and sprayed over the old paint/rust, no sand blasting, no primer. By 1970 even the PC was history. There is a possibility that some of the Tuscan red units pulled freight for a brief time in the very late 60’s or early 70’s before they were painted PC Black or Conrail Blue. Also, I think that all of the photo’s I’ve seen of GG1’s hauiling freight show them doubled up.