Would it be TECHNICALLY feasable to use parts from Amtrak AEM-7 and HHP-8 locomotives to restore a GG-1 to service? I realize that financially this would be difficult, but I’m curious about the technical issues in case that I win the Powerball Lottery.
Please keep any technical comments basic; I passed my Electrical Engineering for non-EE’s course in college primarily because I was the only one in my class who could make the obsolete lab equipment work long enough to allow us to finish the labwork.
I’m not an engineer but I doubt it. Keep in mind that among other things, a GG-1 had two motors per axle with a geared quill drive. You would also have to gut the interior and install new electrical equipment since you’re converting a straight-AC locomotive to a rectifier locomotive.
It probably could be done, but you would no longer be preserving a GG-1 as such since only the exterior would remain from the original. So, rather than using parts from retired Amtrak electrics, why not make the machine more versatile by hiding a diesel prime mover inside the body. Then it would no longer be restricted in where it could run.[}:)]
Good idea! A restored G, that is a G restored to it’s original specification, couldn’t run on it’s old stomping grounds anyway, the electric cycle’s different now, but a diesel prime mover under the skin would be just the ticket.
I suspect a lot of us would love to see a GG1 run again and wouldn’t be too particular about how it happened.
Rather than gut the GG-1 and destroy its historic value, why not put a diesel engine driving a 25 cycle ??? volt single phase alternator in a Pennsylvania P70 Tuscan Red baggage car right behind the GG-1. A couple of discreet jumper cables from from the generator in the baggage car into the wiring of the GG-1 at the appropriate spot and there you go.
If you want a ‘freight’ GG-1, put the generator in a box car instead of a baggage car. .
Dave’s point was that the traction motors would run just fine on DC. My take on his suggestion was replacing the 11kV/25Hz transformer with the 25kV/60Hz transformer from an AEM-7 along with the thyristor controls for providing the variable voltage DC. With the two motors per axle wired in series, the voltage and current needed to run the GG-1’s motors isn’t too different from the AEM-7.
The “old stomping grounds” of the GG-1, former PRR between NY, Washington and Harrisburg, are still 25 hz and will be for the foreseable future.
As for using used parts, until one finds a set of GG-1 truck castings without cracks burried in a warehouse somewhere a G will not turn a wheel under the wire.