When my grandfather passed, he left all of his O gauge trains to me. I have a post war GG-1, number 2340 dating from the late 40's very early 50's. Still running and pulling hard around the track. I also have steam locomotives from him as well that date back into the 30's and they still run with a little coaxing and tune up. Cool to see them!
I grew up with the GG-1 in the 50s and 60s. My grandmother and aunts lived across the street from the New York-Washington line while my other grandparents lived in Washington DC. We almost always went to and from Wilmington DE, where the platforms were low, unlike in Philly and Washington. I vividly recall from early childhood how HUGE they seemed as they eased by the platform at Wilmington, and when waiting for the local to Philly at Moore/Prospect Park, how terrifying the expresses seemed as they roared by at 75 mph. By my time I think all the grade crossings had been done away with other than at Newark DE and Aberdeen MD. I'd listen for the sound of that gorgeous horn, unlike anything on other locomotives. Altogether I think the GG-1 is the best industrial design of anything ever. I was astonished when I learned the design was pre-WWII.
We have a GG1 at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco Texas. Our was one that pulled Bobby Kennedy Funeral Train, when he was shot in California and flown to NY City. Bobby Kennedy funeral train went from NY City to Washington DC and he was laid to rest at Arlington Virginia, next to his brother John who was assassinated in Dallas Tx. Sadly when the Funeral train was running, there were people on the tracks and were killed by a train running in the opposite direction. Also the GG1 has no front or back, it has two fronts and can run in either direction. Also it pulled passengers and freight as well and our ran over 40 years before being retired.
Not only the GG1's were legendary, but they also made history. For example, in 1945, a Pennsy GG1 pulled the funeral train of President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Washington, D.C.'s Union Station to New York City's Pennsylvania Station. Another example is on June 8, 1968, Penn Central GG1s #4901 and #4903 pulled Robert F. Kennedy's funeral train. The 3rd example is during the Flying Scotsman's American Tour in 1969, which was hauled by a Penn Central GG1 through Pennsylvania.
Love the difference in proportions between the 2 versions. Had to pause and show it to my friend. It’s really like comparing a person in a live action show with one in an anime.
Love your videos Eric!! The smoke simulates the pop valves from the GG1s steam generator for the steam heat on the passenger cars. Im glad Lionel added this feature as it is very prototypical of the GG1 locomotive. Once again, great review!!
Thank you for showing the GG1's. When I was a young boy I received a new GGi together with three Madison, Manhattan and Irvington cars. The GG1 that I got always had the dull stripes right from when it was new.
The GG1 Locomotive design is simply beautiful! I myself have always been a train lover. I love the way You explained and the presented this model. Thank You for this video!
There's an additional two GG-1's in Cooperstown Junction, NY about 6 miles east of the city of Oneonta on NY-7. They've moved off the track paralleling the D&H (now Norfolk Southern), and across NY-7 onto a spur that eventually leads to the village of Cooperstown on the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley, paralleling Otsego County Road 35. Worth a trip! Both are still PC black, and carry their Amtrak road numbers, and a faded PC stencil can still be seen on the southern most unit. I want to say their road numbers are 4912 and 4934 if memory serves. Enjoy!
Hey Eric... I hope you get a chance to read this. Just a friendly tip: As a photographer if you want smoke to be visible in any visual medium, it requires a backlit source. Any source brighter than the ambient light. So grab yourself any desk lamp, flash light (focus light), or bare-bulb light source and place out of lens sight and behind the smoke and your locomotive smoke should be beautifully visible. Hope this helps. Aaaallll abooooard...!!!
I love watching these videos. I can only imagine how much money these people have warped up in there layouts, the average Jo can't afford this hobby anymore. Twenty years ago you could buy a Rivarossi engine for around $200.00 dollars and were considered top of the line. Now junk HO engines go for $ 500.00 To $ 700.00 dollars, pricing the hobby out of most peoples pocket book. It is sad but it's become a rich mans world.
I recently got an HO scale model of one of these GG1s. The one I got is PRR 4890. The reason being that is that that’s the first GG1 I got to see in person.
Lionel's postwar, MPC and Richard Kuhn era GG1s were all built with scale height and width but was shortened to be only 2/3rds the length of a scale model as can be seen when the two are side by side in your video. Even back in the 1940's, Lionel was aware of scale proportions and determined that it would have been too long or heavy for young children to handle, much the same as the prewar standard gauge 381e. When you pointed out that 'seem' down the middle of the GG1 over the headlights, I examined my JLC model and they addressed that seem perfectly. That's weird that Lionel, while their earlier JLC models casting seem was completely removed, their Legacy/Vision Line version actually still had this casting 'flaw'.
If you think about it, the GG-1 is GE's version of the 4-6-6-4 Challenger. If the PRR ever order there own steam challenger locomotives, i'm sure they would be classified as GG-2. If the Milwaukee Road ever owned their own GG-1's I'm sure they would classify them as EC-1's EC standing for Electric Challenger.
One GG1 in Amtrak livery is at they New York State Fairgrounds near Syracuse. Of course, it never ran on the Water Level Route (NYC Main Line) but it still looks cool.
WOW! Lionel hit it out of park with this one! And, so did you Eric with the review! One of only two Pennsylvania engines I would like to have some day. This AMTRAK scheme is very nice (the blue stripe reminds me of the solid stripe that the Pennsy used.) "Old Rivets" as built, is the version I am interested in. Enjoy them Eric!
Hi Eric! Thanks for a very informative video. Lionel really outdid themselves with the new GG1 even with the errant mold line. I've often wondered if the GG1, first built in 1934, came about in part due to the Cleveland Union Terminal (CUT) P1a electrics which possessed the same wheel arrangement and were built by ALCO & GE in 1929. Although the CUT electrics lacked the streamlined carbody of the GG1's they shared a lot of similarities. Thanks again for the video and all the hard work that made it possible. It is greatly appreciated.
That wheel arrangement was also used on the New Haven electrics of the same era and the Pennsy borrowed one of them during the design phase of the GG1.
kiwitrainguy You are correct. I do believe that the New Haven electrics preceded the Pennsy GG1 by a few years. I guess that CUT, GE and ALCO came up with a winner and the GG1 was the icing on the cake.
Eric, Thank You again. Another hour of pure entertainment and features. It is funny I always know which feature you are going to like best, it is in your voice in the review. The likely hood that I will ever be able to put up a layout of this scale if not high. I am an n scale man. Boy do I enjoy all of the things you outline. I will make a strange request, I would like to see you do a "dark" video. A night view of your layout with your favorite engine. (By the way, the sound of the GG1 arc sound it is very real. I have never seen a GG1 run, but I live right on the Harrisburg PA, Station, and let me tell you looking down on a "toaster" during an ice storm several years ago, you could see the flash and hear the arc! Vaporizing the ice on the lines in a flash of blue white light).
I love this video. This video has inspired me to find an original 2332. For me, when it comes to finding a Postwar engine, I’d want to find one that’s in operating condition.
I got to see the engineers seat in a GG1 in the Pennsy Museum . Loco is enormous. Place for engineer is small and cramped like an airline bathroom. The “fireman” chair to the left is a narrow crooked aisle.
Can you do the Amtrak x996, the Rc-4s, the e60s, the aem-7s, all different kinds of Amtrak turboliners, the Amtrak ice train and x2000 the Amtrak Acela Express, the hhp8s, the acs64s and the SC44s, and do Canadian pacific and Canadian national steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, and do GTW 6407 and CN 6400
Oh my god, i got introduced to the gg1 in such a weird way, in the form of a lopsided wooden Christmas ornament that i picked out because it looked cool, with the sleek yet industrial shape and the dark red paint with gold pinstripes
The reason the 1st lionel gg1 was #2332 is because there are 2 sets of 2 pony axes and 2 sets of 3 drivers,kind of like the other foreign notations for locos
The GG1 will probably never run again. Aside from the re-vamped electrification issue, One of the main reasons they were retired was due to serious repeated cracking on the truck frames. When they retired these engines, they were OLD. In fact, when NJ Transit retired 4877, it had almost no cab floor. The engineer's feet were dangling into a void during it's last runs...
Eric great overview, I am back at restoring the family O-gauge postwar trains. The question seems all Vision line is 0-72 sized which is too big for tube rails I am running 031 036 042. Can you run on any of the newer reproductions trains on tube rail like min and with ZW transformers
I'm a BIG fan of the GG1 locomotive and liked the arcing on the pants but it should only be at high current draw times, like powering up out from a stand or heavy load up hill. Gtert model just the same
I'm considering getting a used one rather that pre-order a new one... any long term issues come out of these? I've heard they have motor problems, any truth to that?
as you were pointing out the seem, I couldnt help but notice the grab irons around the door looks to have heavy paint , almost drip like. Is this the case or am I wrong?
I’m bummed they didn’t offer the Tuscan Red five-stripe version to be numbered 4890. I remember seeing PRR 4890 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Just a nitpick here. The GG1 was actually a motive unit, meaning that it was powered by electricity from a power plant that feed the electric by overhead lines. It was motive power. Now when you talk about a locomotive say like a FT unit built by EMD, that produces its own power from diesel engines that feed to a generator unit that then feed the power to the electric traction engines. The engine made its own power. hence a locomotive.
When my grandfather passed, he left all of his O gauge trains to me. I have a post war GG-1, number 2340 dating from the late 40's very early 50's. Still running and pulling hard around the track. I also have steam locomotives from him as well that date back into the 30's and they still run with a little coaxing and tune up. Cool to see them!
I grew up with the GG-1 in the 50s and 60s. My grandmother and aunts lived across the street from the New York-Washington line while my other grandparents lived in Washington DC. We almost always went to and from Wilmington DE, where the platforms were low, unlike in Philly and Washington. I vividly recall from early childhood how HUGE they seemed as they eased by the platform at Wilmington, and when waiting for the local to Philly at Moore/Prospect Park, how terrifying the expresses seemed as they roared by at 75 mph. By my time I think all the grade crossings had been done away with other than at Newark DE and Aberdeen MD. I'd listen for the sound of that gorgeous horn, unlike anything on other locomotives. Altogether I think the GG-1 is the best industrial design of anything ever. I was astonished when I learned the design was pre-WWII.
Thank You Eric, that was ELECTRIFYING !
More like SHOCKINGLY interesting
Ba-dum-tsssssss
@Destroya snowflake
Dad jokes brought to you by stokjockey
@@retrokingranch aww, you're no pun. Where's your sense of humor?
We have a GG1 at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco Texas. Our was one that pulled Bobby Kennedy Funeral Train, when he was shot in California and flown to NY City. Bobby Kennedy funeral train went from NY City to Washington DC and he was laid to rest at Arlington Virginia, next to his brother John who was assassinated in Dallas Tx. Sadly when the Funeral train was running, there were people on the tracks and were killed by a train running in the opposite direction. Also the GG1 has no front or back, it has two fronts and can run in either direction. Also it pulled passengers and freight as well and our ran over 40 years before being retired.
Not only the GG1's were legendary, but they also made history. For example, in 1945, a Pennsy GG1 pulled the funeral train of President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Washington, D.C.'s Union Station to New York City's Pennsylvania Station. Another example is on June 8, 1968, Penn Central GG1s #4901 and #4903 pulled Robert F. Kennedy's funeral train. The 3rd example is during the Flying Scotsman's American Tour in 1969, which was hauled by a Penn Central GG1 through Pennsylvania.
Gotta love the silky smooth low speed operation...
Love the difference in proportions between the 2 versions. Had to pause and show it to my friend. It’s really like comparing a person in a live action show with one in an anime.
I like the arc effect too.
it's the sound of the traction motors taking a load. and also the Constant noise you hear is the traction motor blower fans.
Love your videos Eric!! The smoke simulates the pop valves from the GG1s steam generator for the steam heat on the passenger cars. Im glad Lionel added this feature as it is very prototypical of the GG1 locomotive. Once again, great review!!
Thank you for showing the GG1's. When I was a young boy I received a new GGi together with three Madison, Manhattan and Irvington cars. The GG1 that I got always had the dull stripes right from when it was new.
The GG1 Locomotive design is simply beautiful! I myself have always been a train lover. I love the way You explained and the presented this model. Thank You for this video!
I love the lighting effect on the gg1
There's an additional two GG-1's in Cooperstown Junction, NY about 6 miles east of the city of Oneonta on NY-7. They've moved off the track paralleling the D&H (now Norfolk Southern), and across NY-7 onto a spur that eventually leads to the village of Cooperstown on the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley, paralleling Otsego County Road 35. Worth a trip! Both are still PC black, and carry their Amtrak road numbers, and a faded PC stencil can still be seen on the southern most unit. I want to say their road numbers are 4912 and 4934 if memory serves. Enjoy!
i have a running post war gg1 in amazing condition
Cool
That’s awesome
Wow. It’s hard to find those in decent shape
That panto lighting effect is pretty cool
I really enjoy your reviews.Having spent time in tv back in the day I want to thank you for your well thought out presentations.
Robert Nielsen Thanks!
They were the SD40-2 of elctric power, Hauled freight and passengers last nearly 50 years and were reliable.
Hey Eric... I hope you get a chance to read this. Just a friendly tip: As a photographer if you want smoke to be visible in any visual medium, it requires a backlit source. Any source brighter than the ambient light. So grab yourself any desk lamp, flash light (focus light), or bare-bulb light source and place out of lens sight and behind the smoke and your locomotive smoke should be beautifully visible. Hope this helps.
Aaaallll abooooard...!!!
Thanks for the extended action 'footage'.
I love watching these videos. I can only imagine how much money these people have warped up in there layouts, the average Jo can't afford this hobby anymore. Twenty years ago you could buy a Rivarossi engine for around $200.00 dollars and were considered top of the line.
Now junk HO engines go for $ 500.00 To $ 700.00 dollars, pricing the hobby out of most peoples pocket book. It is sad but it's become a rich mans world.
A six figure income is now mandatory for a basic middle class life.
Would love to see a close-up of the back lit gauges you mentioned.
Great video Eric! Coming from someone who owns one of these as well they are amazing models! I got one of the "Old Rivets" models.
Raymond Lowey redesigned the GG1 without rivets, so they were more aero-dynamic and more sleek. They were redesigned with an all welded body.
At 33:59, when the dispatcher says, The train will be ready at 1730”, it means the train will be ready at 5:30PM, for those of you wondering.
I recently got an HO scale model of one of these GG1s. The one I got is PRR 4890. The reason being that is that that’s the first GG1 I got to see in person.
What a great review.
Wow, your lucky to have two of the GG1’s. I’ve now switched to HO so maybe I got have 2 Bachmann GG1’s
Lionel's postwar, MPC and Richard Kuhn era GG1s were all built with scale height and width but was shortened to be only 2/3rds the length of a scale model as can be seen when the two are side by side in your video. Even back in the 1940's, Lionel was aware of scale proportions and determined that it would have been too long or heavy for young children to handle, much the same as the prewar standard gauge 381e. When you pointed out that 'seem' down the middle of the GG1 over the headlights, I examined my JLC model and they addressed that seem perfectly. That's weird that Lionel, while their earlier JLC models casting seem was completely removed, their Legacy/Vision Line version actually still had this casting 'flaw'.
If you think about it, the GG-1 is GE's version of the 4-6-6-4 Challenger. If the PRR ever order there own steam challenger locomotives, i'm sure they would be classified as GG-2. If the Milwaukee Road ever owned their own GG-1's I'm sure they would classify them as EC-1's EC standing for Electric Challenger.
What the 2332 has what could be described as the most realistic weathering ever applied to a locomotive
What weathering ???
@@steffenrosmus1864 The decails and paint rubbing off, and fading over time
That is not weathering that is called deterioration 😁
@@steffenrosmus1864 we know it's deteration but with are imagination it looks like weathering.
@@joedaylight so the real weathering 1.0😉😉
AWESOME VIDEO! Thank you for taking so much time to present such a complete review. You really are the best!!!
Amazing review good idea to include pictures Too
I love this GG1! Thanks loads Eric!
Congratulations, Eric! On all of your accomlishments (train and otherwise!)
Very nice! Wish my American Models GG-1 had the arc light effect.
thanks Eric that was another great review and run session!
great, great review Eric! Fact-packed and interesting a always! Thanks again for all your hard work.
Awesome video Eric! I'm a big railroad history buff so this was awesome
I used to drive out to the Northeast Corridor stretch that ran to and from Baltimore. Would watch these go by.. I loved the horn on them.
Looks great and you do a wonderful job of introducing it.
great job Eric, thanks for all the videos they're all just amazing, keep up the good work :)
love the sound
I grew up near the Sunnyside Yard. Had a lot of fun watching trains come out of that yard.
That electric crackle is sooo cool!
A beautiful engine I remember as a youngster in 1955 when lionel came out with the congreional set
I want them to restore the one in Elkhart Indiana at the New York central museum cause I live 10 mins away from it. Amazing engine to see for sure.
Unfortunately that wouldn’t be possible due to several needs of modifications and overall completion of the GG1s
@@trainfan-ks5hk that's sad man.
One GG1 in Amtrak livery is at they New York State Fairgrounds near Syracuse. Of course, it never ran on the Water Level Route (NYC Main Line) but it still looks cool.
I saw 4935 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. What a cool locomotive.
love the uploads Eric!
I love a true scale model in O scale along with toy-like models that are more artistic
I used to watch the GG1’s in action at the New Jersey City transit yard towing box cars in 1987.
Fabulous video! Well done, Eric!!
This is Eric Siegel at his finest! Awesome video bro! Awesome engine! Thanks bro!
North Carolina bill
yep
Where's the new videos Bill. I keep looking and nothing new. You got to make them videos
I am work camping in Altoona Iowa at Adventureland, I am over 1000 miles away from my trains! And I probably won't be back home until Christmas!
Love that engine man looks pretty looks awesome
WOW! Lionel hit it out of park with this one! And, so did you Eric with the review! One of only two Pennsylvania engines I would like to have some day. This AMTRAK scheme is very nice (the blue stripe reminds me of the solid stripe that the Pennsy used.) "Old Rivets" as built, is the version I am interested in.
Enjoy them Eric!
Very cool!
Hi Eric! Thanks for a very informative video. Lionel really outdid themselves with the new GG1 even with the errant mold line. I've often wondered if the GG1, first built in 1934, came about in part due to the Cleveland Union Terminal (CUT) P1a electrics which possessed the same wheel arrangement and were built by ALCO & GE in 1929. Although the CUT electrics lacked the streamlined carbody of the GG1's they shared a lot of similarities. Thanks again for the video and all the hard work that made it possible. It is greatly appreciated.
That wheel arrangement was also used on the New Haven electrics of the same era and the Pennsy borrowed one of them during the design phase of the GG1.
kiwitrainguy You are correct. I do believe that the New Haven electrics preceded the Pennsy GG1 by a few years. I guess that CUT, GE and ALCO came up with a winner and the GG1 was the icing on the cake.
Eric, Thank You again. Another hour of pure entertainment and features. It is funny I always know which feature you are going to like best, it is in your voice in the review. The likely hood that I will ever be able to put up a layout of this scale if not high. I am an n scale man. Boy do I enjoy all of the things you outline. I will make a strange request, I would like to see you do a "dark" video. A night view of your layout with your favorite engine. (By the way, the sound of the GG1 arc sound it is very real. I have never seen a GG1 run, but I live right on the Harrisburg PA, Station, and let me tell you looking down on a "toaster" during an ice storm several years ago, you could see the flash and hear the arc! Vaporizing the ice on the lines in a flash of blue white light).
Oh wow I was not expecting to see the legendary Amtrak gg1 I've literally seen the irl Amtrak gg1 not to long ago
I love this video. This video has inspired me to find an original 2332. For me, when it comes to finding a Postwar engine, I’d want to find one that’s in operating condition.
Great sound's of the gg1 tell Lionel that they did a great job of the sound
I've always been a fan of the GG1. I'm lucky and old enough to have seen these engines in action when I was in my teens (the real ones).
Likewise.
I got to see the engineers seat in a GG1 in the Pennsy Museum . Loco is enormous. Place for engineer is small and cramped like an airline bathroom. The “fireman” chair to the left is a narrow crooked aisle.
It's about time. I haven't ran mine for almost a year so far. I thought you gave the hobby up.
Wish we could have seen the cab detail...sounded real cool.
Your Layout looks extremely realistic when the lights are off and it looks cool
Great video Eric! Now I hope the next loco will be a CB&Q E5
Elkhart Indiana has a GG-1 at their train museum with a NYC 4-8-2 Mowhawk.
Can you do the Amtrak x996, the Rc-4s, the e60s, the aem-7s, all different kinds of Amtrak turboliners, the Amtrak ice train and x2000 the Amtrak Acela Express, the hhp8s, the acs64s and the SC44s, and do Canadian pacific and Canadian national steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, and do GTW 6407 and CN 6400
Oh my god, i got introduced to the gg1 in such a weird way, in the form of a lopsided wooden Christmas ornament that i picked out because it looked cool, with the sleek yet industrial shape and the dark red paint with gold pinstripes
Such beautiful locomotives. It is such a shame that no real GG1's are currently operational.
There's a New York Central GG1 at the New York Central Railroad Museum in Elkhart, IN.
That locomotive was electro "cute"! Very nice!
GG1 4913 is at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, Pa
The reason the 1st lionel gg1 was #2332 is because there are 2 sets of 2 pony axes and 2 sets of 3 drivers,kind of like the other foreign notations for locos
the running sound (rpm up/down) is a simulation of the traction motors pulling power
The GG1 will probably never run again. Aside from the re-vamped electrification issue, One of the main reasons they were retired was due to serious repeated cracking on the truck frames. When they retired these engines, they were OLD. In fact, when NJ Transit retired 4877, it had almost no cab floor. The engineer's feet were dangling into a void during it's last runs...
I personally hope the next visionline product will be an SP E9-A
Or A CB&Q E5
The first GG1 I've seen is PRR #4890 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
more post-war trains please! I love the comparison great video thanks.
Hello I am a big fan of you keep up the good work thank you
Hi Eric You need a small fashlight to black parts
Eric great overview, I am back at restoring the family O-gauge postwar trains. The question seems all Vision line is 0-72 sized which is too big for tube rails I am running 031 036 042. Can you run on any of the newer reproductions trains on tube rail like min and with ZW transformers
I'm a BIG fan of the GG1 locomotive and liked the arcing on the pants but it should only be at high current draw times, like powering up out from a stand or heavy load up hill.
Gtert model just the same
Great video Eric! I believe that maxrailroad has a video of the Lionel VL GG1 on a catenary setup.
I never knew Amtrak used GG1's. Well, you learn something new everyday. 😁
With those red noses they were known as "W.C. Fields GG1s".
i would strongly be tempted to change the pickups on the pant for a set of postwar type pant pickup bars if i had overhead power.
Since you have an intrest in the GG-1,You should look up-PRR P-5a, PRR P-5a Modified and New Yorh, New Haven & Hartford EP-3 #0351.
awesome video. very cool.
Nice video. How come your center section of your legacy remotes touch pad is only showing half of whats displayed on it?
41:50 the sound it could be from? possibly the traction motors!
Yes
Amtrak 926 is the same one that is at the NY State Fair!
I met that engine myself.
@@pokemonpreadythepokemonmaniac Same here.
The Pennsy's letter assignment is much like the one used by the UK's London and North Eastern Railway (LNER)
Great video.
I'm considering getting a used one rather that pre-order a new one... any long term issues come out of these? I've heard they have motor problems, any truth to that?
Eric, great vid as always ! Congrats to your son and his team , you must be really proud, what position does he play ?
as you were pointing out the seem, I couldnt help but notice the grab irons around the door looks to have heavy paint , almost drip like. Is this the case or am I wrong?
I’m bummed they didn’t offer the Tuscan Red five-stripe version to be numbered 4890. I remember seeing PRR 4890 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
16 survive actually because the prototype 4800 lives too
Just a nitpick here. The GG1 was actually a motive unit, meaning that it was powered by electricity from a power plant that feed the electric by overhead lines. It was motive power. Now when you talk about a locomotive say like a FT unit built by EMD, that produces its own power from diesel engines that feed to a generator unit that then feed the power to the electric traction engines. The engine made its own power. hence a locomotive.