The Majestic GG1

“Brute force can have a sophisticated appearance.” - Designer Raymond Loewy

Words by Gary Dolzall

It is a mark of the locomotive’s esteemed stature in railroad history that to merely mention “the G” will, for railroaders and train enthusiasts in North America, immediately bring to mind one thing and one thing only: the Pennsylvania Railroad’s magnificent GG1 electric.

Through its beauty, performance, and longevity, the GG1 attained a position of reverence among both working railroaders and enthusiasts that few locomotives will ever attain. Remarkably, the GG1 was born in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s and would proceed to serve in mainline service for just shy of half-a-century.

It was the Pennsylvania Railroad’s great electrification project of the 1920s and 1930s – a program that would eventually electrify 244 miles of PRR trackage at a cost of $175 million (US) and that today represents the bustling New York-Washington, DC, segment of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor – that sired the GG1.

Born on the design tables of Pennsy’s electrical engineering staff, with input from suppliers Baldwin, Westinghouse, and General Electric, the GG1 could be traced in genealogy to a pair of electrics, one from the Pennsy and one from the New Haven Railroad. The PRR P5 class 2-C-2 electrics, first built in 1932, were the GG1’s immediate predecessors, while the New Haven’s big EP3 box cab electrics, which PRR tested, gave to the GG1 design its lanky 2-C+C-2 articulated wheel arrangement.

The prototype GG1 – originally numbered 4899, but soon to become PRR 4800 and gain the lifelong nickname “Old Rivets” – was constructed in 1934 by Baldwin-Westinghouse and began testing in August of that year. Quickly deeming the GG1 a success, Pennsy ordered 57 more (4801-4857) for 1935 delivery. These locomotives would variously be constructed by Baldwin, Westinghouse, General Electric, and the Pennsy itself. With a total weight of 460,000 pounds (and 300,000 pounds on drivers), the big G delivered 4,620 horsepower and 75,000 pounds of tractive effort. The prototype locomotive generally established the GG1’s unmistakable shape – with two cabs for bi-directional operation set back along a stylish curved carbody. The original GG1’s carbody was of rivet construction (thus its nickname) – but then came the soothing design hand of famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy. Loewy refined the GG1’s carbody styling further, convinced PRR management to build the production GG1s using welding techniques rather than rivets, and created the now-famous Pennsy five-stripe livery. Loewy later said, “Brute force can have a sophisticated appearance,” and indeed he proved it in steel with the GG1.

Through 1943, a total of 139 Pennsylvania Railroad GG1s would be constructed (with slight variations among the orders in weight and tractive effort), and the big electrics would become the mainstays of PRR’s electrified operations, hauling the flagship Broadway Limited, the PRR’s premier Washington-New York Congressional trains, commuter “Clockers,” freight tonnage, mail and express, and, well, you name it.

During their years in PRR service, the GG1s were most often dressed in Brunswick green with gold striping (first the Loewy five-stripes, then, beginning in 1955, a standard livery of Brunswick green with a single broader gold stripe). But through the years, a handful of GG1s bore special liveries. In the early 1950s, a total of 10 GG1s wore a Tuscan red and five-stripe livery for use on PRR’s Congressional and Senator trains. A similar Tuscan red and single-stripe scheme was later worn by two GG1s, and a trio of GG1s – 4866, 4872, and 4880 – wore a special silver-with-red-stripe livery, also for use in hauling the premier Congressional consists.

With the merger of Pennsylvania and New York Central in early 1968 to form Penn Central, the GG1s began to be dressed in PC’s basic black livery (although many carried on for years to come in the single-stripe PRR-era scheme), and in December 1968, when Penn Central absorbed the New Haven Railroad, the GG1s suddenly gained new ground to cover, operating regularly from New York Penn Station north to New Haven, Connecticut, via the Hell Gate Bridge line.

In the final years of service for the GG1, there were myriad and rapid changes along the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak was formed in 1971 and Amtrak acquired a fleet of GG1s, some of which were painted in a bright red, blue, and silver livery. One unit – Amtrak 4935 – was faithfully redressed in its full original Pennsy five-stripe scheme, PC was absorbed into Conrail in 1976, and none other than “Old Rivets” wore both the full CR blue livery and a special red, white and blue American Bicentennial scheme. With the arrival of its AEM-7 electrics, Amtrak finally phased out its GG1s and it was left to New Jersey Transit, which utilized a baker’s dozen of hand-me-down GG1s on its North Jersey Coast Line, to bring the GG1 operating era to a close in October 1983. Happily, no less than 16 GG1s have been preserved, most notably “Old Rivets” at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

As a favorite of train enthusiasts and modelers, the GG1 made many appearances in miniature, including a classic O Gauge model created by Lionel, and quite naturally, the memorable GG1 has emerged as a favorite of sim fans with the Train Simulator edition of the grand electric.

Designer Raymond Loewy once remarked that the GG1 was “One of the good memories of my life.” And surely, there were countless railroaders and rail enthusiasts over the decades who came to agree very much. – Gary Dolzall

Racing against twilight, both figuratively and literally, a four-decades-old Amtrak GG1, still wearing Penn Central basic black, races north with the Washington section of the Broadway Limited at Bowie, Maryland, on the Northeast Corridor in 1978. Photograph by Gary Dolzall.

Predecessor of the GG1 on the Pennsylvania was the 3,750-horsepower, 2-C-2 P5 class box cab electric. Built by Westinghouse in 1932, P5 4716 was still going strong in this photo taken three decades later in 1962. William Volkmer; Dolzall collection photo.

At the Eddystone (Pennsylvania) plant of locomotive builder Baldwin Locomotive Works, the first GG1 stands for its portrait. Originally wearing PRR road number 4899, the electric was constructed in 1934 and soon thereafter renumbered 4800. As the only GG1 with a riveted carbody it was nicknamed ‘Old Rivets” and survived to serve Conrail. Today the 4800 is handsomely preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. Baldwin Locomotive Works photo via H. L. Broadbelt.

The Pennsylvania Railroad was active, and masterful, at publicity photos and one of its famous images is of Pennsylvania GG1 4868 in classic "five-stripe" livery powering the railroad’s then-new Congressional streamlined passenger consist. The photo appears to be taken just west of the Hudson River tunnels in New Jersey. Pennsylvania Railroad photo via the Association of American Railroads.

Doing what it was born to do, Pennsy GG1 4903 has a long string of express mail and passenger cars as it rolls along the Northeast Corridor. PRR 4903 was built at the railroad’s famed Altoona (Pennsylvania) Shops in 1940 and would gain fame when it powered the 1968 funeral train of Robert F. Kennedy. It is today preserved at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas. Photo: Dolzall collection.

As a favorite of train enthusiasts and modelers, the GG1 made many appearances in miniature, including a classic O Gauge model created by Lionel -- and quite naturally, the memorable GG1 has emerged as a favorite of sim fans with the Train Simulator edition of the grand Pennsy electric (above and below). Screenshots by Gary Dolzall.