Gents,
I just found a GG-1 made by Lionel, I want to say made in the late 80's or early 90's. Its been sitting for a few (lots of dust on the box). Its dark green with a solid gold stripe, road no. 4907 stk#6-18313. Can any body tell a bit about her? What do you think she is worth? This one is probably destined to be a shelf Princess, with only Christmas tree laps in her future...Is this one a good runner?
Thanks,
J. Daddy
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
Sorta looks like this:
This particular model of the GG1 is not to scale. Mine has Lionel TMCC, but it does not have rail sounds. It does not have traction tires and therefore it has trouble on grades if the track is not steel for the magnitraction to work. It has always ran good and looks nice on my layout.
I stole, er purchased it on Ebay for less than $225.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Boy what a beaut! I have not pulled her out of the box yet, the pentagraphs are not attached. Is this a tricky opperation.... No rail sounds, bummer, not even a horn or whistle? sounds like a candidate for a sound system.
Steel track eh? I will make a note of it, don't have any O guage track, just O-27. What is the minimum radius for her? Which track should I stay clear of?
Thanks for the help,
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
I have a Penn Central and the Gold mint set GG-1's from that same era. No horn, but excellent pullers and lots of growl! Too fun for the shelf. With some common sense TLC they'll be around after the both of us are gone! Although I like bells & whistles, it's always good to go conventional from time to time. If your engine has Keystone decals, be very careful with oil or grease cutter type cleaning agents, as they will destroy the decals!
Enjoy!
Stack
sulafool wrote:Buckeye, does your GG1 have a horn or noisemaker of any kind? I recently bought an 8150 and was somewhat surprised that it was silent--just wondering if there are any retrofits other than some electronic gewgaws?
My GG1 does not have any sounds.
I looked into installing a sound board and speaker, maybe with TAS, several years ago. If I remember correctly, I was informed that there was not enough room for the sound system in this unit.
My Pop bought me one brand new for passing the 10th grade. I did'nt have TMCC at the time so it didn't get much run time maybe 3hrs tops. Just started running her alot when I built my layout and I even forgot it had TMCC. A little disappointed with it after you are used to the whole shabang of sounds and working couplers. And there is denfinitly not alot of room for a upgade to sound. Noticed when running it in TMCC mode she it a little slugish in responding and seems stiff on throttle controls. Neat thing is the instructions say you can power her by the pantograms.
Just pulled this one out of the box, it sat on the factory shelf for 10 years mint, have not bought any lionel for over 20 yrs, but this one I could not pass up for 150.00. Runs like a champ and really pulls the cars, must weigh close to 10 lbs! I don't have the TMCC, but I did notice it had directional lighting. I have always wanted a GG-1, and this will fit the bill for pulling the Christmas box cars my wife and I have collected over the past 12 years. Like my friend said its OLD SCHOOL and its cool... but if I want to upgrade there has to be an after market sound sytem that will work?
J. Daddy,It really depends on how much space is under the shell. Since yours does not have TMCC, there maybe enough space for a sound card and speaker... your best bet would be to contact Mike at TAS... Train America Studios...
Speaking of directional lighting, there is a very simple way to get it in a traditional universal-motor, e-unit locomotive, like most postwar locomotives. All you do is disconnect the headlight wire from the pickup bus and connect it to one of the motor brush terminals. (If it doesn't light in the proper direction, move it to the other brush.) Leave the shell of the headlight socket connected to the frame of the locomotive. You don't have to add any components at all.
This method has the very slight drawback that the headlight lamp will glow very dimly when it should be off. However, from, outside the locomotive, this is almost impossible to notice.
Bob Nelson
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