GG1: Pants up or down?

[martinden]

I'm thinking about getting a GG1, but I wonder about the pantographs. I have a fairly large Christmas layout that's up for a few months a year, and there's not going to be any sort of catenary. I know that quite a few forumites have GG1s, but I doubt that more than a few have any catenary or overhead wire. So ...

Do you run with both pantographs up, both down, or one up, one down? If you have one or both up, how do you deal with restricted overhead clearance -- tunnels and bridges?

Martin

[bfskinner]

It is my understanding that the prototypical operation of GG1's was to run with the front pantograph down and the rear one up. Ostensibily this was so that if the catenary wire broke it would not foul the trailing pan. I don't know whether this is true, but it's what I have been told was standard operating procedure on the Pennsylvania RR, at least.

In icy conditions, sometimes the front pantograph was raised in addition to the rear one to attempt to remove any ice that was coating the wire.

On my layout, I ensure that there is clearance -- or I run with both down for obvious reasons. I have a tunnel that I can easily remove and replace, so if I want to run a  GG1 in the up position,  I simply remove the tunnel temporarily.

In case I have misunderstood your question, how you dress is entirely up to you, as long as your guests don't mind.

 

[Seayakbill]

I keep the pantographs down on my Bi-Polars so as not to damage them.

[Bob.M]

martinden

....

Do you run with both pantographs up, both down, or one up, one down? If you have one or both up, how do you deal with restricted overhead clearance -- tunnels and bridges?

Martin

I run with front pantograph down, rear about 1/2 way up, held in place with an s-shaped piece of solid wire.

[sir james I]

The rear one up is what I always heard. Except as stated above. On my layout I leave them down as they come off too easy.

[Bob.M]

The 1/2 height matches the smokestack of a Scale K-Line PRR caboose.

I think the reason was to avoid the sparks and/or ice from the front pantograph hitting the engineer.

Sort of like this:

[runtime]

Thanks for the great pic!

I don't run my 2332 at all, since the leading truck tends to derail over turnouts.

[traindaddy1]

Interesting question:  Not being a stickler for detail or a prototype guy, I run my NH 2350 with them down.  (If I ever got to the point of having the overhead lines on my layout, I might consider running with one up)   Thanks for asking.

[Major]

I have seen a few pictures of GG1's with trains in tow where the front one was up and the rear one was down.  Maybe the rear one was damaged?

[phillyreading]

It was policy of the Pennsy RR to run the rear pantograph up and the front one down, on all electric engines and electric passenger cars. Icy weather may dictate a differant policy but it was the corporate policy to run rear panto up, unless on a siding and switching cars.

Another note about the Pennsy RR, they used 25 hertz, or cycles, at about 24,000 volts A.C. for the electric for their large electric engines.

Lee F.

[lionelsoni]

"Under normal operation of single or coupled electric engines, rear pantograph shall be up on each engine except class E-44, which must have the leading pantograph up.  Adjacent pantographs of coupled engines should not be up when it can be avoided."

"Engineman must be on the alert for excessive arcing caused by sleet formation, and when such is observed he must at once comply with instructions governing double pantograph order operation.  The first indication of sleet shall be reported promptly to the Superintendent who will issue a double pantograph order when conditions warrant.

"With double pantograph order in effect, electric engines operating singly shall run with both pantographs up...

"Electric engines coupled shall run with both pantographs up on leading engine and rear pantograph up on each trailing engine..."

"Patrol trains, consisting of five or more multiple-unit cars or two electric engines coupled, will be assigned to remove sleet from contact wires...."

"Two electric engines light, operating as a patrol train to remove sleet from contact wires, shall run with two pantographs up on leading engine, and with rear pantograph up on trailing engine...Any three pantographs may be up in an emergency but rear pantograph of the leading engine and the front pantograph of the trailing engine shall not be up at the same time when it can be avoided."

From C. T. 290 Electrical Operating Instructions, The Pennsylvania Railroad, Revised December 15, 1966

"Each locomotive normally uses one pantograph at a time.  Aerodynamic tests showed that the best arrangement is for both shuttle locomotives to operate with their rear pantographs raised.  Main-line locomotives with two pantographs generally do this as well, but for a different reason; if the leading pantograph hits an obstruction, debris could be carried back to damage the rear pantograph, so putting both out of action."

From Semmens and Machefert-Tassin, Channel Tunnel Trains, Eurotunnel, 1994

The Pennsylvania electrification was 11 kilovolts at 25 hertz, increased to 12 kilovolts in 1948 and still that today.

[EIS2]

martinden

Do you run with both pantographs up, both down, or one up, one down? If you have one or both up, how do you deal with restricted overhead clearance -- tunnels and bridges?

Running through bridges or tunnels is no problem.  The bridges and tunnels shear off the pantographs every time.  Soooo, unless I forget, I run my GG1 with the pantographs down.

Earl