Battery Powered GG1

[Rick Gates]

Terry, I've worked on alot of GG-1's. Simply put, it's like your car, if the engine dies the batteries still give you lights, control panel indicators, radio use, cooling. That's all you get. With the lights you may see your way to troubleshoot and fix the problem. With the radio, you may call for help. Blowers may operate at low speed to keep an already heated transformer from exceeding temperatures and prevent damage, etc. You do not move it unless power is restored or a helper engine shows up.

[Anonymous]

No, Batteries can not power a GG1. They were for things like lights in the cab when there no over head power

[jchnhtfd]

Terry -- the GG1's did have storage batteries; as Rudy noted, they were used to power the control circuits when, for one reason or another, traction power was not available (e.g. the pans were down). They were big, 'tis true -- but didn't even come close to being able to power the traction motors, nor were they intended to. Keep in mind that the GG1's -- like all Pennsy electrics -- ran on 11,000 volts 25 hz AC power; in order for a battery to be usable, it would have had to been truly huge, and there would have had to have been a rotary convertor to get the needed AC power. Just not feasible.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

According to a cut away view of a GG 1 in Bill Middleton's book, "When Steam Roads Electrified," the GG 1 had storage batteries. Its storage batteries appeared to be large, and I understand they were used to power the control circuits rather than to supply emergency power to the traction motor in case of a power failure.

To add a little more fuel to the fire. The GG 1's took in ac power at 11, 000 volts and 25 Hz, but it was stepped down to a lower voltage for the traction motors; I am not sure of the traction motor's voltage. The GG 1's transformers used a pcb based cooling fluid is an environmental no - no in today's world. But, by the time the adverse effects of pcb's on the environment were verified the GG 1's were on their last legs anyhow.

[locomutt]

Try a Google search,and see if you can come up with an answer. Hint:
11,000 volts AC stepped down to approx. 600 volts.[:)]

[Anonymous]

Someone told me that GG1's could run for 30 minutes on their emergency batteries, incase the overhead line temporary lost power. Is this true? How big were the emerengcy batteries, and how long would they hold a charge before needing recharging?

keep asking keep learning