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PRR GG1

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Posted by ccltrains on Friday, September 24, 2021 12:45 PM

Thanks

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, September 24, 2021 2:16 PM

Flintlock76
Computers aren't smart, computers aren't dumb, computers are MEAN!

It was pointed out to me in the '70s that computers are very fast, very dumb, and very literal.  Understand these things and much will make sense that otherwise wouldn't...

You can make computers of sufficient complexity act more intelligently... as long as you remember that the FSM hardware that they use is very fast, very dumb, and very literal.

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Posted by ccltrains on Sunday, September 26, 2021 10:09 AM

Rather than having the computer hate me I think it is an operator err:Fat Finger Syndrome

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Posted by ccltrains on Sunday, September 26, 2021 10:10 AM

Rather than having the computer hate me I think it is an operator error:Fat Finger Syndrome

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, September 26, 2021 10:44 AM

I've never had that with a computer, however I DID have it with the damn SmartPhone the company issued!  

Another reason I looked forward to retiring.

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, September 26, 2021 2:10 PM

24, you probably knew Noel Weaver.  He was (still is?) a fellow member of the Brabford Electric Ry. Association, operators of the Shore Line Trolley Museum. Returning one Sunday evening from a weekend at the museum, I decided to splurge on Amfleet comfort rather than Metro North Washboard economy.  I also decided to trust to honesty, and with my overnight bag in a luggage rack, went to the front of the train to use my Leica on the GG1.  So Noel leans out of the cab window, and calls:  "Dave, want to....."

A great experience,  When I went back to retreave by overnight bag at Penn, I did hand the conductor my ticket, not only because of honesty, but also to remove any  suspician of my taking someone else's bag,

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Posted by dmoore74 on Sunday, September 26, 2021 4:53 PM

daveklepper

24, you probably knew Noel Weaver.  He was (still is?) a fellow member of the Brabford Electric Ry. Association, operators of the Shore Line Trolley Museum. Returning one Sunday evening from a weekend at the museum, I decided to splurge on Amfleet comfort rather than Metro North Washboard economy.  I also decided to trust to honesty, and with my overnight bag in a luggage rack, went to the front of the train to use my Leica on the GG1.  So Noel leans out of the cab window, and calls:  "Dave, want to....."

A great experience,  When I went back to retreave by overnight bag at Penn, I did hand the conductor my ticket, not only because of honesty, but also to remove any  suspician of my taking someone else's bag,

 

Re: Noel Weaver

Noel Sterling Weaver, Jr 82, of Ft. Lauderdale Florida died on May 20, 2019 after a brief illness. Known to his family as “Bud”, he was the son of Noel Sterling Weaver and Dorris Becker Weaver. He was born in Torrington in 1936 and graduated from Wilby High School in Waterbury, CT. Upon graduation, he spent his entire working life as a Fireman and then Engineer with the New Haven RR, Penn Central, Amtrak, and Conrail. He retired as the top engineer in New England. after nearly 40 year of dedicated service. He was a highly respected railroad historian with contacts throughout the United States. With God’s love may he rest in peace. He is survived by his sister Serita W. Eisenbies, of Lincoln MA, three nephews, Chris, Mark, and Stephen and their families.

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, September 27, 2021 3:28 AM

Rhanks!   Saving on the hard-drive.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 1:01 PM

alphas
Engineers in my greater family who operated GG1's always complained about how noisy they were.

Those engineers in your "greater family" were entirely correct.  I rode in a GG1 cab from 30th Street to Lancaster one time and was very surprised at how noisy the cab was as compared to the almost stealthy quiet if you were standing trackside as one passed.  A GG1 cab at speed was so noisy the engineer and fireman had trouble communicating.  And therein lies my first GG1 story.

On the trip I mentioned above, we were cruising at track speed when the fireman yelled across the cab, "DOGS!".  The engineer, seeing a dog running away from the track, looked over and shouted back, "MISSED HIM".  The fireman responded by shaking his head and holding up two fingers.

My second GG1 story is a bit happier though.  I had earlier ridden an NYC (formerly a CUT) 2-C+C-2 motor from GCT to Harmon.  Calling that experience bone-jarring is to put it mildly while the GG1 rode more like a Pullman.  I've never understood why this would be as the two motors had the same wheel arrangement and were within a few tons of each other.  Quill drive on the GG1?  Incidentally, I have drawings hanging on a wall beside me of PRR 4844 and CUT 204.

Chuck
Allen, TX

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 1:34 PM

cefinkjr
Quill drive on the GG1?

And better suspension and equalization.

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 1:41 PM

cefinkjr
Quill drive on the GG1?

Seems like I saw an explanation of quill drives in a rail magazine not long ago.  Don't remember enough detail to explain it, though.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 1:42 PM

And the New Haven EF-3s were even better and queter inside as well, and even more powerful.  McGinnis was a fool to scrap them, or rmove them from service, deadline them, and leave it to Alpert to scrap them.

GG-1s had the experience of the New Haven's EP-3s, and  the  New Haven's EF-3s had the experiebce of the GG-1s.

 

Not the EP-5 rectifiers.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 2:04 PM

The EF-3's may have been good motors but the Cos Cob power plant was beginning to show its age and New Haven was in no position to spend the money for upgrading it.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 2:38 PM

tree68
Seems like I saw an explanation of quill drives in a rail magazine not long ago.  Don't remember enough detail to explain it, though.

Comparatively simple; in fact I think the Kalmbach article on the GG1 described it.

The name is a mistranslation of the German 'Feder', which can mean 'feather' or 'quill' in the sense of a feather pen, but also 'spring'.

In the GG1, the drive wheels are conparatively large with light spoke construction, and have a simple axle with end bearings.  This gives very low unsprung mass for suspension.

The twin motors (each two armatures with pinions in a common frame) drive onto a large bull gear on a hollow shaft, which turns on bearings fixed in the chassis.  This has projections on its edges that go through the spoked wheel centers, and cupped springs and dampers are provided between the projections and spokes to resiliently drive the wheels in either direction.  The vertical suspension travel is accommodated easily in a combination of shear and sliding.

If careful alignment and lubrication between spring cups and spokes were not maintained, the life of those components might be measured in weeks.

Interestingly enough there were no dampers in the original chassis -- the assumption being that friction and weight would load the wheels enough for design speed stability.  You'll find reference to 'snubbers' in the early literature but these aren' friction or hydraulic 'shock absorbers'; they're coil springs wound at a different spring rate to break resonance, as found on some three-piece freight trucks.  These were (unsurprisingly) found to have little effect, and the Gs did fine without them at 80mph...

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Posted by MidlandMike on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 9:07 PM

cefinkjr
I had earlier ridden an NYC (formerly a CUT) 2-C+C-2 motor from GCT to Harmon.  Calling that experience bone-jarring is to put it mildly while the GG1 rode more like a Pullman.  I've never understood why this would be as the two motors had the same wheel arrangement and were within a few tons of each other.  Quill drive on the GG1?

The CUT motors had nose-suspended DC traction motors.  Their max speed was 70 mph.  Perhaps since they were to serve a 17 mile terminal operation, they probably didn't need to ride like a pullman.

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Posted by RTroy on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 1:35 AM

My wife is nowhere as much into trains as I am, BUT - she loves GG1's!  She also sort of tolerates my following Big Boy's!

 

Come to think of it, we need someone to bring a GG1 back to life!

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 4:03 AM

I believe the New Haven EP-3s, EP4s, and EF-3s also had the "Quill Drve."  correct me, if I am wrong.   Possibly, also the EP-2s (2-6-2+2-6-2 or  1-C-1 + 1- C -1).

The "Jets," the EP-5s  had  trucks, motors, and suspension like any six-motored Alco-GE diesel-electric.

And McGinnis was proved wrong on Cos Cob. Thus, after reviewing the cost of restoring EF-3s and EP-4s still on the dead line, the purchase of the EF-4s from the N&W, built originally for the Virginian.

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 11:42 AM

EP2s had quill drive.

Even the earliest New Haven motors had quill and spring drive, although of different geometry to that seen on the EP3 and GG1.  See Burch, Electric Traction for Railway Trains, 1911 (p.204) for a picture of one of the original motors and its wheelset.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 12:30 PM

GG-1s, and I believe EP-3s and EP-4s and EF-3s, and possibly EP-2s as well, had two motors for each axle, EF-1s and EF-2s had one, I believe.  I think EF-2s were a separate type altogether, with a rotary-converter and dc traction motors. I think it may not have had Quill drive.

Correct me, if I am wrong.

All "EPs" had 600V DC 3rd-rail capability.   All EFs were 11000V 25Hz AC only.

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 1:00 PM

The 'twin motor' drives are separate from the actual quill mechanism.  You see the principle as early as the WWI era, although the motors could be quite large compared to a 627 or 428 meant to fit between articulated underframes.

I think both the EP1 and EF1 had one motor per wheelset, but coaxial with the axle and not riding on it.  This in marked contrast to a Batchelder motor which mounted the whole armature ON the axle... a configuration good for 70mph in the early Fifties. Surprise

I got the impression from every source I remember that the EF2 was a disaster.  Hard to say if comparable to the PRR L5 disaster, but not the correct answer to 'how to design a locomotive'...

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Posted by daveklepper on Friday, October 1, 2021 7:02 AM

Well, only two of the EF-2s were built, so you must be correct.  But did not GN have some succesful rotary-converter "motors."

And some EF-1s had a second life on the B&M (Hoosak Tunnel) when the much-advanced EF-3s arrived for the New Haven, joining B&M "motors" that were close copies of the EF-1.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, October 1, 2021 10:12 AM

I'm pretty sure that all of GN's electrics for the single-phase AC electrification were motor-generator sets including the W1's.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Erik_Mag on Saturday, October 2, 2021 11:15 AM

All of GN's electrics built for the new Cascade tunnel electrification (single phase 11kV) were M-G sets. Some of the box cab electrics (AC series motors) built for the Spokane & Inland Empire ended up their service liives on the Cascade Tunnel electrification.

Quills:

The first milling machine that I've used had a quill for holding the cutting tool collets.

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Posted by aegrotatio on Saturday, October 2, 2021 12:28 PM

cefinkjr

On the trip I mentioned above, we were cruising at track speed when the fireman yelled across the cab, "DOGS!".  The engineer, seeing a dog running away from the track, looked over and shouted back, "MISSED HIM".  The fireman responded by shaking his head and holding up two fingers.

 

Sorry if this is a FAQ, but what does a fireman do on an electric locomotive? Does he do double duty as a brakeman?

 

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, October 2, 2021 3:25 PM

Erik_Mag
The first milling machine that I've used had a quill for holding the cutting tool collets.

My Unimat had a quill in the tailstock for the stem of the double-bearing live center.

These are a different etymology from the German 'Feder' as spring: these reference the hollow tube around a shaft.   Which is also a use found in turbine parlance.

Note that BOTH senses apply to the GG1 drive: the floating tube around the axle, and the springs to the wheels.

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, October 2, 2021 8:53 PM

aegrotatio
Sorry if this is a FAQ, but what does a fireman do on an electric locomotive? Does he do double duty as a brakeman?

Same thing he does on a Diesel...

Look up "featherbedding."

 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by 243129 on Saturday, October 2, 2021 9:06 PM

tree68

 

 
aegrotatio
Sorry if this is a FAQ, but what does a fireman do on an electric locomotive? Does he do double duty as a brakeman?

 

Same thing he does on a Diesel...

Look up "featherbedding."

 

 

So you agree with Arbitration Award 282 and its implementation?

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Posted by SD70Dude on Saturday, October 2, 2021 9:57 PM

tree68
aegrotatio
Sorry if this is a FAQ, but what does a fireman do on an electric locomotive? Does he do double duty as a brakeman?

Same thing he does on a Diesel...

Look up "featherbedding."

On units like the GG1 with poor visibility having a second person on the opposite side of the cab greatly helped with seeing signals.  The same goes for hand signals from trainmen on cars or the ground during switching operations.  

As on diesels, the fireman would also be responsible for the operation of steam generators on passenger trains.  

But yes, contractual obligations were the main reason that fireman remained on non-steam power for a long time in North America.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, October 3, 2021 6:41 AM

In Amtrak days, GG-1s leaving New Haven for Washington, with both rngineer and train crew changing at New York (the train crew, but not the engineer, probably came through from Boston). did not have a fireman.

 

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, October 3, 2021 6:57 AM

SD70Dude
On units like the GG1 with poor visibility having a second person on the opposite side of the cab greatly helped with seeing signals. 

We have a second person in the cab when running long hood forward.  With the many curves on our line, there are times all the engineer can see is the oncoming forest...  A second set of eyes, as it were.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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