Америкалық GG1 электр локомотивтері

Class of American electric locomotives

The Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 is a class of streamlined electric locomotives built for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), in the northeastern United States. The class was known for its striking art deco shell, its ability to pull trains at up to 100 mph, and its long operating career of almost 50 years. Between 1934 and 1943, General Electric and the PRR's Altoona Works built 139 GG1s. The GG1 entered service with the PRR in 1935 and later ran on successor railroads Penn Central, Conrail, and Amtrak. The last GG1 was retired by New Jersey Transit in 1983. Most have been scrapped, but sixteen are in museums.

The GG1 was 79 feet (24 m) long and weighed The frame of the locomotive was in two halves joined with a ball joint, allowing the locomotive to negotiate sharper curves. The body rested on the frame and was clad in welded steel plates. The control cabs were near the center of the locomotive on each side of the main oil cooled transformer and oil fired train heating boiler. This arrangement, first used on the PRR's Modified P5 class, provided for greater crew safety in a collision and provided for bi directional operation of the locomotive. Using Whyte notation for steam locomotives, each frame is a 4 6 0 locomotive, which in the Pennsylvania Railroad classification system is a "G". The GG1 has two such frames back to back, 4 6 0+0 6 4. The related AAR wheel arrangement classification is 2 C+C 2. This means one frame mounted upon a set of two axles unpowered (the "2") and three axles powered (the "C") hinged with the ball and socket to another frame of the same design (the +). The unpowered "2" axles are at either end of the locomotive. The GG1 was equipped with a Leslie A200 horn.

A pantograph on each end of the locomotive body was used to collect the 11,000 V, 25 Hz alternating current (AC) from the overhead catenary wires. In operation, the leading pantograph was usually kept lowered and the trailing one raised to collect current, since if the rear pantograph failed it would not strike the forward pantograph. A transformer between the two cabs stepped down the 11,000 V to the voltages needed for the traction motors and other equipment.) drove the GG1's diameter driving wheels on six axles using a quill drive. The power required was such that double traction motors were used, with two motors driving each axle. The traction motors were six pole field, 400 volts, 25 Hz rated each at The motors were frame mounted using quill drives to the sprung driving wheels, providing a flexible suspension system across a relatively long locomotive frame, which allowed full wheel weight to rest on the rail for good traction regardless of track condition. A series wound commutator motor's speed is increased by increasing the applied voltage to the motor, thus increasing the current through the motor's armature, which is necessary for increasing its torque and thus increasing motor speed. The engineer's cab had a 21 position controller for applying voltage to the motors. Four unpowered leading/trailing wheels were mounted on each end of the locomotive.

In the 1930s, railroad passenger cars were heated with steam from the locomotive. The GG1 had an oil fired steam generator to feed its train's "steam line."

Beginning in the late 1910s, the PRR received the FF1, but decided that it was too slow for passenger trains; it was relegated to heavy freight service. In the mid 1920s, it received the L5 electric, which had a third rail power supply at the time. When the Pennsylvania built the O1 and the P5, it chose the P5 over the O1 for its ability and power on the rails. After a grade crossing accident with the P5, the cab was moved to the center and was designated P5a. PRR still searched for the ultimate electric, since the P5 did not track well at high speeds and was wondering if the P5a could be improved even further. Soon enough, the Pennsylvania was in luck and found two contacts as early as 1932. The mechanical design of the GG1 was based largely on the EP3, which the PRR had borrowed from the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad to compare it to the P5a. In 1933, the PRR decided to replace its P5a locomotives; it asked General Electric and Westinghouse to design prototype locomotives with a lighter axle load and more power than the P5a, a top speed of at least , a streamlined body design, and a single (central) control cab. Both companies delivered their prototypes to PRR in August 1934. Westinghouse's R1 was essentially "little more than an elongated and more powerful version of the P5a" with an AAR wheel arrangement of 2 D 2. An additional 81 locomotives were built at Altoona between 1937 and 1943. On January 28 1935, to mark the completion of electrification of the line from Washington, D. C., to New York City, PRR ran a special train hauled by Pennsylvania Railroad 4800 before it opened the line for revenue service on February 10. It made a round trip from D. C. to Philadelphia; it completed the return leg in a record 1 hour and 50 minutes. In the mid 1950s, with declining demand for passenger train service, GG1s 4801–4857 were re geared for a maximum speed of and placed in freight service. They initially retained their train heating steam generator, and were recalled to passenger service for holiday season mail trains

Timetable speed limit for the GG1 was 75 80 mph until October 1967, when some were allowed 100 mph for a couple of years. When Metroliner cars were being overhauled in the late 1970s, GG1s were again allowed 100 mph for a short time when hauling Amfleet cars on trains scheduled to run 226.6 miles from New York to Washington in 3 hours and 20 to 25 minutes. On June 8, 1968, two Penn Central GG1s hauled Robert F. Kennedy's funeral train from New York Penn Station to Washington, D. C. At some point, PRR hired famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy to "enhance the GG1's aesthetics." Loewy also added five gold pinstripes and a Brunswick green paint scheme.

On September 6, 1943, the Congressional Limited crashed at Frankford Junction, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The train was pulled by GG1 4930. The accident was caused by a journal box fire (a hot box) on the front of the seventh of the train's 16 cars. The journal box seized and an axle snapped, catching the underside of the truck and catapulting the car upwards. It struck a signal gantry, which peeled off its roof along the line of windows "like a can of sardines". Car #8 wrapped itself around the gantry upright in a figure U. The next six cars were scattered at odd angles over the tracks, and the last two cars remained undamaged. In total, 79 passengers died, all from cars #7 and #8, and 117 were injured, some seriously. On January 15 1953, train 173, the overnight Federal from Boston, was approaching Washington behind GG1 4876. The train passed a signal 2.1 mile (3 km) north of Union Station between , and the engineer decreased the throttle and started applying the brakes. When the engineer realized that the train was not slowing down, and applying the emergency brake had no effect, he sounded the engine's horn. A signalman, hearing the horn and noting the speed of the 4876, phoned ahead to the station master's office. 4876 negotiated several switches at speeds well over the safe limits and entered the station at around The train demolished the bumping post, continued through the station master's office and into the concourse, The handle of the angle cock had been improperly placed and had contacted the bottom of the car. Once it was closed, the air brake pipe on all the cars behind the closed valve remained at full pressure, keeping the brakes released on those cars while the brakes on the locomotive and first three cars were applied in emergency. The only major electro mechanical breakdown of the GG1 was caused by a February 1958 blizzard that swept across the northeastern United States and put nearly half of the GG1s out of commission. Exceptionally fine snow, caused by the extreme low temperatures, passed through the traction motors' air filters and into the electrical components. When the snow melted, it short circuited the components. and leased another 21, of which 11 were for use on New York and Long Branch commuter trains. Amtrak initially renumbered the purchased GG1s as Nos. 900 to 929; later the railroad added a prefixed "4". This replicated some of the numbers of the leased units, which were renumbered 4930 to 4939, except 4935, which kept its old PRR/PC number. Amtrak unsuccessfully attempted to replace the GG1s in 1975 with the General Electric E60. An E60 derailed during testing at , forcing an investigation (the E60 used the same trucks as the P30CH diesel then in service with Amtrak) that delayed acceptance. The hoped for service speed was never achieved (timetable limit was 90 mph, then 80, then 90). A replacement was finally found after Amtrak imported and tested two lightweight European locomotives: X995, an Rc4a built by ASEA of Sweden, and X996, a French design. The railroad picked the ASEA design, initially nicknamed the "Swedish swifty" or the "Mighty Mouse" and later often referred to as the "Swedish Meatball". Electro Motive Diesel, then a part of General Motors, was licensed to build a derivative called the AEM 7. The last GG1s in use were some of the 13 assigned to New Jersey Transit (#4872–4884) for its North Jersey Coast Line between New York and South Amboy (the former New York and Long Branch) that ran until October 29, 1983, thus retiring the locomotive after 49 years of service.

During the mid 1930s, many railroads streamlined locomotives and passenger cars to convey a fashionable sense of speed. While the Union Pacific had the M 10000 and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad the Zephyr, the PRR had the GG1. It was also featured in art calendars provided by PRR, which were used to "promote its reputation in the public eye." PRR painted GG1s appear in the films Broadway Limited in 1941, The Clock in 1945, Blast of Silence in 1961, the 1962 version of The Manchurian Candidate, and Avalon in 1990. Two GG1s appear in the 1973 film The Seven Ups—a black Penn Central locomotive and a silver, red and blue Amtrak locomotive. A Penn Central GG1 also appears in another 1973 film The Last Detail. PRR GG1 4821 appears briefly in the 1952 film The Greatest Show on Earth, hauling the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus into Philadelphia's Greenwich Yard, as the movie's director Cecil B. DeMille narrates the scene of its arrival. Near the end of the 1951 film Bright Victory, GG1 #4849 is shown pulling into the station. A GG1 and the Congressional were featured on a postage stamp as part of the United States Postal Service's All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains set in 1999. The PC games Railroad Tycoon II, Railroad Tycoon 3, Train Fever, Transport Fever and Transport Fever 2 allow players to purchase and operate GG1 locomotive engines on their train routes. The GG1 is also available with the default Trainz Simulator Games in recent years, and is available as add ons for Railworks, Train Simulator by Dovetail Games and Microsoft Train Simulator. A GG1 in a fictional Soviet color scheme appears as an environmental prop in the 2023 first person shooter Atomic Heart. Model GG1s have been produced in G, O, S, HO, N and Z scales by Rivarossi, Bachmann, Tyco, Lionel, MTH, USA Trains, Kato, Astor, Fine Art Models, Märklin and other manufacturers.