| Electric Locomotive.
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) class GG-1 heavy general-purpose locomotive. Loewy Design in Tuscan Red, version in the Fifties.
Source: www.maerklin.de
GG-1: Brunswick Green and Tuscan Red. The Pennsylvania Railroad did not introduce a new form of motive power with the electrification of its main routes in the Thirties; it introduced a new dimension of power for locomotives. The prototype for the GG-1 provided over 4,600 horsepower (3,400 kilowatts) with its 6 twin motors and short term it produced almost 8,000 PS (6,000 kilowatts). With 208 tons on an articulated frame with a 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement, this locomotive was designed to pull heavy freight trains of up to 6,000 tons and fast passenger trains at speeds up to 145 km/h / 91 mph. Suitably simple adaptations to the gear drive were planned in the design of the locomotive. The French designer Raymond Loewy developed an unmistakable and unsurpassed shape for a locomotive from the prototype, which was similar to a Crocodile from the future. The timeless shape goes hand in hand with the indestructible technology for these locomotives, some of which were still in service into the Eighties. Most of the GG-1s were painted in the very dark Brunswick Green. They were designed for general use, and the drive gear could be changed at short notice for freight or passenger service. Several locomotives were used exclusively for the Pennsylvania Railroads deluxe Congressional Limited trains. They consistently kept their high speed gearing and were painted in Tuscan Red, the dignified reddish brown for the entire fleet of the earlier Pennsy express train passenger cars. Both versions kept the typical gold colored striping and later broad bands on the GG-1 paint scheme up to the merger creating the Penn Central and the later distribution to Amtrak (passenger trains) and Conrail (freight trains) in the Seventies. |
