I worked on these both as a student engineer and engineer. In the winter time in below zero blizzards, you froze your ass off. Snow and ice coming into the cab through every crack there was. In the summer it must be close to 110/120 degrees in the cab. If you were running from the end with the tap switches, it would sound like firecrackers going off every time you notched back. They were some experience! This is not Cliff Underwood by the way.
They were neglected by the inspectors in that area!! The mechanics were only interested in it running and not for the comfort of the ENGINEER!! But the GG1 was ahead of its time and could have runned forever if the upkeep was done vigorously like they do in SWEDEN TO ITS OLDER ENGINES!! The mechanics back then just didn't give to much of a hoot, once they learned the GG1 WAS GOING TO BE REPLACED. I adored the GG1 for its SHEER SPEED AND BRUTE FORCE!! The GG1 Could have broken every Electric locomotive RECORD, if it was vigorously maintained and parts gotten NEW FROM THE BUILDERS!! I always loved that gearing up and gearing down sound!! That alone is a classic!! And yes ,I was at its RETIREMENT PARTY IN NEW JERSEY, THE DAY THEIR MUSIC DIED!! LONG LIVE THE G'S LEGACY! NEVER WILL IT DIE OUT AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED!!! EARL of EL BARRIO, NYC, N.Y. 12/30/20. 8:56 PM
@@earlknightjr.6161 Thank you for your reply. They were something else, the old heads swore by them and got pissed off if they were. assigned E33/44's. They were geared for either 90 or 100 mph and some of those crazy runners would get them up almost to that with a freight train!! They had speedometers, not speed recorders.
@@ReadingAreaRailfan Only sound was the air compressor, the transformer didn't make any noise until you worked power then it's like in the video, a sound humming. The E44's were a different story. The blowers were loud just standing there. When moving with tonnage, when you hit run 4, there was a change over, I can't remember what now, but you heard a high pitched screaming, and you better have that train stretched because now that sucker is kicking in and moving!. I hope you visit the PA state rail museum and go in the cab of that E44 and pull throttle on it, you'd love it.
I enjoyed that! Warts and all. This is the real ting, no fancy music; just the loco doing all the talking. At 85, I am more than well aware of the GG1; the greatest American electric loco of them all.
This is the North Jersey Coastline and Amtrak North East Corridor. This Locomotive Engineer was banned from working on the North East Corridor through the Baltimore Division. Starting at Sunny Side Yard Queens NYC to Union Station Washington DC.He was the Locomotive Engineer on the Silver Star that wrecked in the Baltimore Division. It was determined that he wasn’t speeding. The Rail Spread while he was going 80 MPH. Some of the coaches were almost buried up to the Windows. He actually had to appear and testify in front of the US Congressional Hearing. He got screwed and found guilty of negligence. A Union Lawyer Representative was supposed to show up to his inquiry, but no one showed up. He brought in for me to look at all the Inquiry paper work. He became a very bitter Locomotive Engineer after this Wreck and never forgave the Union for not showing up to the inquiry. Mainly because he was in the top ten in seniority. The South Ambassador NJ to Sunny Side Yard Queens NYC and return was a 7 day a week job. The job he was on that went to Union Station Washington DC worked 10 days a month and made more money than the South Amboy Job. His first name was Joe and he was an excellent Locomotive Engineer. The only good thing, signing up at South Amboy was he lived in South Amboy NJ and could literally walk to work.
Joe was a good guy who took us rides when he should not have. One of the films I did was an explanation how the GG1s operated but that film on super 8 sound was never digitized
This is something I was thinking about as well but also wonder if it’s just cause camera zoom/perspective. Would be interested to hear from an engineer though.
My grandad was an engineer on the southern railway. In the 50s and 60s. He use to park his f7 or e8 diesels next to them in ivy city rail yard in washington dc. Very cool video.
Back in the day when I was younger I used to work for a carnival and one of the rides that I used to run was the bumper cars you would get that ozone smell from the electric generated through the cars.. In my latter years I got to ride on a GG1 and that same smell permeated the cab and you could almost feel the hair standing up on your head from the static electricity generated from the big electric motors 😨😨💥
Enjoyable and only wish it were longer! Cool in that we have something of an idea of what things were like for a GG1 crew. One point: I vaguely remember reading long ago that the GG1's riding qualities were decent, compared to other locomotives of its time period. The engineer here was busy, but appeared comfortable. I'm only guessing but the "Camera shake" from the videographer (who did a great job) standing inside a speeding locomotive, perhaps, makes this ride look slightly bouncier than it actually was. I've shot video from a modern car, while pacing trains, and I still managed to have "camera shake". But that's just an observation. It's best to speak with the good people that ran these giants. A "High-5" to the gentleman who shot this. THANKS!
There will never be a loco cooler than the GG1 but damn it looks like those were hard to see out of, seriously how easy was it to see signals on either side of the track when the cab is completely bisected by the nose??
There was a "fireman" on the left side to call/confirm wayside signals to the engineer. There was also a "cab signal" system to alert the engineer; I believe the "fireman" had the signals as well.
Well the visibility was no worse (actually better) than the steam locos the GG1 initially replaced. A real issue was the incredible noise of the motor and mechanics inside as the cab had next to no noise insulation, and during cold or hot days, the cab was just as cold or hot as the outside. That being said, many engineers loved the loco for it's robustness, reliability, and incredible power.
Before the pandemic I would ride this line into NYC all the time. I guess this a bit subjective but the ALP46s they use today don't look nearly as cool as these absolute titans. They used to change the locomotive in two minutes flat at South Amboy. The electrification extends to Long Branch now, but you have to transfer to a diesel train which is a pain in the butt, especially since they tend to show up late!
Certainly, AMTRAK could've worked with domestic loco manufacturers to produce a modernized version of the GG1. Instead, they chose foreign designs and manufacturers. I gues to appeal to the crowd that complains that our passenger railroads are not like Europe or Asia. So be it.
There are many locomotives built after the GG1s that far surpass the GG1. An SD-40 has almost 17,000 lbs more continuous tractive effort. I’m glad I did not have to run any of the GG1s. Like many of the other early GE locomotives like the U-30-C and U-23-B the GG1s look like a rough ride.
I'm 64 years old. I grew up riding on the trains pulled by these machines. When I was a kid I had several cab rides in GG1's. When I was in my early 20's a friend and I got a ride from Penn Station NY to Philadelphia. Rough riding? Absolutely not. One of the standout memories I have is that at 90 MPH, it was just sort of loping along, tracking more smoothly than the cars it was pulling. The GE electrical components used in the GG1 have not much to do with the suspension design of it. In fact, you could make a strong argument for the suspension of the GG1 being the final evolution of the steam locomotive, making it unrelated to any early GE Diesel locomotives. In respectful response to Bill Morris' statement below, I'll first observe that I'm not a locomotive engineer, BUT: An SD-40 has more tractive effort, yes. Towing a 15 car train from NY to DC? Who can go faster? Who gets there first? And who does it every day, for decades?
One further observation about the seeming shakiness of the film: Knowing these locomotives and how they rode makes me say that the cumbersomeness of the camera made this seem like a rough ride. The locomotive itself rode quite smoothly. Many younger people who today watch FILMS (these are not VIDEOS) like this one have no clear understanding of what it was like to actually use that technology, what it was like to use a motion picture ( not video) camera. It is hard to tell in this film which format was used, but it was almost certainly shot on either Super 8 or 16mm film. (Sound was usually recorded separately, by the way. Many people are dimly aware of the clapper stick used at the start of a take in a movies production. One purpose of that was to provide a master starting point for both sound and picture when they were assembled into a composite print. ) If you look at this film, you can see bits and pieces of dust/dirt, etc. That was a typical thing for a film to acquire, as it was shown over the years. This was shot by someone using a camera that was a lot different to hold steady than your average iPhone....
@@UnionCountyPhotography this GG1 is 4882 although i hope Strasburg does do something with the GG1 they have sitting outside so it doesn’t rot away like some of the other stuff they have outside
There would be strong electrical odors plus the odors produced by burning kerosene in the steam generators. Also very likely the friction of the wheels on rails and asbestos brakes would give off odors of burning metal. Keep in mind these were built with all kinds of nasty materials that cause cancer in the human body. Most notably the main transformers that were cooled in PCB oil which was banned internationally in the 1970s.
PCB switch and transformer oils from GE were non flammable, and considered safer at the time before carcinogenic proerties were known. Like asbestos fire proofing.
And which G was it? Couldn't have been Old Big Red 4877 or its usual skipper Cliff Underwood. Both were the star of a 1983 movie available on YT in 4 parts: th-cam.com/video/tC6W0XEqOLw/w-d-xo.html
@@smwca123 I worked with Cliff as a student engineer out of Waverly 5. Crazy man, loved him, good teacher. Cliff also had a pilots license, got busted for dive bombing his girlfriends house,LOL.
![[SUB] 베몬이 교관님 멘탈을 탕탕 후루후루~٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶ FOREVER 웃게 되는 갓기들의 수련회 | 돌들의침묵 | BABYMONSTER(베이비몬스터) 'FOREVER'](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FISAO7BwIxE/mqdefault.jpg)
I worked on these both as a student engineer and engineer. In the winter time in below zero blizzards, you froze your ass off. Snow and ice coming into the cab through every crack there was. In the summer it must be close to 110/120 degrees in the cab. If you were running from the end with the tap switches, it would sound like firecrackers going off every time you notched back. They were some experience! This is not Cliff Underwood by the way.
They were neglected by the inspectors in that area!! The mechanics were only interested in it running and not for the comfort of the ENGINEER!! But the GG1 was ahead of its time and could have runned forever if the upkeep was done vigorously like they do in SWEDEN TO ITS OLDER ENGINES!! The mechanics back then just didn't give to much of a hoot, once they learned the GG1 WAS GOING TO BE REPLACED. I adored the GG1 for its SHEER SPEED AND BRUTE FORCE!! The GG1 Could have broken every Electric locomotive RECORD, if it was vigorously maintained and parts gotten NEW FROM THE BUILDERS!! I always loved that gearing up and gearing down sound!! That alone is a classic!! And yes ,I was at its RETIREMENT PARTY IN NEW JERSEY, THE DAY THEIR MUSIC DIED!! LONG LIVE THE G'S LEGACY! NEVER WILL IT DIE OUT AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED!!! EARL of EL BARRIO, NYC, N.Y. 12/30/20. 8:56 PM
@@earlknightjr.6161 Thank you for your reply. They were something else, the old heads swore by them and got pissed off if they were. assigned E33/44's. They were geared for either 90 or 100 mph and some of those crazy runners would get them up almost to that with a freight train!! They had speedometers, not speed recorders.
@@gordonvincent731 what did they sound like just sitting? Did they make any sound at all?
@@ReadingAreaRailfan Only sound was the air compressor, the transformer didn't make any noise until you worked power then it's like in the video, a sound humming. The E44's were a different story. The blowers were loud just standing there. When moving with tonnage, when you hit run 4, there was a change over, I can't remember what now, but you heard a high pitched screaming, and you better have that train stretched because now that sucker is kicking in and moving!. I hope you visit the PA state rail museum and go in the cab of that E44 and pull throttle on it, you'd love it.
@@gordonvincent731 I've been in the GG1 they have it was like a submarine lol.
I enjoyed that! Warts and all. This is the real ting, no fancy music; just the loco doing all the talking. At 85, I am more than well aware of the GG1; the greatest American electric loco of them all.
This is the North Jersey Coastline and Amtrak North East Corridor. This Locomotive Engineer was banned from working on the North East Corridor through the Baltimore Division. Starting at Sunny Side Yard Queens NYC to Union Station Washington DC.He was the Locomotive Engineer on the Silver Star that wrecked in the Baltimore Division. It was determined that he wasn’t speeding. The Rail Spread while he was going 80 MPH. Some of the coaches were almost buried up to the Windows. He actually had to appear and testify in front of the US Congressional Hearing. He got screwed and found guilty of negligence. A Union Lawyer Representative was supposed to show up to his inquiry, but no one showed up. He brought in for me to look at all the Inquiry paper work. He became a very bitter Locomotive Engineer after this Wreck and never forgave the Union for not showing up to the inquiry.
Mainly because he was in the top ten in seniority. The South Ambassador NJ to Sunny Side Yard Queens NYC and return was a 7 day a week job. The job he was on that went to Union Station Washington DC worked 10 days a month and made more money than the South Amboy Job.
His first name was Joe and he was an excellent Locomotive Engineer. The only good thing, signing up at South Amboy was he lived in South Amboy NJ and could literally walk to work.
Sorry to hear he got so screwed, thank you for sharing his story
Joe was a good guy who took us rides when he should not have. One of the films I did was an explanation how the GG1s operated but that film on super 8 sound was never digitized
The visibility of the track ahead is remarkably good. I often wondered about that considering the front window is small and far back along the side.
This is something I was thinking about as well but also wonder if it’s just cause camera zoom/perspective. Would be interested to hear from an engineer though.
Do love the sound on the traction moters on these GG1 Locomotives.
It's amazing how good their muscle memory is...They can be half-awake and do their jobs...Never seen an engineer sit still...
Lol I ran mile long trains and just sat still and let the train do the work. All depends on the territory and what type of train you got
My grandad was an engineer on the southern railway. In the 50s and 60s. He use to park his f7 or e8 diesels next to them in ivy city rail yard in washington dc. Very cool video.
Back in the day when I was younger I used to work for a carnival and one of the rides that I used to run was the bumper cars you would get that ozone smell from the electric generated through the cars.. In my latter years I got to ride on a GG1 and that same smell permeated the cab and you could almost feel the hair standing up on your head from the static electricity generated from the big electric motors 😨😨💥
Enjoyable and only wish it were longer! Cool in that we have something of an idea of what things were like for a GG1 crew. One point: I vaguely remember reading long ago that the GG1's riding qualities were decent, compared to other locomotives of its time period. The engineer here was busy, but appeared comfortable. I'm only guessing but the "Camera shake" from the videographer (who did a great job) standing inside a speeding locomotive, perhaps, makes this ride look slightly bouncier than it actually was. I've shot video from a modern car, while pacing trains, and I still managed to have "camera shake". But that's just an observation. It's best to speak with the good people that ran these giants. A "High-5" to the gentleman who shot this. THANKS!
Awesome! A piece of video GOLD!!
Thank you for posting. I wondered what one of these would sound like.
And 40 years later, that dilapidated bridge has become even more dilapidated! LOL!
One of my favorite locomotives. Thanks,
Thanks for the video it’s awesome 👍
Thank you for the video. Very interesting!
Worked for the water co and used to stare at the GG1 all lunchtime it was beautiful
There will never be a loco cooler than the GG1 but damn it looks like those were hard to see out of, seriously how easy was it to see signals on either side of the track when the cab is completely bisected by the nose??
There was a "fireman" on the left side to call/confirm wayside signals to the engineer. There was also a "cab signal" system to alert the engineer; I believe the "fireman" had the signals as well.
You can see the cab signals Cats was talking about at 2:45, they’re a set of 3 colored lights showing what the signal shows.
Well the visibility was no worse (actually better) than the steam locos the GG1 initially replaced.
A real issue was the incredible noise of the motor and mechanics inside as the cab had next to no noise insulation, and during cold or hot days, the cab was just as cold or hot as the outside.
That being said, many engineers loved the loco for it's robustness, reliability, and incredible power.
Before the pandemic I would ride this line into NYC all the time. I guess this a bit subjective but the ALP46s they use today don't look nearly as cool as these absolute titans. They used to change the locomotive in two minutes flat at South Amboy. The electrification extends to Long Branch now, but you have to transfer to a diesel train which is a pain in the butt, especially since they tend to show up late!
Great stuff….. thanks for sharing 👍
Only if they could bring the gg1’s back
Certainly, AMTRAK could've worked with domestic loco manufacturers to produce a modernized version of the GG1. Instead, they chose foreign designs and manufacturers. I gues to appeal to the crowd that complains that our passenger railroads are not like Europe or Asia. So be it.
They damn well could bring one back if they got all the nasty stuff out of the equipment.
I had a similar ride with a relative who was a fireman at the time. 1967.
I wonder if this where the star trek warp sounds came from
incredible bit of film, awesome, really
Thanks
Finally. Plus I see the command i indicators lit up
Im scared , but I love it
Excellent.
Hear lots of PCBs inside the oil cooled transformers. Wonder if any engineers got sick as a result (not from handling it, but being nearby)
That was great!
Yes I filmed that on super 8 sound
A mans piece of equipment
I guess they were noisy and bouncy and rough riding. I know that they far surpassed anything produced since.
There are many locomotives built after the GG1s that far surpass the GG1. An SD-40 has almost 17,000 lbs more continuous tractive effort. I’m glad I did not have to run any of the GG1s. Like many of the other early GE locomotives like the U-30-C and U-23-B the GG1s look like a rough ride.
I'm 64 years old. I grew up riding on the trains pulled by these machines. When I was a kid I had several cab rides in GG1's. When I was in my early 20's a friend and I got a ride from Penn Station NY to Philadelphia. Rough riding? Absolutely not. One of the standout memories I have is that at 90 MPH, it was just sort of loping along, tracking more smoothly than the cars it was pulling. The GE electrical components used in the GG1 have not much to do with the suspension design of it. In fact, you could make a strong argument for the suspension of the GG1 being the final evolution of the steam locomotive, making it unrelated to any early GE Diesel locomotives. In respectful response to Bill Morris' statement below, I'll first observe that I'm not a locomotive engineer, BUT: An SD-40 has more tractive effort, yes. Towing a 15 car train from NY to DC? Who can go faster? Who gets there first? And who does it every day, for decades?
One further observation about the seeming shakiness of the film: Knowing these locomotives and how they rode makes me say that the cumbersomeness of the camera made this seem like a rough ride. The locomotive itself rode quite smoothly. Many younger people who today watch FILMS (these are not VIDEOS) like this one have no clear understanding of what it was like to actually use that technology, what it was like to use a motion picture ( not video) camera. It is hard to tell in this film which format was used, but it was almost certainly shot on either Super 8 or 16mm film. (Sound was usually recorded separately, by the way. Many people are dimly aware of the clapper stick used at the start of a take in a movies production. One purpose of that was to provide a master starting point for both sound and picture when they were assembled into a composite print. ) If you look at this film, you can see bits and pieces of dust/dirt, etc. That was a typical thing for a film to acquire, as it was shown over the years. This was shot by someone using a camera that was a lot different to hold steady than your average iPhone....
NJCL Was the 1st or 2nd NJT line
Was it that hard to drive a gg1?
Ran this same territory with Meatballs and Hippos.
Meatballs suck keep it moving
Video or movie film?
I photographed this sequence and it was done on super 8 sound film. I did it once on VHS of which part is included in a Mark I Video.
What a beast😂looks like he’s driving a steamer 😂
Busy hands, my gawd
i have model this electric trine gg1 in size HO (1/87). Very nice model
Nice, but a hell for the driver.
Which GG1 was this? I hope that it was 4882.
4800, it’s at Strasburg Museum outside
@@UnionCountyPhotography It doesn't have the rivets. I also did some research and it is 4882. 4800 was retired in 1979.
@@UnionCountyPhotography this GG1 is 4882 although i hope Strasburg does do something with the GG1 they have sitting outside so it doesn’t rot away like some of the other stuff they have outside
Big Nasty thing... Wonder what it smelled like in the cab? Ozone? Like a locker room? Sounds like Buck Rogers - 3:22 LOL
get in one and find out--oops,you cant,they don't run them anymore. and i am not telling you, i can remember in 1978.
There would be strong electrical odors plus the odors produced by burning kerosene in the steam generators. Also very likely the friction of the wheels on rails and asbestos brakes would give off odors of burning metal. Keep in mind these were built with all kinds of nasty materials that cause cancer in the human body. Most notably the main transformers that were cooled in PCB oil which was banned internationally in the 1970s.
It sounds like the end of the world.
Noisy
I heard a rumor that the fluid in the batteries in the GG1’s caused some sort of cancer, but then again they were built in 1942
The transfomer was filled with a dielectric oil that contained PCB's. At the time, this was a common ingredient in transformer oils.
PCB switch and transformer oils from GE were non flammable, and considered safer at the time before carcinogenic proerties were known. Like asbestos fire proofing.
Noisy.
Who is Engineer ?
And which G was it? Couldn't have been Old Big Red 4877 or its usual skipper Cliff Underwood. Both were the star of a 1983 movie available on YT in 4 parts: th-cam.com/video/tC6W0XEqOLw/w-d-xo.html
@@smwca123 I worked with Cliff as a student engineer out of Waverly 5. Crazy man, loved him, good teacher. Cliff also had a pilots license, got busted for dive bombing his girlfriends house,LOL.
@@gordonvincent731 And a musician; he wrote the Old Big Red song in that movie. Was the singer, Altha Lynn Cook, actually Cliff's daughter?
@@smwca123 Sorry for taking so long to respond. On that question, I'm sorry, I have no idea, I never met or heard about Cliff's family.
@@smwca123 4800
These things look and sound like they belong in a David Lynch film.........
Two horns? One sounds British!
The snowflakes of today would never have the smarts to do work like that.
Shut the fuck up boomer.
Shut up millennial
@@packr72 You misspelled your handle, Peckerhead.
Dad at Home Shut the fuck up boomer.
tough talk from a guy who can’t rotate a pdf