GEC's roster thread

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Graphs need more details.

you're kidding right?

Somewhat related: is there any argument against building a new fleet of GG1s with modern electrics?
And how many sets of proposed successors did they survive?

Existing GG1s have microscopic but hazardous cracks in their frames, making them unsafe. the GG1s were literally pushed to the limit that their parts could handle. Besides, the configuration of the GG1 doesn't really give it any major advantages over a more conventional type like the AEM7.

As far as surviving successors, the GG1 never really had any Successors. Though other electric types came and went, there was not really any drive to replace the GG1 until their twilight years. The only direct successors were the E60CP/E60CH (which did not perform well initially), and the AEM7 (which was superior to everything else pulling passengers under the wire for Amtrak at that time). Keep in mind that the AEM7s that picked up where the GG1s left off in 1981 are nearly as old as the GG1. Though Amtrak plans to replace many with the new "American Euro Sprinter", a couple of the Rebuilt AEM7s are going to soldier on a while longer.

Freight locomotives like the E44 didn't really succeed the GG1. Rather, the E44 succeeded everything else (all of PRR's other classes of electrics, with the exception of the B1 switchers, were replaced by the E44). Besides, many GG1s operated solely in passenger service, where nothing ever competed with them.

I think the GG1's real claim to fame was that it was an anachronism by the time they retired it. By 1983, when the last steam-era GG1s were retired, the very first microproccessor equipped locomotives were showing up. By this point, streamlining was a long, LONG gone concept under the wire, and all other locomotives had embraced a utilitarian, boxy shape, as opposed to sleek stylized lines. It didn't run on 4 or 6 axle trucks, it had a Steam Railroad frame.

Essentially, It was designed so well that no one could replace it until high technology finally caught up with it in the Early 80s, and by then the GG1s had actually reached the limit of wear and tear they could handle before becoming unsafe (such as the microfissures in the frame).