I was surprised to find this picture on the net.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=471313

It's a disgrace sitting out in the open. Are there any plans for it?

I imagine there once were plans, but who knows what's happened since then.

There is or was a second unit there; I wonder if it is still around.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 954&nseq=1

One of the two was long ago supposed to go to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Good home, deserving place of honor. Supposedly the Ford Museum even already bought the thing from the Leatherstocking Chapter NRHS.

As I understood it, CSX supposedly reneged on a commitment to let it move on its wheels, and dismembering it into moveable pieces is basically impractical. The proposed move has been promised/threatened for something on the order of TEN YEARS now, as a search of this forum will disclose.

Wake me if/when the cranes or scrappers show up.

The PRR once cut up a GG1, that overshot the bumper at Washington Union Station that ended up in the concourse, loaded it into gondolas, and re-built it. So, it's not totally impossible to move it, but maybe impractical. Depends how deep Henry's pockets are and how bad they want a GG1.

Sad. And here I thought the only G in danger anymore was the very one David refers to, 4876.

Given some costly crane rentals, it should not be that hard to lift the body off the trucks and on to an appropriate flat as body lifts were done all the time in the course of maintenance at Wilmington. But G's are scattered all over the country, as far as Frisco, TX, Union, IL, Green Bay, WI, St. Louis, MO, and Elkhart, IN and I'd bet they all moved on their own wheels. Anyone know of any that had to be put on a flat car?

Steve

BTW, I know it's a big commitment of track space let alone interior space but I really would love to see some organization have two coupled, with jumpers in place.

Steve

From what I understand, from folks who were active with Wilmington Shops, it's, shall we say, "not that simple." You don't just disconnect a couple motor leads and air lines and lift the body off the articulated frame like you can/do with a diesel-electric. You would need a major shop with major overhead cranes, like Altoona, Wilmington, etc. Not to say it can't be done if the will/money is there, but.....

The other GG1's scattered all over the country were, for the most part, moved on their wheels dead in/as freight decades ago while railroads still were accustomed to moving "non-standard" things. Those days, as frequently discussed/debated here, are now long gone. The last of those G's that would have moved was PRR 4890, which went from Baltimore to Green Bay after being deaccessioned by the B&O Museum in 1995 in trade for a former B&O Fairbanks-Morse H12-44. There's certainly no reason that a GG1, properly prepared for transit, couldn't move on its own wheels from New York to Dearborn; you simply have to convince the railroads in question to let that happen, just as Union Pacific is perfectly willing to move a 4-8-8-4 as long as it's for their own benefit. The other critical factor is exactly what is meant by "properly prepared for transit" and how much they would charge for whatever special handling they would deem to be necessary. As robust as a GG1 may be, I'm not sure I'd trust one coupled between the locos and the cars of whatever freight train hustling from Selkirk to Detroit....

Seems to me that a RDG T-1 (unfortunately, but that's another very sad story...) made it to the West Coast on a flat car a few years ago, and without splitting the boiler and frame. I don't have any clearance diagrams, but it would seem to me that if a G-motor could get into NY Penn through the tunnels, it shouldn't be any taller then the T-1. Stripping everything off the roof, such as the pans, would help.

With respect to weight, I believe that all of the GG-1s have had their transformers removed, due to cancer concerns. That would reduce the weight, as would removing compressors, blowers, reservoirs, brake equipment and switchgear. (I honestly don't know how difficult TM removal would be, I've never been in one-).

OF course, the cranes and HD flatcar costs will still be pretty steep, but you never know until you ask.

More recently, GG-1 4935 was moved on its own wheels from East Strasburg, Pa. to Washington Union Station and back, for an Amtrak exhibition, without CSX's permission.
Since neither the GG-1 in the linked photo at Cooperstown, N.Y. on Canadian Pacific's Delaware & Hudson RR, and the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn Village, Mich. on Norfolk Southern's Michigan Central RR, are located on CSXT, I'm puzzled what CSX's alleged reneging on an alleged commitment has to do with the lack of movement. Do they set the rules and policies for the entire industry, including Amtrak?

I thought that at the time they wer going to move it there was talk that cracks had been found in the frame. I could be all wet and just dreaming?
Al

ADM certainly has a chip on his shoulder regarding GG1s and will respond negatively to any thread on this forum that mentions said locomotive. I really wish we could have a discussion here without such negativity.

The GG1 most certainly can be moved via flatcars, and would not be the major undertaking as has been previously asserted. A GG1 does in fact separate quite cleanly into three sections, with the items most prominently hanging below the centerplates on the carbody being the traction motor blower ducts and side stirrups. A GG1 could be lifted either with a pair of cranes or a set of gantries high enough to roll out the wheelsets, and then roll under the appropriate TTX or Kasgro flatcar for the load. Block it up, restrain it as per the AAR open top loading rules and away it goes. The remaining two "trucks" would then be split and loaded onto either one or two flats for shipment. Heck, I am currently engaged in removing an Ingersoll Rand Imperial compressor from the second floor of a reinforced concrete building, and I consider that project to be more complicated and time consuming than loading a GG1 on a couple of flatcars!

As the photo below show, Wilmington Shops forces regularly separated the GG1s to perform major repairs.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bBnMf2jRlzs/T ... l-fig7.jpg

And Wilmington Shops, Delaware had/has something that Cooperstown, New York does not: namely, Wilmington Shops, a facility designed to do, among other things, dismantle locomotives.

CSX wasn't involved at all in the 4935 special movement. Had they been involved, it's highly likely the same political clout applied from above that was involved with NS and Amtrak would have been invoked as well.
It's true that CSX does not HAVE to be involved with this proposed movement to Dearborn. But CSX offers by far the most direct route, via the old NYC. Forgive me if I'm used to thinking in terms of expediting a rail car, which this monstrosity wouldn't be on its own wheels.

And what Hot Metal calls "negativity" I choose to call "pragmatic reality." We're not even talking "would could should" here. Supposedly, the Henry Ford Museum already owns it. The real question here is, why haven't THEY moved it? A change of plans? A Change of priorities? Uncooperative railroads? Lack of funds? Furthermore, if a place like the Ford Museum, which presumably has more assets to bring to the table than just about any rail museum in North America, can't (or won't) deal with such a proposition, then what does this say for anyone wanting to save and move 4876? Or, for that matter, your random steam locomotive?

A "facility" is not needed to do this work. Just 2, 200-cranes with spreader bars and a few knowledgeable people to disconnect everything between the carbody and the frame.

It can be done anywhere there is enough space to get cranes in, set-up, and out.

Hell, it can even be jacked up off the frames if there isn't space for cranes. That's how they got the one out of the basement.

Then all that's left is to drop the hinge pin and load the frames and trucks.

I'm with Rick on this one.

Notice I didn't say it SHOULD be done. Just that it is not the impossible task that some would think.

Maybe Mr. Penn and Mr. Rowlands should offer their expertise to the Henry Ford Museum in moving this locomotive.

I am certain that I could coordinate that project if requested, but it would have to wait until the 1,200 tons of machinery that I am already contracted to move has been completed.