Pennsylvania Railroad 4800, nicknamed "Old Rivets", is a

GG1 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 10 ...

-class

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

located at the

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The museum is located on the east side of Strasburg along Pennsylvania Route 741. It is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museu ...

, outside of Strasburg,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is the prototype GG1 and was originally numbered 4899. Built by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

in 1934, the locomotive competed against a prototype, the R1, built by rival company Westinghouse. 4800 was kept in service by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

and its successors,

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

and

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

, until 1979. It was sold the next year to a local chapter of the

National Railway Historical Society The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) is a non-profit organization established in 1935 in the United States to promote interest in, and appreciation for the historical development of railroads. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ...

. 4800 was dedicated in 1982 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and was designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1983.

Construction and testing

In 1933, the

decided to replace the P5, and instructed

and Westinghouse to design an electric locomotive that was more powerful than the P5, capable of speeds of , have a lighter

axle load An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearing ...

and to be double-ended with a cab in the center of the carbody. Westinghouse designed the R1 #4800, and General Electric submitted the GG1, then numbered 4899. The frames, running gear and riveted body for the prototype GG1 were built by

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

. The partially built locomotive was then shipped to the General Electric factory in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

for the installation of its electrical components. Twelve

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (ele ...

s, two on each of the GG1's six powered axles, produced that was transmitted to the

driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled ...

s by a

quill drive A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal-Nib (pen), nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, ...

. Unlike other GG1s, access steps were installed at each end of the locomotive to ease maintenance of the pantographs; the pantographs were mechanically linked to a safety plate that blocked access to the steps when the pantographs were raised. The finished locomotive was long and tall, with both of its pantographs lowered. GG1 4899 was extensively tested against the R1 from August to November 1934; both locomotives were substituted on regular passenger service between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Both locomotives were found to be capable of rapid acceleration with short-term power outputs of up to . The GG1, however, did not exert as much lateral force on the rails as the R1, because it was

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were someti ...

, which allowed for a smaller

turning radius The turning diameter of a vehicle is the minimum diameter (or "width") of available space required for that vehicle to make a circular turn (i.e. U-turn). The term thus refers to a theoretical minimal circle in which for example an aeroplane, a ...

than the rigid R1. The Pennsylvania chose the GG1 over the R1 and immediately ordered another 57 locomotives. As the number scheme used by the Pennsylvania prevented the first locomotive in the class from being 4899, the R1 and GG1 prototypes, essentially, swapped numbers. The Pennsylvania also enlisted the assistance of

Raymond Loewy Raymond Loewy ( , ; November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by ''Time'' magazi ...

to refine the aesthetics of the GG1s. Loewy recommended that all subsequent models of the class should have a welded body rather than the riveted body on the prototype. This led to the nickname "Old Rivets" being given to 4800.

Operation and preservation

On January 28, 1935, 4800 inaugurated electric passenger service between

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and Philadelphia by pulling a charter train for railroad and government officials; 4800 set a speed record of outside of

Landover, Maryland Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 25,998. Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the so ...

on the return trip. Regular passenger service began on February 10, 1935. 4800 remained in regular passenger service with the Pennsylvania, until it joined production GG1s 4801–4857 in the pool of geared freight locomotives. It had its steam generator removed in June 1960, about a year after hauling a

-charted excursion to commemorate its 25th birthday. Penn_Central_No_4801_4800

4800 continued to haul freight for the Pennsylvania and its successors

and

. In 1976, Conrail gave 4800 a red, white and blue paint scheme to commemorate the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

. It was also the only GG1 to wear Conrail blue paint; all the other Conrail GG1s remained in black. 4800 was eventually retired by Conrail in October 1979 after the locomotive's main

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

failed, which was deemed too expensive to repair. 4800 was sold by Conrail in 1980 to the Lancaster-chapter of the

for the

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

-value price of $30,000. The locomotive was given a cosmetic restoration back to its 1935 appearance by the nearby

Strasburg Rail Road The Strasburg Rail Road is a heritage railroad and the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the western hemisphere, as well as the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rai ...

and volunteers. 4800 was dedicated and put on display at the

on November 20, 1982. It was designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

(ASME) on April 23, 1983. In 2012, PRR 4800 was inducted into the

North America Railway Hall of Fame North America Railway Hall of Fame (NARHF) is a not-for-profit organization housed in the recently restored Canada Southern Railway Station in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. It was founded to maintain, preserve and honor railway history with the in ...

for its contribution to the railway industry.

References

Sources

* * * {{Volkmer-Pennsy-Electric 2-C+C-2 locomotives 11 kV AC locomotives Baldwin locomotives Collection of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania General Electric locomotives Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks Individual locomotives of the United States 4800 Preserved electric locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States

Construction and testing

Operation and preservation

See also

References

Sources