Old GG1? sound.

[robtheailean]

Hello,
some time back, while poking around a (now gone) local model shop, purchased (as I am an Electric loco tragic) a "Bachman Spectrum GG1"  - complete with 8 pin socket and LEDs! (so much for the myth about LEDs being so recent...  )

It was presented as a loner, old model - hence cheap! Albeit it does not look very prototypical - am sure I have not seen a GG-1 with a bull nose

My query is, would Bachman sell the sound chip as supplied with the (great looking!) new GG1's? 

Sound and Loco's with Pantographs is a really missing component of the DCC world!

Cheers
Rob

[Bucksco]

Bachmann has never produced a GG1 prior to our new release. The DCC/Sound unit is built into the printed circuit board of the loco and are not available as a separate sale item.

[robtheailean]

  Old age and decrepitude forces me to admit I was so taken with the new GG1's - messed up post... It is a GE E33 Electric Loco - sorry for the mistake.

I remember the assistant saying it was a GG1 - but I was a bit confused at the time due to the shape... I found a data sheet in my papers file.

Thanks for responding though - it is a shame I just cannot give it a "voice"
Rob

[richg]

I believe these Juice Jacks sounded like large vacuum cleaners.
I do know the GG1 was very quiet at road speed and snuck up on quite a few track crews.
SoundTraxx does not make any decoders for Juice Jacks. I believe a couple other decoder companies make them.

Rich

[Woody Elmore]

Having ridden behind GG-1s on numerous trips down south I can tell you that they were very quiet. Waiting for a train to arrive in Penn Station was always fun. You'd here the train coming because of the bell ringing on the GG-1 - very loud (I guess because of the Penn Station tunnels.)

Somewhere in my collection of pictures I have photos I took of GG-1s in the Woodside yards. What interested me was the steam that would come out of them. Theye had boilers to provide heat for the passenger cars. My late godfather rode around the yard in GG-1s several times - his dad was a tower operator. He said that the cab was hot and cramped and today OSHA would have been giving the Pennsy a hard time.

I am looking forward for my Bachmann Black Jack GG-1 ro arrive.

[Bucksco]

They have already arrived and are at your local dealer.

[electrical whiz kid]

wOODY; REF:OSHA:  probably one of the reasons they decided to scrap them.  Otherwise, they were wonderful machines; those and the New Haven motors also.  If properly maintained, they would have lasted forever.  Oh, the "vacuum " sound was probably the cooling fans.  The New Haven EP-5s had similar sound-in fact, their nickname, "Jets" was pretty adroit.
Rich C.

[ebtnut]

The primary reason the G's were retired was because they had PCB's in the transformer housings that were banned from any use.  In addition, the fleet was beginning to suffer from frame cracks that were becoming moe difficult and expensive to repair.  They had a great 40-year run but they were wearing out.

[electrical whiz kid]

I believe ]that] there was some debate at higher levels about simply changing the xformers; but, like you said, there were crack issues on the frames.  This is  where OSHA, the PUC, DOT etc., would come flying in and leap into action; this being said, the management decided that logistically, it would be easier to do something else-which is what they did-which in a way, was pretty sad, as one could make the argument that a viable trademark of the PRR could well have been the GGI-almost as recognizable as the Keystone; but pragmatics is always a higher playing card than aesthetics.
Rich C. 

[jward]

all of that may be true with regards to the passenger gg1s operated by amtrak & nj transit, but there were much larger issues that affected the longevity of the conrail freight gg1s. when amtrak took over the northeast corridor, conrail became a tenant, with other lines to get to most of the affected areas. these lines were not electrified, and the cost of making them so was prohibitive. so conrail's entire electric fleet only outlasted the gg1s in service for about a year or two. that would include the e33 electrics mentioned earlier in the thread as well as their slightly more modern cousins, the e44s.

[wjstix]

I know the Digitrax SDH164 decoders have a GG1 sound file you can download onto the decoder. If you don't have the ability to do that (PR3 hooked up to PC and a programming track) you may be able to find a DCC dealer that would download the file to the decoder for you. Otherwise, I suspect there are other sound decoder companies that offer GG1 or other electric sound decoders.

[uscgtanker]

Refring back to the sounds traction motors give off a nice low hum same with the transformers. the sound would hear the most is the track and wheel pound on rail joints.