It’s Electrifying

#4903 Pulled Sen. Robert Kennedy’s Funeral Train

Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 Electric Locomotive

The GG1 was designed and built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to pull 12-14 car passenger trains such as the famed Broadway Limited on its high speed electrified Northeast Corridor between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York City, and Washington, DC. Its unique center cab design was intended to provide safety and visibility for the crews, but industrial designer Raymond Loewy refined the design with an all welded carbody and distinctive paint scheme with 5 gold stripes. The locomotive drew power from the 11,000 volt AC current transmitted in overhead electrical lines and developed 4620 horsepower, easily allowing speeds of 100 mph. After more than 50 years of operations, the last of the 139 GG1s built were retired in 1983, with 16 remaining in museums today. The example displayed is notable as one of the locomotives (then numbered Penn Central 4903) which pulled the funeral train of Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy from New York to Washington on June 8, 1968 when thousands gathered trackside to pay their last respects. Amtrak later renumbered 4903 to 4906. The locomotive was obtained in a trade with the New York Central Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.

GG-1 in Amtrak Service