Pennsylvania Railroad 4800 Locomotive (“Old Rivets”) – Strasburg PA

Description

The Pennsylvania Railroad 4800 locomotive, nicknamed “Old Rivets,” was built in 1934-1935 and started service in early 1935.  It was an electric “GG-1” class locomotive and cost about $250,000 to build (about $5.2 million in 2021 dollars). It was also the first of its kind and the only one that had a riveted body, hence the nickname “Old Rivets”.  After that, the builders switched from riveting to welding this type of locomotive.

Old Rivets was financed by a loan from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA financed at least 56 more of these GG-1 class trains. (Ultimately, 139 GG-1’s were produced between 1934 and 1943; but it’s not clear if the PWA funded more than the first 57 of them.)

On February 28, 1935, it was reported that “President Roosevelt returned to Washington today at 7:51 am… Before proceeding to the White House for breakfast, the President stopped in the train shed at Union station to inspect one of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s new electric locomotives similar to the one which brought his special train from New York” (Wilkes-Barre Times Leader). Whether the GG-1 train FDR inspected was “Old Rivets,” or one if its sister trains, is unknown to us.

“Old Rivets” pulled passenger trains running from New York to Washington, DC and also did some freight work. Its passenger stops included Newark, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. It was known for its railway might—4,620 horsepower—and its record-setting speed of over 100 mph. Indeed, at the time of its construction, “Old Rivets” and the other GG-1’s were described as “the most powerful electric passenger locomotives ever built in the world” (The Gazette, November 10, 1934).

According to the North America Railway Hall of Fame, “Old Rivets” pulled FDR’s funeral train during the DC-to-Hyde Park leg of the journey in April 1945 (also see, “Roosevelt Train to Use Pennsy…” in the source list below).

“Old Rivets” retired from service in 1980 (it was owned by Conrail at the time), after running for 45 years and 5 million miles. It was sold to the National Railway Historical Society in 1980, designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1983, inducted into the North American Railway Hall of Fame in 2012, and is currently on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (RMP). The museum notes: “GG-1’s as a locomotive class were the longest serving of any locomotive class, whether it be steam, electric, or diesel in the U.S. and abroad” (RMP website).

“Old Rivets” and the GG-1 locomotives were iconic and beloved in the rail industry. One rail worker declared at the time that,  “One reason I retired was I saw the old ‘Gs’ going out. I figured it was about time for me to retire, too” (The News Journal, February 27, 1980). Another worker, who spent 42 years working on the “Gs” said, “[It was fun to work on them] and a lot of hard work too. It was a real pleasure to see ’em go out, to see ’em go by. All the men felt that way” (ibid).

“Old Rivets” and its 56 (or more) PWA-financed siblings were part of a much larger New Deal effort to revive and modernize the nation’s railroads – particularly in the east. The Great Depression devastated the rail industry, which was already losing traffic to cars and trucks. Huge numbers of rail workers lost their jobs.  PWA financing was an effort reverse this dismal situation.

For example, the Pennsylvania Railroad, using PWA loans, built or purchased new locomotives, freight cars, and railroad track. America’s railroad infrastructure began the transition from steam to electric. The PWA loans—totaling at least $70 million (or about $1.5 billion in 2021 dollars)—facilitated “one of the largest equipment orders in the history of American railroading” (The Gazette, November 10, 1934) and returned many thousands of rail workers to their jobs and indirectly helped about 100 railroad-related industries.

Innovative New Deal locomotives and trains, such as “Old Rivets” and the “Flying Yankee” (see here), excited the public, increased hauling capacity and efficiency, and gave America’s railroads a new lease on life.