The 3,000 horsepower (2.2 MW) locomotives were built at Schenectady, New York, with car bodies manufactured by American Locomotive Company and electrical components supplied by General Electric. They used motor-generator sets to rectify the alternating current line voltage into direct current for their traction motors.
The GN numbered the units 5010–5017 and classified them Y-1 being painted in the "Pullman Green" (Dark green with the GNs logo plastered on the sides of the locomotive) paint scheme. After being involved in a wreck at Tonga, Washington in July 1945, the 5011 was rebuilt with a streamlined appearance using cabs from an EMD FT;[1] the GN reclassified it as Y-1a.
All Y-1 units were later repainted into the GN Empire Builder scheme (Orange with a black stripe in the middle with yellow pinstriping running along the sides and a black section at the top with yellow pinstriping) and were equipped with busbars located where the headlights and bells used to be to connect the 11kV AC current between units when doing multiple-unit operation. Crews affectionately gave these apparatuses the nickname "stingers" due to the shape and placement of them. This relocated the headlight to the far front ends of the locomotive and the bell on each end was relocated under the cab on the engineers side.[2]
In 1956, the GN dieselized operations through the Cascade Tunnel. The electrical system was decommissioned, and the Y-1 locomotives were sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, who classified them as FF2. GN 5011 was broken up for spares, and the remaining seven locomotives were overhauled and converted to PRR standards and then placed into service, being assigned numbers 1–7 on the PRR. They lasted a few more years on the PRR, and were all scrapped between 1957 and 1966.
Keyes, Norman C. Jr.; Middleton, Kenneth R. (Autumn 1980). "The Great Northern Railway Company: All-Time Locomotive Roster, 1861–1970". Railroad History. 143 (143). Boston, Mass.: Railway and Locomotive Historical Society: 117. ISSN0090-7847. JSTOR43523930.
Pennsylvania Railroad. "FF2". PRR Locomotive Diagrams. Retrieved 2006-01-05. (Simple drawing and specifications, for general reference by railroad staff).
Staufer, Alvin F.; Pennypacker, Bert (1962). Pennsy Power: Steam and Electric Locomotives of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1900-1957. Research by Martin Flattley. Carollton, Ohio: Alvin F. Staufer. OCLC8029613. pages 248–253
Great Northern Railway steam and electric locomotives