A conductor friend of mine wanted me to pick him up a roll of duct tape while I was at the local hardware store. He says he uses it at work to keep warm in the cab. I assumed he taped up a window or something. Are the new locomotives cold, or is it just the older ones? Seems to me that the railroads spend a lot of money on these locomotives, I wouldn’t think they were cold or drafty.
Correct, that is exactly it. [8D] They tape around the windows and door seals. The older locos after years of work have worn seals that let in a lot of cold drafts.
The new wide cab locos are warmer and less drafty than the old conventional cab locos.
They may spend a lot of money but the old locos are still cold and drafty.
Here is it masking tape that is used. [8D]
AMEN brother.The railroad always seems to put the “cold wether” engines on our territory as soon as it gets cold.And I didn’t spell “wether” wrong cause like I have said in the past,the engines are cold wether the heaters work or not.I always keep duct or masking tape(wide type) in my grip at all times.As a matter of fact,my last trip I was on NS 3180,no sidewall heaters,and gaps in the doors like the panama canal.And the thing that burns me ,for the last two years the service building in all places are told not to give us any tape.I refussed to take a train the other day until they got me tape.The FRA used to have a minimum temp. 6 inches above the engineers seat of around 54 degrees.I don’t know if that still is law or not.Get this.We got on the 3180 it was around 4.00am,and about 18 degrees.We got 10 miles out of town and “lights out”.The engine caught the wires from the aux.gen. on fire and we was in the dark,and in the cold(even more).We did have another engine to climb on until a shifter brought us another lead motor,but we sat their for about 5 hours.[:(!]
i would have built a fire in the crapper conpartment with paper towels and TP from the crew packs and used a fusse to get it going…lol
i cant think of many times where i wanted to do that just to keep the cab warm…
csx engineer
I’m not sure how it all works, but couldn’t you guys get something in your contracts to correct this problem?
CSX engineer, considering what I’ve heard about the nose compartment sanitation, you would probably blow the front end of the locomotive off!
I wonder if train crews use duct tape in the summer to keep the “cool” in as well? The sole late model locomotive I got to climb into had AC, but the engineer said that was for the computer systems on board, not the crew- although he didn’t mind being cooled off in the middle of a Georgia summer, either. Seems like AC and heating are technology areas of improvement for GE and EMD…
Erik
Erik
even the new engines are cold and drafty but that is not the only use for the duct tape if you ae getting air hose seperations we use this to keep the air hoses together. works very well.
We basically sit in a giant steel box on wheels. It is going to be cold as metal is an excellent conductor of heat (or cold). The only thing that keeps them warm is a decent set of heaters and as much insulation as one can muster in the form of clothes, tape or whatever. Was running an NS Dash 9 not long ago, one of the early ones, and despite the widecab it was X COLD X…
I think when they age the door gaskets fade and with repairs and jury rigging mechanical opens some new holes. Sitting in that thing was really beginning to feel like somebody stabbing you in the butt with an icicle after about an hour…
LC
I recall hearing that this situation primarily exists on the older “standard cab” units like SD40-2, etc. with “exterior” cab doors and less on the wide cab where the toilet compartment seperates the crew from the outside a bit more. TRUE?
The wide bodies sure are warmer in the winter.But I have had the occasional unit that the heat just isn’t up to par.And the wide bodies in the summer when the a/c quits or isn’t worth a hoot,is like a oven.I’ve had those wide bodies(from all railroads),leak water past the front windows also.But keep that duct tape handy for those old units.
Sounds like a reasonable rule of thumb would be…Dash 9’ s in the winter and SD40-2’s in the summer.
And to think they rarely had a problem with cab heating during the steam era.
They used to have toilets that used electricity to burn the waste. I’d rather be cold than have that smell again. Of course if CSX Engineer wanted to stay warm the duct tape could be used to seal the smell and his heat in the toilet room.
You just had to keep rotating your body so one side did not burn while the other side froze.
Duct tape is the most inportant item carried on the older units in the winter time keep the draft old.
Rodney
Here’s a trick to try on older locomotives. Instead of taping around the doors and windows, apply your tape around the electrical cabinet doors. If there is snow or other debris fouling the inertial air intakes on EMD’s the air for combustion and equipment cooling is going to suck through the cab. All your nice warm air is going out the stack or into the motors. Ever notice how quickly it cools off in notch 8?
Randy
re: contract requirements to correct problems- Some years ago when truck air conditioning became popular in freight company trucks, East Texas Motor Freight [ETMF] drivers got it added into their contracts that “an air conditioner was to be put in every road tractor”… The company complied,and within several months there was an a/c for each truck. Still in the box, riding on the right side of the cab. It took them months to get working a/c’s in the trucks and the company was sold off during the process… The moral is: Don’t ask for something, because you might get it!
Read in a recent magazine that duct tape can now be purchased in rolls 12 inches wide…fyi.
If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t the cold drafty air worse in the steam engine cabs?
havening that happen would be in impovement in alot of cases…lol
csx engineer
Can anyone say CARHARTT!