Were there any prototypes that used snowplows on their F units, or did the front end act as one? I’m modeling a midwestern theme and snowplows are used on almost every engine I see around here, but I don’t recall seeing them on F Units.
The Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railway and the Southern Pacific all used snow pilots on many of their F-units. SP’s were different in shape and style from GN’s and NP’s. On the GN and NP, the more common applications of snow pilots were to passenger equipped and assigned units. Freighters more often retained the EMD factory pilot. I can’t really say what the SP’s policies were on this equipment. Details West offers both the SP and GN/NP styles of pilots as detail parts. There may have been other roads that used snow pilots, but I can’t say for certain.
SP had pilot plows on most road diesels they owned, including F’s.
http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/f-unit_photos/6190_sp-f7a-fred_a_stindt.jpg
http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/f-unit_photos/6232_sp-f7a-fred_a_stindt.jpg
http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/f-unit_photos/6291_sp-f7a-fred_a_stindt.jpg
http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/fp7_photos/6450_sp-fp7-bob_dengler.jpg
http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/fp7_photos/6447a_sp-fp7-bob_dengler.jpg
Andre
Thanks for the pictures, they help out a lot. [:D]
I think this poor old girl needed one, lol
Up had some that were massive. Probably half the height of the nose.
Greetings,
Rock Island had some. They came from Union Pacific. For a picture you can check out
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ri/ri4168ags.jpg
Enjoy the picture,
Bob
Back in the '60’s on the east end of the Baltimore Div. of the B&O they just used an F-7A unit with a standard freight pilot as a snowplow. Did a pretty good job as I recall. Of course that’s only for a foot or two of snow.
That’s like a perfect picture to try to model off of. My thanks!
Western Pacific equipped several F7As with plows for use on the High Line to Bieber, CA.