The GP30(1962) and SD45(1966) would have had them - If ordered by the railroad. A lot of new engines were being built with snow plow pilots by the mid 60’s. SD40-2 production started around 1972 and lasted until about 1979-80.
Most BN ones I remember seeing in the 70’s had a snow plow/anti-climber on the front, and nothing on the rear pilot. Just because they could still be delivered with foot boards until March of 1975 does not mean that a railroad had to have them. By the mid-70’s, BN was adding coupler assist handles to the coupler lift bars and a brakeman was required to stand in the step well when operating the assist handles. Much safer than riding on a foot board. Some railroad went as far as stenciling warning to not use the foot boards, then removed them later as they were shopped.
Jim,Riding foot boards was a steam era thing and was phased out by safety rules when diesel took over since there was places for the brakemen and conductor to stand while making a light movement.
However.
On the PRR many of us took the risk and road the foot boards of FM Trainmasters if it was making a light move…We used the foot board that was opposite of the direction the engine was traveling…
Why did we break this rule?
The steps of any FM H class road switchers similar to the H24-66,H15-44,H16-44 was rough on the legs while riding on the steps…I’m sure the superintendents and road foremen was well aware of this rule breaking and simply looked the other way since most of them came up through the ranks.
Riding the ‘ladders’ on FM road switchers was a pain. A friend was a conductor for the Milwaukee Road and complained about having to use the H16-66 ‘Bread Loaves’ to switch anything. Foot board activity did not die with steam. The Santa Fe actually attached small foot boards to the pilots of their F units so they could be used for local work.
So out of curosity as to what was the problem with the Fairbank Morris switchers side steps that Jim and Brakie (Sorry, I’m not going to start calling him Larry now at this late date) were talking about, so I went to my trusty copy of Kalmbach “Diesel Locomotives, the First 50 years” by Louise Marre, and there on the FM Switcher H-12-44 page (pg 335 in my copy) was a picture of Santa Fe 540 with a conductor or brakeman merrily riding on the pilot foot-boards. Interesting, that type of switcher (H-10/H-12) seemed to have a somewhat extended bottom step to “alleviate” the awkward-leg issue found with the vertical ladder style side steps of the H-16 classes - looking at the H-16 images, how the heck did they expect a worker to stay on those ladder steps on a rocking, moving switcher without getting nasty welts on his shins/calves, even with heavy work boots?
Some second guessing here but,I don’t think FM intended for their road switchers to be used for yard engines or on locals just like EMD’s GP7 was never meant to be anything more then a branch line engine.
But…
Enter all things railroad and they used 'em for general service…[(-D]
