Alot of Canadian locomotives have awnings fitted to the long hoods directly behind the cab. Heres a picture…
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=92094
Anybody know exactly what these are for?
Probably to keep out snow.
I don’t know directly of any locmotives on the CP that have those awning things, in fact it’s the first time I have ever seen one.
Those are snow shields.A lot of CN SD40s had them including a batch sold to BNSF.
Snow shields, keeps the snow and sleet out of the intake…
By the way, we had this same locomotive down here about two months ago…
Ed
CP’s GP38AC’s had them, but I notice CP has been removing them when the units go in for overhauls. A few SD40-2’s had them too.
Oh, I guess I’ve just never noticed the few that are out there, I’m going to be on the look out now.
Besides the snow, the awnings keep dirty (er) air out of the intakes. ATSF rebuilt their GP35, GP30, SD26 and SD39 units with the awnings (and removed the class lights, set the horns back, etc.) in the mid-1980’s. The awnings were gone in about 5 years.
[banghead][banghead][banghead]
Anyway, it doesn’t look like they would keep the mirrors dry.
Many of the CN and Guilford (ex-CN) GP40-2Ls have the snow shields as well as many of the St Lawrence and Atlantic GPs, including the relatively new (2003) GP40X rebuilds and RM1 slugs.
Gee, I thought a more logical explanation would be a housing for the collapsable awning the engineer and conductor unroll while they wait for the van to pick them up when they are dead on the law in the middle of nowhere. Gotta protect the crews from sunburn…
(Just kidding, just kidding…)
Erik
A few Erie Lackawanna gp-35’s had snow shields but they didnt last long. they look pretty cool though.
What’s the deal with a GREEN C.P.R. locomotive??? first I’ve ever seen about this.
And we had #3088 through here this last weekend! Brought some cold weather with it! Brrrr…
Mook
Imagine that!
Had one of your motors here, old BN SD9, 6102…brought clear blue skies, 78 degrees with a slight breeze in from the Gulf of Mexico…
Funny how that works!
Ed[:D]
They were installed as snow shields to keep ice from forming on screens, acct. these are the fresh air intakes for filtered air for the electrical cabinet that makes up the rear wall of the locomotive cab.
Don’t forget that the SP GP38-2s assigned to snow plowing duty had these also.
Back before the E&N on Vancouver Island was sold off to Rail America, it was operated as E&N Railfreight for a few years. At that time, CP painted two GP38s in a green and yellow E&N Railfreight logo.
The Grand Trunk 5800 series GP-38s had them for many years but they have disappeared over time, before they became CN. I did see one of the grey Alstom CN units a few weeks back that still had them.
I talked to a trainman on the CN in Hamilton and he said it kept the snow from falling down his neck when he opened the door. The trainmen liked them for one reason anyhow.