Does anyone know of any railroads that run hooded engines with the long hoods forward. I can remember the Illinois Central did for a short while when they first replaced steam. I just wondered if that was to let steam engineers feel more at home in the new power.
A lot of roads did. From, first hand experience I can tell you the Long Island RR did, the New York Central did (in fact they double-headed RS-3s on short passenger local trains to locations where there were no turning facilities to avoid short hood forward operation). Also D&H, L&HR, L&NE, Reading, B&O, C&O…the list goes on. Examination of early photos of diesels will give you some idea. The letter “F” on the long-hood end will indicate this. By the time second-generation low-noses came around, the thinking was different, but a lot of the first generation hood units were set up this way (location of the engineer’s control stand being the determining factor). Hope this helps. Jim.
Hi, Norfolk Southern ran high hoods forward for the longest time. I haven’t seen any recently though. It used to be watching there trains it would be even odds as to which way the lead unit was facing. Last time I saw one was a few years ago.
I believe many did it for grade crossing safety. It gave the crew more iron between them and anything they might hit. NS continued this practice up to the advent of the modern safety cab, which really wouldn’t work very well with the long hood forward.
Hi. N&S just ordered a bunch of 4400’s with the dual control stands for (you guessed it) long nose forward running. Also to let you know that I recently (2 days ago) saw a Triple Crown with a 4400 N&S paint and safety cab long nose foward. While this is not an everyday occurance if there is a diesel available and it is long nose forward for the direction it needs to go they will use it. One side note N&S doesn’t have AC drive on diesels that are ordered thru the manufacturer. They still run with the DC drive.
Ed. I wasn’t aware that they were still getting dual controls. I did know that they prefer the standard control stand opposed to the desk style.
In the early hood unit years (GP-7 through 18 for EMDs), many roads opted for long-hood-first setups: NYC and PRR (I think) in the East, GN in the West come to mind. Yes, I believe this was at first because it was more like the steamers, but as the second generation came along a few roads stayed with it, notably Southern and Norfolk & Western, for added grade crossing protection. Some others ordered dual controls for greater operating flexibility, especially in local service. Engineers I’ve talked to like all that metal ahead of 'em, but some complained it’s difficult to call signals on curves - the big hood obstructs vision to the opposite side, of course.
Hi all. Had an idea why some railroads run long hoods forward, at least eastern coal haulers. I was watching the Pentrex video on East Kentucky coal and they showed NS mine run going to a loader . It showed the engines unhooked and moving down the track to wait on the cars to be loaded. They pointed out that there usually isn’t any room in the hills for wyes or balloon tracks to turn the engines. So the last unit in the consist becomes the first whichever way its pointing.
I grew up watching Geeps running long hood first on the Grand Trunk Western. It was a pretty site indeed.
Hello,
The Southern did, NS, as well as the GN and SP&S out west. It was because the steam crews felt safer behind that massive hunk of metal. Hope that helps.
hi i didnt know that the ns bought a bunch of 4400 . and duel controll stands. are the 4400 the engine numbers or are they the type of engines. are these g.e. units or are they emd. i myself as a norfolk southern engineer havent ever seen a 4400 engine series. and the duel control stand engines we have (52) are old sd40 units from the n&w days. the only engine the ns has been buying is the dash-9 ge loco with widebody ac drive motors.
The Georgia Cental has a number of ex-N&W and Southern units on its roster. Was neat seeing some of the old GE U-Boats when I visited Vidalia, Georgia back in 04.
Central Vermont ran long hood forward – in fact, I believe CN and all its subsidiaries did, pretty well right up to the ‘new’ wide cabs (not so new anymore!)
What are these 4400’s that you speak of? What model number are they? Haven’t heard of this purchase, one of the reasons N&W quit buying dual-control units was the added expense of two controls stands, hard to believe that NS would start buying them 30 years later.
Wabash1, where’ve you been, haven’t seen you here for a long time, I heard that B. A. quit NS outright.
Some of those former GTW geeps made their way to KS in the early 90’s when Kansas Southwestern Ry started up. It was indeed a rare site to see pair of units coupled nose to nose going down the trk. They hung around until about 2000 when other, non long hood, power came in as replacements
Those would be big GEs - AC4400CWs … the post in which this was mentioned is 5 years old.
NS never bought any AC units, let alone any AC4400’s. I have never seen any NS loco in the 4400’s of any type.
The Adirondack Scenic’s ex-NYC RS-3 (blt 1950) and ex-PRR GP9 (blt 1959) are both set up for long hood forward.
NS does not buy/lease AC or 4400h.p. locomotives. They buy DC and 4000h.p. locomotives because the extra cost is not worth it.
As for the control stand, I thought that the desk top was done away with a few years back. And a modifided control stand was standard on all new locomotives. As for a daul stand, I don’t know.
For those still interested in long hoods forward, go to Google web page, then to Google Video, then to section marked More. Scrool down till you find 'home videos, then to page 70. Good stuff. And no I don’t know how to create a link![%-)][:D][banghead]