I know that their is a line slit from eather side of the SD70 cab series on most of todays Locomotives. It’s called the Isolated cab for short. And most but of all do have them. Just like UP & NS’s SD70M’s are M’s but not I’s for short. why? If the Locomotives have the Isolated cab then wouldn’t they be SD70I’s instead of SD70M’s? Why did EMD call them M’s and not I’s? For short?
This realy gets me. Such as the BNSF & CSXT’s SD70MAC’s. Arn’t they realy the same thing? Like an SD70IMAC or an SD70MACI for short instead of just SD70MAC? Any thoughts or ideas would be very helpfull? Thanks.
BNSFrailfan.
Not real sure how you get SD70MACI is shorter than SD70MAC…eight charters as opposed to seven charters, (and MACI sounds a little wimpy, MAC sounds a little more masculine) but anyhow…
The M stands for modified, not isolated…
The cab on the EMDs is a single and separate unit from the rest of the body…true, it is isolated for noise and vibration reduction, all new locomotive cabs are, as required by federal law, but it is also designed to provide a crush zone for crew safety, as opposed to just reducing cab noise levels.
M is just EMDs letter designation for the wide cab or North American safety cab…just as GE uses the letter W for the same thing…or EMDs use of SD and GP to designate a six axel or four axel truck, and GE uses C or B for the same purpose.
Ed
I have a question. Why are we calling SD70MACs or I should say locomotives in general “shes” when we want the names of the locomotives to have a masculine name.?//// I’m confused. lol[:D]
SD70MAC’s built from early 1995 and on have isolated cabs.
I thought almost all but the first BN order of SD70MACS had isolated cabs hence you didn’t need the I. They never made an isolated old style cab ala Conrails, ICs, and NSs on SD70s or SD60s. The isolated cab was only offered on the North American safety style cabs and became standard in 02 or 03, and they were standard on SD80s and 90s. So from the time the SD60 (or 70) was offered with it (around '89) until 2002 or 2003 you had to designate a North American safety cab that was isolated with an I. SD60I Conrail, SD75Is for Canadian National and Ontairo Northland. They were the only ones that bought them until they became standard.
I think this is correct someone correct me if I am wrong…please
Dave
I always had a feeling that steamers were “She’s”, not diesels.
I always rezemble a Locomotive to a woman[:D].
A Locomotive will only run when it want’s too. Sounds typical don’t it?
I just know that im gona get in real deep trouble just for saying this[:D]!!!
BNSFrailfan.
Probably depends on how SHE is handled!
We always used to refer to locos as she (steam, diesel, electric, etc.), while trains were reffered to as he.
I believe the “I” was dropped when the isolated-cab modification became more-or-less standard.
The “M” on EMD units and “W” on GE units are being left off the new Tier 2 model designations–same reason (I’m not even sure you can get a unit without the full-width nose any more).
Locomotives probably became feminine due to the amount of attention, devotion–and, yes, affection–lavished upon them by their crews at one time. Same with ships, cars, etc.
The “I” was dropped in favor of the “M” because EMD didn’t want a SD70IAC… just sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it??? Originally they offered both, but they decided that an “I” cab was only a minor modification of the “M” cab, so they would all thereafter be “M” cabs!
I always wondered why the old Canadian cab locomotives used a “W”, e.g. SD40-2W etc. Canadians… [}:)]
For centuries humans have called anything big and impressive and mechanical as “she”. Examples are planes, ships, locomotives…with all due respect to the ladies out there…it seems anything that is “big”, powerful, impressive and that “moves men’s souls” are called SHE rather automatically by us guys. Go figure?
Thats ok, take a look at an Amtrak California F59PHI and I bet you can’t see the isolation joints like you can on the 70MAC’s 90MAC’s and 75I’s
The W denotes a cab meeting the original CN “Safety Cab” specification of the early 1970’s. The most notable difference from the M cab (and I cab) is the 4-piece windshield, to meet CN specs for maximum window size. This was part of CN’s specs into the early 1990’s, including the first order of C44-9W’s from GE. The second order of C44’s had a 2-windshield cab similar to US units. Presumably windshield glass had improved over the intervening two decades or the 4-windshield cab had been found not to confer much extra protection. In any event, using the same basic design as US customers lowers the per-unit cost.
MLW also used the W suffix for CN-spec cabs, but I don’t know if this commonality in nomenclature was CN’s idea, or what the builders found convenient.
when the thing runs like it is supposed to. i praise it and call it she . and when it dont do what it is supposed to ( and most others will back me up on this) i call it anything else that fits several come to mind from last nights run. a few to mention b-word c- word w- word ( come on guys it had to be said) . and then the famouse f- word, it didnt run any better. just got me in is all
They are hidden under the fiberglass nose.
Now if NS could only get a high nose wide cab…
Actually, Russians refer to their ships, locomotives and other large moving equipment in the masculine…
Actually, on Conrail’s Widecab SD60’s, I believe they had orders for each…SD60M’s and SD60I’s…a spotting feature on Conrail’s was that the nose door was on the left on one model, and on the right on the other…Dave Williams @ nsaltoonajohnstown@yahoogroups.com