Since I grew up after the heyday of F units, I can only speak of the local shortline, who leased a pair from the nearby museum for a couple years when they first started operations. The F’s were ex-Milw Road units, one an F7A the other an FP7A. They were kept together as a pair unless one was down for mechanical work or FRA 90 day inspection. The side windows are a quite small when your up there in the cab and not the easiest to stick ones head out of. They did have rearview mirrors, much like whats on a 18 wheeler. In the summer they were hated, hot and misrable in the cab. But in the winter time the crews would fight over who got the F units for the day as they were nice and warm on a typical artic winter day in Indiana with wind chills well below zero. So, my suspicion would be the northern roads were more likely to have them running in single and multipule set ups due to being much more comfortable in the colder weather. Much safer as well, try walking a snow and ice covered walk way on a GP9 while on the move to restart a stalled trailing unit! A F unit was no problem and you didnt even need your coat.
Have seen a few photos. Those were neat, like a real life train set.
Another Cab Unit Alone.
http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Toronto/west_toronto_diamond_4051_West.jpg
Thank You.
Any reason you can’t use two engines together? Seems to me that would be more realistic. The branchline I grew up by had used back to back EMD switchers in the 1960’s and '70’s; after the Soo Line took over the line they used back to back GP-9s. This was for only 5-6 cars generally (at least near the end of the line where I was).
Then you could just say it’s a mainline freight, which would make more sense being pulled by an F-unit…or two together. With the steep grade you describe, I’d rather have two engines running easily than one struggling to make the grade, but that’s me.
I think it’s realistic that a railroad, finding nothing else available ‘right now’ to run the local freight except an F-3, would certainly go ahead and use it. However, I think if they found they had to keep using the F unit over and over for an extended period, they would find something else to assign to the train, like a GP or RS-3 (or two) or something else better suited for wayfreight work than an F.
You mean to say the rear visibility on a Berkshire was better than an F unit? Berkshires have a “see-thru” tender…??
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There’s a prototype for most everything related to single cab units (F, FA, PA, BP, BF) and a lot of them were on the Lehigh Valley. After WWII the line was in dire straits and had to make do. Single F’s and FA’s were assigned to the New York branch lines when switchers and hood units were not available. Turntables and wyes were still available. I have a video of a mainline local in New Jersey with a single FA running backwards. Miscellaneous pictures of FA’s and PA’s switching nose around the Sayre, PA shops. They all had huge backup lights. Closely related are A-B FT units pulling mixed trains in Geneva, NY along with SW’s, Baldwin S-12’s, and # 200, a Baldwin DS 4-4-1000. There were even single C-420’s and C-628’s used for transfer duty in Niagara Falls and Owego.
Another Class 1 railroad using cabs in creative ways was the PRR. A 1972 Trains magazine article about diesels showed a picture of a BP unit (passenger shark) running single on the main line, backwards, with a big backup light, and a half dozen cars in tow. Related–PRR rebuilt a few sharks with ALCO innards and MU. Before these fell apart, they were mixed with EMD and ALCO products in MU configuration. I recall a rebuilt shark running with FA’s.
Lest we forget the littlest railroads. The Wellsville Addison and Galeton ran single and back-to-back F-units. A crewman spotted out the back door when one unit ran backwards. The Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester & Camilla railway used a single FT with couplers at both ends as per Don Ball’s America’s Colorful Railroads: The Second Generation. Really big bell on nose, lots of red paint like the Lehigh!
Rich
D&RGW did buy two F7A’s with steam generators built in so they would have the option of a single diesel powering a passenger train and still have steam heat ability.
Not sure if the OP is strictly focused on freight but here’s a single E unit on a commuter run…
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The problem that I see using an F unit or any unit back in the day is that it’s like trying to back out of a parking space without a rear view mirror and no back window. Good luck.
Thank You.
There is a photo I have seen of an F-unit on the Western Pacific with a GP on a switching local job on the Warner Branch. Its not a solo F-unit, but it is evidence that those F-units did sneak their way into local trains and switching jobs… even if it had to be paired with a GP to make it work well.