With cupola cabooses, I have a preference for the look of the cupola to the rear, when on a train. I think Also RS-3s ran as forward, with the cab to the rear. Did GP-7s & SD-9s run as forward, with the cab to the front; or, to the rear? Certainly, these locomotives could run with the cabs either way. However, was one end considered the front, as opposed to the other? Same with cabooses, is one end considered the front end and the other the rear?
With the cupola caboose, I would think one reason for having the cupola to the rear was it would increase the view forward.
Certainly not life changing information; but, interesting (at least to me).
Gidday, Have never considered cabooses having a front or rear, though looking at photos would think, rightly or wrongly prehaps, that cupolas where generally at the rear.
However I believe that the Norfolk & Western policy was that the long nose of their cabbed diesels was the “front”. Don’ t know if other RRs had a similar policy.
Different railroads had different ideas on whether early diesels should run long hood forward or short hood forward. Most railroads considered the long hood forward on an RS-3, and the majority of railroads considered the short hood forward on the GP-7 or GP-9.
But you find several variations. The Great Northern ran both RS-3s and GP-7s long hood forward, while the UP and Northern Pacific (which is what you are modeling, right?) ran both locomotives short hood forward.
Cabooses would not normally be turned on most roads - there normally were seats on both ends of the cupola, and the difference in visibility between having the cupola forward or rearwards was apparently not big enough to make a difference.
Federal law requires that the front of every locomotive be marked by a small letter “F”, normally on the side just behind the step well.
So every locomotive has a front.
Which end is front depends on what the buyer of the locomotive has specified, They could be set up either way and it could vary from model or production run on the same railroad.
Cabooses are cars, cars do not have a front or rear, they have an A and B end. They are bidirectional and can be placed on a train with the cupola at either end. Be careful about saying that photographic evidence says the cupola was mostly trailing. All that says is that the majority of the pictures taken and published were of cabooses with the cupola trailing.
I cannot recall a single time that we turned a caboose to have it pointed a certain direction. They were put on the train regardless of which way they were “pointed”.
I don’t use cabooses so the cupola position doesn’t matter one way or the other to me. My ex-UP GP7’s are marked short hood forward even though they’re running tail to tail so no matter which way they’re going on is always going backward. My Alaska GP9 is also marked short hood forward.
Most early hood diesels were marked long hood forward because most of the crews were transferred from steam to diesels and used to having a long boiler in front of them. They also thought it safer to have all that iron in front to protect them in collisions at grade crossings and other mishaps. Then there were the roads with the long tunnels that needed the cab in front for the crews to survive the fumes. Center cab units were the reason for the front marking on locomotives. Especially dual controlled locomotives. How would an engineer know which is forward and reverse if both ends were the same? The dual controlled center cabs were the real reason for the F. It sounds crazy that they would have to put an F on something like an F7 cab unit but the rules applied to all rail driven vehicles except for the reciprocating steam locomotive.
I believe the placement of the cupola had more to do with the floor p[an of the caboose. I think the cupolas were probably off center because of the placement of the bunks, etc.
When the Maine Central bought RS-2s, they were run long hood forward; however, when they bought GP-7s in about the same timeframe (early to late 1950s), those were run short hood forward. RS-11s (late 50s) were run short hood forward.
SO was this a change in corporate thinking between the 2 purchases or just the way most of these locos came from the manufacturer??
I think that the early RS-type locos came only as long hood-forward locos, while the later models could be had either way, depending on the buyer’s choice. Geeps, as far as I know, could be ordered with either the long or short hood considered the front (mainly determined by the position of the control stand) or with bi-directional controls - all three choices were at the purchaser’s discretion.
My hometown road, the TH&B, bought GP7s in 1950 and 1953 and all units operated with the short hood as the front. In 1954, they purchased three GP9s, all boiler equipped and all with the long hood designated as the front.
When CP Rail later rebuilt these units, all came out of the shops with chopped noses and all (obviously) designated that as the front.
My full brake vans (equivalent to cupola-less bobber cabooses) are bi-directional and don’t have a designated front end. An axle-mounted flop arm determines which set of markers will light once the train starts rolling. (On board battery, all wheels insulated.)
My whatever-brakes are single-ended, and sometimes have to be turned end-for-end to get the brake cabin and markers facing the rear. The turntable at the colliery is there to turn brake vans - the tank locos are never turned.
To be honest, I’ve never considered which end of my center-cab diesels or box-cab catenary motors should be considered front. They frequently turn end-for-end (along with the entire train they’re powering) in the netherworld, but they’re never spun on a turntable. Front is the end away from the train…
Several CPR old-timers have told me that in their experience, vans (cabooses) were run with the cupola end either towards the front of the train or to the rear. A quick look through several sources of CPR photos, including Nicholas Morant’s Canadian Pacific shows vans positioned either way, although cupolas to the rear predominate.
The Grizzly Northern’s conductors are a fussy idiosyncratic bunch and like to have their cupolas to the rear.