This might kind of sound silly but why do some BNSF EMD GP50s have the ugly eyebrow - I get it’s for PTC but couldn’t it have been put in a different area?
Credit to Marc Lingenfelter for the picture of BNSF EMD GP50 3122
Credit to Marc Lingenfelter for the picture of BNSF EMD GP50 3122
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I’m guessing the engines without it either got a different version of PTC or they’re going to strictly be used as trailing units. It definitely looks kind of weird although I wonder if it unintentionally gives the added benefit of being a sunshade for the crew.
Older engine had access to the bulbs for the numberboards from the inside of the cab. Not as important with LEDs, and those old doors were really drafty and many of them were coated in duct tape.
Even the 15 yr old EMD rebuilds we use changed the access to numberboard lights to the underside of the “lip” outside of the cab.
A lot of PTC electronics had to be jammed into engines that had no established room for any of it. There is a bunch of real estate up there in the numberboard area.
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