Recently a model railroading friend came up to me with a model of his NS dash-8 with two crewmembers in it facing the hood. This started a discusion of why it was that certain railroads were riding their engines with the hood in front, I can’t imagine this will improve visability . Who will help solving this ‘mystery’.
Think steam engines and collision protection.
In the early days of the road switcher, some railroads ran their D-E locos long hood forward, resembling a steam locomotive. IIRC, it tended to be those who held on to steam to the bitter end. There was also a school of thought that said practice provided better protection to the crew, particularly in the case of grade crossing accidents. Some locos were built with “dual control,” with two control stands so the engine could be run either end foward.
Several things likely conspired to end the practice - the higher hoods (remember that the RS series had a fairly low long hood), and longer hoods, both of which severely limit forward visibility, and the newer wide “safety” cabs. I’m sure reduced manning may have played a role.
And I’m sure I’ve missed something. It’ll turn up.
Some railroads and crewmembers felt it improved crew protection in the event of a collision with another train, rock slides and at grade crossings. Other railroads installed control stands on both sides of the cab so they didn’t have to run “backwards” out of tight canyons on branchlines. The NS units have only one control stand but speed recorders on the front and back wall of the cab so it can be seen by the engineer operating with either end of the unit leading. The angle or the control stand is more parallet to the rail to make long hood foreward operations more comfortable.
Personal note:
One of my Great, great whatever grandfathers was Garret Zeger. Family lines go toward Sager and Garretson. Any of those families still common in Holland?
arburnsfbe@earthlink.net
I think the Norfolk and Western abandoned this practice long before the formation of NS, but they were one of the last railways to stop runing hood forward.
I find it ironic that one of the last railways to adopt the safety cab was also one of the last railways to stop runing hood forward.
Other than that, I think Larry nailed the question.
Gabe
Norfolk and Western and the Southern Railway both had numbers of units running with the long hood forward, especially high nose units. Was definetly a plus as far as head on collision protection.
I do wonder if any of these units are still around on Class II or shortline railroads. When I was in Georgia, I noticed a group of high nosed 2nd generation GEs and EMDs on the Georgia Central Railroad in Lyons. It was easy to tell that some of these were ex-Norfolk Southern units.
The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway had two ex-Southern GP38’s, ex-SOU 2796 and 2813. They became surplus in 2001 and went to the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad in Washington State.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, had a “must” rule for years, however, it was recended in the '90’s.
I’ve seen both the GP60, and the SD70 running long hood forward, in the late ninties, though they were built single direction, short hood forward, as opposed to bi-directional, single controller, long hood forward, with the controller turned as arbfbe related.
Running a train simulation, I’ve found long hood forward to be a heck of a disadvantage, though it looks neat in the tracking view. I’m constantly moving back and forth from one side of the cab to the other!
I’ve heard the Seaboard Coast Line engineers, cat-call over the prospect of “running backward,” and then on second thought, acknowledge the saftey factor.
Enjoy Your Hoods! ACJ.
Remember many first generation diesels had high short hoods so you really didn’t have any advantage to running short hood first.
Dave H.
Hi CoertSmit [:)]
You might find helpful the replies I got to a similar post I made on April 4 this year called: Early Alco road switchers ran long end first?
The response from the Forum crew was terrific [:)] [:D] I sure learned a lot from what everyone said about the practice of running locos long hood first.
I reckon you’d find their comments quite interesting. [;)][:)]
Dave
(Kozzie)
I find it ironic that the two railroads,N&W and SOU.,that ran thier locos long hood forward,for crew protection, also ordered thier engines with high short hoods.They said it was for crew protection.
Southern Pacifc had both single control stand and two control stand road units. The two control stand units were mainly used for commuter trains, but could be used on freight, the single stand units were freight. The front of an SP road loco was the end with the wings. The dual control units had wings on both ends.
Ok N&W and SOU were long hoods first.But who else?Yes it was for protection and I rember a MR article how to build a SOU SD40-2 and the f on the frame was at the long hood end.I dont think N&W dropped that practise until late in the 90’s but dont hold me to the time line.
Even though both hoods were high, visibility around the short hood was much better than around the long hood.
B&O ran the long hood forward. One of the reasons NS changed was the exhaust fumes that enter the cab when running long hood forward. The GE wide noses are especially bad in this respect.
Thanks a lot for your answers, I didn’t expect it to have so many replies I’m now starting to r\ead about the Road Switchers as suggested by Kozzie. It’s getting more interesting with every reply.
Just to add to the confusion… a lot of the CN family (CN, GT, GTW, DW, CV, etc.) ran the GP7’s and 9’s long hood forward for years… I suppose safety had something to do with it, but if I were pressed I’d have put it down to ‘tradition’!
CN’s GP9’s where built with high hoods and ran long hood forward, now all the hoods have been chopped but only certain calsses of GP9’s have had theri controls moved for sjort hood operation, the others have short hoods but the controls are still set up for long hood forward operation.
Hey CoertSmit, [:)] I hope that older post will help. I’ve benefited a lot from looking at past posts, as I’m sure a lot of others who are lilke me and don’t know too much but are willing to learn. [;)]
Dave
(Kozzie)
I’ve seen Conrail units (before and after the Split) running long hood foward.
Alco GE
Was there much variety of the types of passenger trains that ran behind the Delaware and Hudson RD2s? Were the RS2s in that same classy livery of blue and yellow like the PAs?
Dave
(Kozzie)