changing nature of railroads today

I have noticed Canadian National or CP running newer locomotives on the CSX thru mid-Michigan. Don't know the model(s) but they are huge and what would take two or three of the older locomotives in the past to pull a long train can be done now with just one of these newer models.

They seem to be using them mostly for autoracks going thru Chicago to Detroit and vice versa.

Like a GE washing machine with too much water in it? Or an off balance load?? :)

I've always felt the standard cab Dash 8-40Cs looked more like a nuclear submarine, but I seem to be the only one that gets that impression. The wide cab 8s, 9s and ACs are just plain ugly.

'till later....

-- Andrew Cummings | snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

How wide is a wide cab with respect to a "standard" cab?

I have always thought that all cabs were the same width. If not, then how does one train pass or meet another ? Going through a tunnel must be a real bone-chilling experience. How do they do that?

..........F>

Curious, GA.

One of my favourite gripes as well. "Wide cab" indeed.

-- Happy Holidays Roger T.

Yeah, well at least we are spared the image of "wide cabs" riding upon "friction bearings".

Sheeesh.............F>

The front of the cab and nose is wider than normal with no side walkways. Inside side window to side window is the same.

I wonder then what the (real or perceived) benefits of the feature are, then?

A nose door? :)

As someone who has been in them, I'm among those in this group qualified to answer that question.

First, the term "widecab." Yes, it's a misnomer, but it's actually stuck, although it's only the nose that's wider, as someone has pointed out. (Where I work, we refer to them as "widebodies.")

One feature is improved safety, as these cabs are generally referred to as the North American Safety Cab, and which were derived from CN's concept.

Another is improved comfort. "Conventionals," as we call them, seem "primitive" by comparison. The "widebodies" have desktop controls and for the conductor, a desk at which to sit, to take care of paperwork, etc. They also sport improved lighting (more fixtures about the cab for better illumination), making for a more comfortable and safer environment for the crews.

Dieter Zakas,

Comfort, NJ

"MrRathburne" <

The cab is not wider than a standard cab, how can it be? It's the same width as the frames. There's no overhang, is there?

If anything, the style of cab should be called a "wide nose", not a "wide cab".

Actually, it should be called by its Canadian name, "Safety Cab" as it was first designed in Canada by the CNR and given that name. But then again, Americans can seem to adopt a "foreign" name for anything and seem to have the penchant for having to give everything a unique "American" name. :-)

-- Happy Holidays Roger T.

Yes. From now on, your name will be 'Buford"

Jeff Sc. Committee, Ga.

You just be an ex con................?

Where were you this summer, Mr Sc.*, when the trestles on the Kettle Valley Railway were burning? CV

All very nice, but has nothing whatever to do with the cab being wider than a conventional cab. Ten feet is ten feet, no matter how you decorate it. The cabs in "modern" road switcher locomotives are really nothing more than an adaptation of the original arrangement used in the early carbody locomotives such as the EMD eff and E units and Alco's FA and PA types. They've taken the FA nose, put it on a hood unit and dolled it up a bit. I ran carbody units too. I never thought that one was better than the other. Different, but not necessarily better. The ones I liked most of all were the ones that we ran long hood front. My all time favorite was the SD-45.

..............F>

Froggy, I know very little about diesels. I have an Athearn UP SD70M. I guess this has the "wide" or "safty cab" mentioned in this thread. I got SD70M because it looks a lot like locomotives we see around here and I thought it would be neat to have a modern train to run and its a very nice model. It seems to me visability would be good on one of these. What were the advantages of running with the long hood forward? I have noticed locomotives in the past running this way and I figured they just didn't turn them but maybe there is a better reason. Are SD70/75's and similar locomotive ever operated with just one unit. I've never seen less than two or three of them together? Thanks, Bruce

Ah, which reminds me of this thread I read some time ago about the Southern running long hood front and high short hoods...

Stew

Lots more locomotive between you and anything that you might collide with.