Little Joe Front-end Air Hoses

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I was really intrigued by the cover of the new (Fall '05) Classic Trains mag (about Electric Freight). Nice shot of the Little Joe. Can anyone explain for me why it had six (count 'em!) air hoses across the front? This being a freight locomotive, what was the purpose of anything other than the train air under the coupler? Some air-operated MU features instead of an electrical cable?

Roger Prichard

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The additional air hoses might be related to the operation of the independent brake and possibly the sanders in MU. They may be comparable to the additional hoses on the pilot of a diesel.

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS[tup][:D]

[jimrice4449]

The Joes ran w/ diesels in MU. I bilieve the throttle functions were handled from a cab stand but the MU hose would be required for the brakes.

[nanaimo73]

They had up to 4 hoses on each side along with the hose in the middle. I got this answer from arbfbe-
The 8 air hoses on the front of the Joes allow them to mu with each other and diesels. They control the locomotive air brakes. Facing the unit from the left there is a sand hose, independant application & release hose, actuating hose and main reservoir hose. Then there is the trainline air hose near the drawbar. Next is another main reservoir hose, an actuating hose, independant application & release hose and a sand hose. All the hoses on both sides do not need to be connected, just one side or a combination from both sides is enough. Both sand hoses need to be connected if you want front and rear sand to work. The sand hoses have been replaced by an electric sanding control via the mu cable.

[Hugh Jampton]

Just to add a tad of clarity;
The sand hoses do not carry sand,, they are air only hoses connected to the sanding equipment on the MUed units.

[Anonymous]

Additional question:
A lot of the photos I see of Little Joes in operation seems to have the end doors in the nose open while the locomotives were running.

Why would a crew do that? Air conditioning? Access?

Erik