Why did the right side of the cab become the engineers side? In other forms of transportation that came after trains the operator's side became the left side. In the US anyway, cars and trucks have the driver on the left. In airplanes, the pilot is in the left hand seat. Stagecoaches were around before trains but the right hand seat eventually became the shotgun seat. Just curious as to why the right hand side became the engineer's side in locos.
On most US/North American railroads, trains run right-handed on double-track lines. Having the engineer on the right (or 'outside') side of the cab allowed them to better see signals, view station platforms, etc., which would be on the right side as the train approached them.
But then, why do most US railroads run right-handed with so many other countries are left-handed?
Well when you are called by a business to solve a problem and you can fix the problem but they won't change you get a standard answer of, "That's the way we have always done it".
wjstixOn most US/North American railroads, trains run right-handed on double-track lines. Having the engineer on the right (or 'outside') side of the cab allowed them to better see signals,
but the Philadelphia & Reading was an early RR that ran left handed because of the British investors before eventually changing. that RR helped develop early locomotives. wouldn't it have put the controls on the left side of an engine when running left handed?
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
I recall hearing of a few left handed steam locomotives built in the US. Not many of them.
British engines have the controls on the left hand side. The Chinese built steam locomotives that have come to the US have the controls on the left hand side.
I would think the standardization of controls would predate double tracking of most railroads. Picking the current of traffic direction may have been influenced by the equipment rather than the other way around.
Jeff
Yes, in Britain trains run left-handed on double track lines, so the engineer ("driver") sits on the left side of the cab ("footplate") and signals are normally to the left of the tracks.
There were several US railroads that ran left-handed. The story often comes up that it was because they had British investors, but I don't know of any cases where that was more than just a guess as to the reason. The U.K. was the largest investor in US business in the 19th century, so I suspect there was British money invested in many US railroads, but only a few chose to run left handed.
A notable left-hand road was C&NW. i have heard that under Vanderbilt control the road adopted some British practice, but the predominant explanation I remember hearing was that it had to do with preserving single-track stations when double-tracking.
Perhaps to expand on what Overmod said, C&NW built the stations on the north side of the tracks so the commuters waiting for the morning train into the city would be on the south facing platform in the sun on cold Chicago mornings. In a double track situation, that would mean the eastbound track into the city would be the north track, hence left side running. At least that is what I remember from a Trains article.
Didn't C&NW have commuter lines that ran east of Chicago or were those all from other railroads?
John-NYBW Didn't C&NW have commuter lines that ran east of Chicago or were those all from other railroads?
C&NW did not have any commuter lines timetable east of their Chicago terminal (actual east was Lake Michigan). They had commuter lines north and NW of CHI. I know CSS&SB and PRR had commuter trains TT east if CHI.
What about the fireman?
Most people are right handed. If you are right handed, and shoveling coal, it is easier to do it from the left side.
That must have been an influence on locomotive design.
-Kevin
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