Front Doors on Diesels

[Anonymous]

Darn! And all this time I thought that door led to the fourth dimension!

Ed

[jeffhergert]

The front door you see on the outside opens to a small room that is as wide as the nose and about 3 ft deep. In here usually (at least on the UP/CNW/SP engines I've been on) is a cabinet with tools, ie; air hose wrench, hammer and chisel, extra air hoses,air hose gaskets. There also may be some cab signal or other equipment, depends on model and rr ordered items in this entry way.
There is another door which leads from this room into the cab. Open this and step in and to your right is the restroom. To your left is an open space with more cabinets for electrical equipment. Again depends on model what may be in the cabinets.
Ahead of you in the middle are a few steps which go up to the cab. Inside the cab on the conductor's side is a writing desk and either a duplicate speedometer or a duplicate control screen which lets you see what the status of the controls are. This is throttle setting, tractive effort being produced, air pressure in the main resevoir, engine brake cylinder, train line and on rear of train thru the eot. Also shows if the eot is enabled to activate an emergency dumping of the air from the engineer.
Behind the conductor maybe a second seat. This on most new engines (except the new SD-70 from a couple of years ago) have instead been placed in the center of the cab. So behind the condr may be the refrigerator or ice box. If not there it may be stuck underneath the conductor's desk.

[Anonymous]

These front doors are alot like the old "Jim Walters houses of the 50's, you slam the front door and back door rattles.[:D][:D][:D]

[ndbprr]

Some engines also have a desk for the conductor there. If you look at the nose you will sometimes find a small window in the front of the nose for him to have some light and be able to run from the tankers ignoring the crossing gates.

[AntonioFP45]

Ross182,

Not a dumb question at all! Dhesh is correct. The door leads to the cab. As you go into the door, their is a toilet in a bathroom compartment to one side.

If you'd like to see pictures of locomotives and cab interiors, go to
www.railfan.net.I've downloaded over 120 photos from this site. It may take you a while as there are thousands of pictures but if you search during your leisure time, you will find dozens of cab interior pictures.

[Anonymous]

The door leads to the cab, because there are no walkways on the side.
I think there is a bathroom in the nose, too.

[Anonymous]

This may seem like a dumb question (and it probably is) but I have never been on a real diesel locomotive and I was wondering if anybody knows where does the door on the front of locomotives go? Like the ones on the fronts of SD90MACs or any of the high nose or saftey cab locos. Does it go up into the cab or is it a service entrance for things up front? Just wondering...


Ross