Was the PRR, as well as successors Penn Central and Amtrak, required to have a fireman on the GGI before the general fireman off issue was resolved, or did the unions, as well as the regulatory authorities, grant them an exemption?
I believe there was a fireman on the GG-1's to call signals to the engineer from the blind side of the locomotive. The GG-1's were center-cab of course, and that loooong snoot did resrict the engineers vision a bit. One old timer said the lack of visibility wasn't TOO much of a problem since "you couldn't stop on a dime anyway!"
I suppose the fireman also had the responsibility of monitoring the on-board steam boiler which provided heat for the passenger cars in the cold weather months.
While I don't know for a fact the correct answer, one thing to remember about the GG-1. Visibility for the engineer was nil to the fireman's side of the locomotive, and it wasn't really that great on the engineers side. The days of operation of the GG-1 was before the universal use of radio for switching type moves, while all moves possible would be made to the engineers side of the locomotive, there are occasions where the only sight available is on the fireman's side, thus there needed to be a fireman there to relay the signals from the ground crew. The steam generators on the locomotives was oil fired and I would expect it would have been to fireman's responsibility to keep up steam pressure for the heating/cooling of the passenger train that followed.
Just because the fireman did not have a boiler to stoke with coal doesn't mean that the fireman was a totally useless individual on the locomotive.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
In PRR days, GG-1's had firemen. MP-54 MU trains did not. Sometime under PC or Conral, firemen were dropped at the same time as they were on diesels. When I had my GG-1 cab ride under Amtrak, New Haven - Penn Station, I rode as fireman, since there was none, and did call signals just for the fun of it. (But I missed some, to involved in railfan sights, like remains of the NYW&B.) .) But signals on both New Haven and PRR were aranged so visibility on the engineer's side was OK in every respect. Ex-New Haven engineers still preferred the "Jets". the EP-5's over the GG-1's, and would have really wished to go back to the older EP-4's and EF-3's, which had been scrapped. What the policy was on electric freight power after firemen were dropped on the passenger runs is a good question, and perhaps someone can answer.
Also, someplace I recall seeing a rule or instruction that the fireman's duties on the PRR electric motors included 'hitting the platform' at every station stop and visually inspecting the pantograph (from the platform) for damage, debris, wire damage, etc.
I'm sure it was done - esp. when RR officials were in sight - but I'll bet that rule "was more honored in the breach than the observance", as the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon once wrote.
- Paul North.
They also had to activate the boiler for the steam heat as they were not allowed to turn it on until leaving the tunnels out of Penn Station NYC.
The requirement (law or regulation) was that all locomotives over 90,000 lbs had to have both an engineer and fireman, regardless of the type of locomotive (steam, diesel, electric). That's why diesel builders made little 44 and 45-ton diesel switchers, because those engines being 90,000 lbs or under could be run by only one man.
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