Which hood forward and why.

[Anonymous]

My friend was asking me why B&O ran SD-7s etc. long hood forward while roads such as C&O tended to run short hood forward. I was hoping someone could enlighten me as to why some roads preferred running long hood forward? There must be/have been some perceived advantage to the practice. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Im not sure, the NW / NS / SOU runs long hood forward also! Mabey it was for switching visibility? I will like to see the correct answer myself !

[RedGrey62]

I'll throw my [2c] in here, not nescessarily correct, just what I've heard through the years. I've 2 different reasons, first, steam engines had the cab in the back (with a few notable exceptions) and when railroads switched to diesel, some of them still ran them with the cab in the back, long hood forward. Second reason was safety, in a collision, a crew in the front would be in more danger than if they were in the rear.

Rick

[egmurphy]

Rick has it right. There were a couple of roads that ran long hood forward and it was for those reasons.

Most railroads preferred to run short hood forward on road engines, which provided better vision for the engineer.


Regards

Ed

[tatans]

Do diesels have the same controls on both sides?? otherwise the hogger is sitting in the firemans seat.

[ndbprr]

Generally the answer is no but all diesels have a degree of customization for the railroad buying it from the factory so there have been some that had dual controls.

[Anonymous]

This is something I've always wondered about, now I know! Great topic, WVHAGAN!

[BRAKIE]

Ok..Here's some facts on the B&O/C&O.The original B&O GP7/9s did indeed run long hood forward.After the C&0 took control of the B&O,the C&O sent GP9s to help shore up the B&Os motive power woes.These exC&O GP9s retain their C&O looks and numbers and was lettered for the B&O and was operated short hood forward.
Now the reason some railroads operated long hood forward was because of collision protection.Several railroads operated their road switchers in this manner.

[AltonFan]

I believe the original production GP-7, GP-9, SD-7, and SD-9 were all built to be operated long hood forward. (Same is true of early Alco and Baldwin road switchers.) I don't believe short hood forward units became standard production until the mid to late 1950s.

[NZRMac]

I asked the question recently my N&W BLI SD40-2's have a small F near the rear steps, does this mean forward? (long hood end)

If so BLI has the DCC controls back to front.

Ken.

[jrbernier]

All EMD GP/SD units were delivered to run short hood forward if the customer did not specify. All early Alco road switchers ran long hood forward if the customer did not specify. An example is the Milwaukee Road. The ordered Alco RSC2 engines after WWII, and they were set up to run long hood forward(Alco's default setup). In 1952, the Miwaukee took delivery of EMD SD7's - they came setup for short hood forward. When they took delivery of Alco RS3 and RSD5 engines, they ordered them setup to run short hood forward. Sometime in RS11/RSD12 production, Alco started shipping engines with a default setup of short hood forward(maybe the 'low hood' option sealed the deal).
N&W/Southern continued ordering high short hoods, and N&W ordered 'dual' controls for many years. Great Northern also ordered all road switchers set up for long hood forward(and the GP20's even had 'high' short hoods). Starting with the GP30 and U25B, they started taking delivery of units with the now standard 'low' short hood setup as the default 'front' of the engine. By this time EMD was charging for the 'high' short hood as a non-standard 'option'.

Jim Bernier

[BR60103]

You can tell on some roads by the paint scheme. Canadian Pacific used the F unit paint on hood units and they had a very distinct nose scheme.
I've seen CN GPs with low noses coupled in pairs in every configuration -- including two long hoods outward. This is on local switching turns around Toronto.

[WilmJunc]

B&M is another road that prefered long hood forward.

[Anonymous]

Ok here's another question along those lines. When did those roads that used long hood foward switch over to short hood. I'm mainly looking for when ns switched over to short hood. I am going to be having an interchange with NS on my layout and was wondering if it would be prototypical to run it long hood forward.
Andrew

[jrbernier]

Andrew,

I believe the change happened before Norfolk Southern. Sometime in the 70's, Norfolk & Western took delivery of SD40-2 engines with a 'short' front hood, but still setup to run with the long hood forward. I suspect most of those engines never got changed around...check with the N&W Historical group.....

Jim Bernier

[ndbprr]

I remember something a little different. I recall ATSF having a damaged or rebuiilt unit made with a low short hood. originally the short hood contained the boiler for train heating but with the loss of passenger service they were redundant so the low hood became feasable. I recall a picture in Trains showing the first one.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the answers!

[Anonymous]

Southern did put an F on the long end of their diesels to signify that their units were intended to run long end first. The official reason given was for crew safety in the event of a crash. I sure miss them badly. Thats why I run them on my layout.

[dehusman]

The "F" on the front is required by Federal law on the front of all diesel and electric locomotives. All diesels have them.

Dave H.

[NZRMac]

I didn't know what the F meant so I ran em backwards (short hood first) cause that's the way loco's run here, and when I pu***he forward button on the Lenz DCC it went that way.

Ken.

[willy6]

ON the Southern Railway It was a union rule to run long hood forward, and when NS took over NW & Southern, they ran long forward for a period of time.