F unit & E unit nose construction

70000 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:37 am

bbunge wrote:

Don't forget various off shoots of the bulldog nose was used for overseas locomotives, and often on double ended units such as the Victorian Railways B class in Australia and the very similar DSB Class MY and similar types in Europe.

Bob

V-Line A class diesel (A62) in the yards at Spencer Street Station, Melbourne (now called Southern Cross Terminal), in November 2003.
One was in use on the branch service from Frankston to Stony Point when I went back there in April 2004.
Not sure if any of these are still in passenger service, but I believe they were up to about 5-6 years ago....

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11 Years earlier, this B class certainly looked if it had escaped from the Erie......

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Tom Davidson · **Joined:** Sun Dec 29, 2013 6:07 pm **Posts:** 203

I seem to recall that Atlanitc & East Carolina Railway Company ("The Mullet Line", running east from Goldsboro NC) was another road that converted a B unit to an A, or had EMD do it for them. I think it was an F3.

In the 1970's, I worked in a Chicago area hospital, and one of my coworkers was a woman who said she had worked for EMD many years before. I think her employment must have been during WWII, and the units she worked on were probably FT's. Both of her hands were badly scarred. She said that was from welding the noses of diesel locomotives. Those were the pre-OSHA days, so it's not hard to believe.

Tom

wm303 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:30 pm

I have a TP&W video in my library which give a few construction views of the B unit transformed to an A unit.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Brian Norden wrote:

Les Beckman wrote:

The Toledo, Peoria & Western had a B unit that the railroad got less use out of, so they decided to put a cab on it! There was a story about it in an old issue of Trains Magazine including, if I recall correctly, a form for making the nose. Maybe someone can remember the correct issue. Not sure if it will help, but might give you some idea.

The photo story was on pages 58 and 59 of the January, 1955, issue. The conversion was done in eleven weeks at the end of 1949 and apparently into January 1950.

Turns out that the A-units were 6-1/2 inches longer. The TP&W stretched the B-unit by only 3 inches because of concerns about weight distribution.

Part of the articles states:

Quote:

They set to work, applying extension, lengthening out the platform to the contour of the nose, building the skeleton work and setting in the collision posts. The posts were of a heavier design than the manufacturer's. but they were on hand, so work proceeded from the platform up. Straight sheets, the entire framework and a large percentage of parts were manufactured in T&P&W's own shop. The motive power department went ot General Motors for the curved sheets fo rht nose, the windshield castings and the hard ware. Eleven weeks later the job was weighed. Weight distribution was prefect.

Brian - Thanks for digging out the info on the TRAINS issue with the info about the TP&W conversion. I've looked for a photo of the rebuilt unit on the internet, but have had no luck.

Les

Tavor · **Joined:** Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:32 pm **Posts:** 200

David H. Hamley wrote:

Another nose transplant was PRR FP7 9859A, which after a serious collision received the nose of an early F3a with the side number boards. It remained in that configuration as PC 4359 and on several sightings always caused me to do a double take.

It's even stranger than that, David! The Pennsy bought several ex GN electrics (GN class Y-1, PRR refurbished them into their own class FF2) execpt for one which was used for spare parts. The spare parts unit, ex GN 5011 had been crashed previously and GN rebuilt it with cabs from old F3A's.

One of the cabs from GN 5011 ended up on PC 4359!

Walter · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:03 pm

SD70dude wrote:

Overmod wrote:

Did we ever resolve the old 'wive's tale' that the windshields of some of the cab units were derived from mid-Thirties GM automobile windshields?

The vent and side windows (which roll down!) are also eerily similar to those from automobiles of the era, but I have never seen official confirmation either.

The roll-down window mechanisms, canvas-covered window tracks and felt gasketing were sourced from a 1938 Buick for use on the FTs. The early F3's had the same equipment.

I think the wing window was the same as the Buick but the cab and door window glass was slightly different.

davew833 · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:45 am

I've wondered why C&NW fabricated their own noses for the ex-UP "B" units they turned into "A" units. Surely there must have been plenty of early E- and F- units in scrap lines by the early 70s that could have given up their noses for the project.

CREEPING DEATH · **Joined:** Sun Oct 24, 2010 6:22 pm **Posts:** 275

I believe LEAD was used to smooth the early noses, plastic filler - aka 'bondo' - wasn't widely available until the 1950s and the earlier versions had a wide variety of issues.

CD