advantages/disadvantages of high and low nose

[jettrainfan]

what are the advantages/disadvantages oh high and low noses?

[mhampton]

Assuming that the railroad runs short-hood forward, the high hood theoretically offers greater protection in collisions, but the short hood offers much greater forward visibility.  For roads like Southern and Norfolk & Western, who ran long-hood forward, it was a moot point (and the long hood offered more protection than the short hood).

[jward]

in addition to the  collision protection of the high hood, they also provided space for a steam generator for those railroads interested in a dual service locomotive that could be used on passenger trains. originally, the low hood  was an extra cost option, but by the time of the gp30 low hoods were standard. after that time, the only steam generator equipped high hoods were going to mexico, where they had high hood gp38-2s.

btw, it is a common misconception that southern and n&w locomotives were set up to run long hood forward. most were in fact bi directional. the n&w's had dual control stands. and the southerns had the control stand mounted in such a way that the engineer could face either way when running.

[jettrainfan]

OK, thanks for the info!

[NWsteam]

btw, it is a common misconception that southern and n&w locomotives were set up to run long hood forward. most were in fact bi directional. the n&w's had dual control stands

Yes but the commen practice was to run long hood forward. At least in the early days.

[exrail]

Don't forget one of the most important issues - on a high nose you don't have to crawl to get to the toilet.

JDK

[RAM]

You must remember that when the jeeps were new they all had high nose.  It was maybe 10 years before the started to they started the low nose.

[pipefitter]

B&O also ran their early geeps (GP7-9) long hood forward for crew safety. When I was a kid we used to watch the evening parade on B&O's Metropolitan Branch (Washington DC to Point of Rocks MD) from Forest Glen in Montgomery Co MD. I especially liked the GP7-9's in their "passenger gray top" paint scheme leading commuter (now MARC) and no-name number trains.

[jward]

that was the interesting thing about the gp7s and gp9s. different railroads had them set up different ways. b&o's were long hood forward, c&o's were shorthood forward. under chessie system, the hood with the cat logo on it was the front, and you could tell the heritage of the locomotive from the location of the logo regardless of the lettering on the cab.

[uncbob]

I personally think the GP9s SD9s are completely bland looking with no character

[jettrainfan]

I personally think the GP9s SD9s are completely bland looking with no character

I personally call them boxes!