Cab-Forward Locomotives

[Yale]

I'm more of a plane guy, so this may be nothing new to train buffs. But can't help wondering if cab-forward locomotives would be a novelty for train-model designers. The real locomotives were used almost exclusively by the Southern Pacific -- to prevent crew asphyxiation in long tunnels.

[Burning Beard]

There is one of those articulated monsters in the Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Kinda like a Big Boy with the engineer in the front.

[FRD]

wow!, that is pretty cool!..

[Burning Beard]

Here ya go, scroll down the page a little.

Exhibits
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California State Railroad Museum

[FRD]

That is really very interesting...

[Don Boose]

I think the cab forwards (cab aheads) were largely a U.S. Southern Pacific phenomenon. There were a few (much smaller) cab forwards built in Germany and Italy, and perhaps a few other places, but I don't know of any other railroad that used them as extensively as SP.

They certainly were interesting and impressive machines!

Don

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

I’m always happy to see a discussion of America’s railroading history in these pages.

It should be noted that as rare as cab-forward locomotives were in the age of steam, diesel-electric locomotives have consistently used the layout since their introduction in the late 1930s through to the present day. While a diesel locomotive can happily run in either direction, for general road work, the cab is almost always placed at the front of the train. The benefits of better visibility and cool, breathable air are the same, and it may be true that the forward cab is quitter with less vibration, too. We’ll have to ask an experienced railroad man, or woman, if that is the case.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Kevin WS]

I have seen a couple of paper models of they Cab Forwards - so they are around.

Where I cannot recall though!

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As far as steam engines go the Cab Forward has always seemed awkward to me in terms of supplying and firing the boiler. I have never been able to find any good driver accounts, but I suspect they were not easy to operate. This is probably borne out by the fact that this design was not ever really adopted.

[DougH]

This was a similar attempt in the dying days of steam locomotion.
SR Leader class - Wikipedia

[sehenley]

I read somewhere that to water level in the boiler was tricky because you where at the steam box end of the engine - railroad engines run heat/smoke in the pipes not water.