Gp7 Diesel Locomotive: Fill & Download for Free

This has mostly to do with being able to see track-side signals.The engineer's position was set to the right for better visibility.Signals were originally built on poles alongside the tracks. Old steam powered locomotives had large boilers ahead of the cab, and many early electric and diesel locomotives had full-height hoods on either side of the cab. This made forward visibility from the left side of the locomotive (relative to travel direction) very limited.Consider the view form this 1950s era CNJ GP7 diesel locomotive:Though counter-intuitive today, the "Long hood" was typically considered the front of these locomotives. If you could imagine trying to see a signal offset to the right of the tracks, you can see why the railroads opted to put the operator on the right hand side!Even looking out the "short hood" end you can see how the old locomotives had limited vision. This locomotive had dual control stands on either side so that it could run in any direction with good visibility.Signals became adapted to the right-hand engineer Set-upAs signal technology improved with "Color Lights" and "Position lights" (instead of physical semaphores), these lights would be focused to shine brightly towards the right so to increase visibility to the engineer).Left-handed Trains are disliked by engineers.In the late 1960s, several "Left-side" commuter cars showed up in service. In both cases, the idea was that cars would have a "Pay as you go" feature for late and low density runs, where you paid as you got on the train. The engineer was moved over to make room for this feature, which was then never implemented.The Silverliner III was one such car. All other vehicles had a right-hand engineer's position.Even though the engineer had a clear view of the tracks ahead, the signals were focused to the right, and as a result, many reported difficulty seeing the signals clearly.As a result, this was not repeated, and the "Right Hand" orientation has become standard for most trains.

Train heat up to the mid 1960s was basically all done with steam, and steam heat wasnt really fully phased out until the mid 1980s. If the locomotive wasnt already a steam engine, it usually had a large steam generator on board.See this GG1 electric. Even though it is an electric locomotive, it did not heat the cars that way.Similarly, the two diesels here have steam generators, one in the short high hood of the GP7 (red locomotive) and one in the boxy housing on the back (leading end) of the GP40P (blue locomotive).Ironically though, the silver train passing in the background probably IS heating the cars with its own mechanical/electrical heat, since it is a self contained electric MU car (Metroliner).Starting in the late 60s, train heat was done electrically, either from an auxiliary generator attached to the diesel engine, or a separate generator set installed in a separate compartment or generator car.This is why some older Passengers diesels like the F40PH and the U34CH were always near full throttle, since they were generating head end power directly from their main diesel shaft. The switch to smaller gensets let the main locomotive engine idle while maintaining head end power on more modern passenger diesels.You can see a small muffler coming out at the top rear of the locomotive, this rear section is the HEP generator compartment.