Railroad Trains for the Soul - Wide-Cab Locomotives

Here’s a very informative video covering the history of “wide-cab” diesel locomotives, brought to you by AmtrakGuy365. A more accurate term for this concept is “wide nose” because the cab is approximately the same width in virtually all North American diesels running on standard-gauge track, regardless of their nose designs. However, the extra width of the nose provides additional space for such amenities as the conductor’s desk and a more commodious lavatory. While the wide-cab concept is commonly associated with hood units, it has been applied to full-width cowl locomotives (technically categorized as hood units) and even streamlined cab units as far back as the late-1930’s.

When it comes to cab controls, the desktop-style console is common on Canadian and American mainline safety cabs built during the 1980’s and 90’s, but more recent freight locomotives are equipped exclusively with conventional left-hand control stands for bi-directional operations; some of the earliest comfort cabs also had conventional controls. While the wide nose remains the standard design for mainline services, some of the older safety-cab diesels (along with many narrow-nose locomotives) have been relegated to shortline duties and, to a lesser extent, yard switching.

It’s interesting to note that Union Pacific has placed an order for a 20-unit fleet of Progress Rail Joule and Wabtec FLXdrive battery-electric locomotives, all of which will be switchers with standard cabs. For that reason, there may be a possible return of the narrow nose design, although these new electrics would be confined to railroad yards, not on mainlines. As a side note, the low-emission diesel genset switchers also use standard cabs, but that’s another story. The wide-nose locomotives are still king of the rails today.