04-17-2011, 03:58 PM
Mark - Yep...several southeastern railroads used the high hood variant. But, I don't know the reason why Southern chose to buy the high hood version. Southern Railway frequently ran their high hoods "backwards" or "long hood forward" to help protect the crews (from sources I read). (But these GP30's look best running cab forward, in my opinion.) Yet, having sat and rode in the cab, there's very little area visible ahead of the engine sitting in the engineer's seat when you're running cab-forward, so I really wonder how much the crews liked running "long hood forward".
It's a strange engine to get used to...most either love it or hate it. But it's the first engine my boys and I ever rode on, so for us, we really like the looks of it. We rode on engine 2601 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum...and that engine was just about clean enough to eat off of. The paint really shined and the crew and staff were great.
It's a strange engine to get used to...most either love it or hate it. But it's the first engine my boys and I ever rode on, so for us, we really like the looks of it. We rode on engine 2601 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum...and that engine was just about clean enough to eat off of. The paint really shined and the crew and staff were great.
Mark
Citation Latitude Captain
--and--
Lt Colonel, USAF (Retired)
Citation Latitude Captain
--and--
Lt Colonel, USAF (Retired)