CSXT gp38-2 nose cabinet

[big train james]

Does anybody know the story behind the cabinet added to the nose of CSXT 2546 gp38-2 (as well as some other gp38-2's)?  I'm thinking it might have something to do with remote control equipment, but that's just a guess.  I've never seen something like this on other RC units I'm familiar with.  

On a side note, older photos show non-louvered doors on this and other units, so they got changed at some point.



Jim

[sd80mac]

That is where some shop foreman at CSX decided to put the computers and control panel for the remote control equipment. When CSX finally decided that the Drones and Sleds were more trouble than they were worth, they removed the RC equipment from them and installed them on conventional units instead. There was no set standard for this conversion, and seemingly every shop retrofitted the RC equipment differently. I have been on CSX units that had the equipment and control panels mounted nicely on the back wall in the cabs, and some that had everything crammed so tightly inside the nose that using the toilet would be impossible. Why someone decided that cutting a whole new cabinet into the outside of the nose would be easier than the two former options, I will never know. Seems like a lot of extra work!

[big train james]

Thanks for the info. I guess the obvious answer is the correct answer in this case. Apparently everybody else agrees with you as to why this is the chosen solution, since nobody else has ever done it this way! 

Jim

[drolsen]

Apr 22, 2024 12:33:13 GMT -8 sd80mac said:

When CSX finally decided that the Drones and Sleds were more trouble than they were worth, they removed the RC equipment from them and installed them on conventional units instead.

I think the remote control cabinets in the nose predate the remote control sleds by several years. I saw them first on 2400-series SD40-2s that had been dedicated to yard service. You can see in my photos of CSX 2433, based in Cumberland, that it did not have the nose cabinet when I first saw it in June 2001, but it was present the next time in October 2002:

CSX 2433

I always thought it was put in the nose (short hood) to make it easily accessible to the crew members operating it, but I don’t know if there’s any reason for a crew to need to go in there during normal operations.

Dave