Al depended on the engine. In the Army we had 2-8-0s. You never could get warm in those. You could put your feet right next to the FB door and the rubber would start to melt. The rest of you would freeze.

The old F units were not too bad. The GP-9s and SD-9s that had steam boilers back when they were built, were fairly tight running short hood in front.

The GEs just plan sucked.

The SD 45s? (ones with strip heaters) were okay because you had those strip heaters under the cab windows on both sides. Made a cleaner place to heat something to eat. Back on the old governors they always seemed to have oil on them. The main heaters were electric too.

We used to call the power desk in the City and have them try to put a new unit on the points of the beets if they had one. Usually they had 12 to 24 hours notice when they were on daily, SLO to Wat. Jct. and return. Some of that old junk power would go through a whole roll of duct tape to keep the cold wind out of the cab.


Nudge