I can appreciate your point of view. Having ridden the left side of the cab, then promoted to the right side, I still think they're great. They load up real quick, so they're good for road and yard switching, unlike these Dash 8's and newer crap (think Gensets) the seems to ponder life while we move from notch 1 to 3 waiting for some amperage. The SD cabs are a lot easier to get in and out of, too. Just one door, not a labyrinth of idiotic traps that snag both grips and jackets when getting in and out, not sure if someone's trying to make their way out of the front door(s) or toilet stall while you're trying to get in.

The only thing I don't really like about the SD cab is trying to get down in the nose to use the shitter, whether that's the trailing unit or not. Nothing like a 100+ degree nose compartment with a rancid, sloshing toilet to top off the sweltering San Joaquin afternoon when you're desperately trying to relieve yourself of last night's fast food.

I like the way they ride way better than most of G.E.'s road units, too. Floating right along! Most interesting horn manipulation, too; none of this all-the-way-loud pushbutton crap. And for the noise, I always carry earplugs. That way I don't have to be bothered with trying to maintain some useless conversation about last week's lodge meeting, or worse, trying to make small talk with some idiot that I would not rather work with. Bring on the noise!

And the control stand obscures the CornDoctor's view of what's going on. You can also turn off and on the generator field so that you can load up or drop off amperage much faster when making those slick switch moves. You can also wedge the Independant for further ease of switching. Plus, they mostly have a feed valve that can be massaged when needed for those interesting downhill trips. You can't do any of that with the new crap.

The air conditioning is generally better on the new units, but it craps out too, just like everything else. The cab is higher/stronger/bigger on the new stuff, so that's probably better to hit the truck/bus/car with, so there's some points for the new stuff. Also, the seats are generally better on the newer units, but why they went with cloth in such a filthy, dusty environment is beyond me.

Going out the back door on a newer G.E. product at speed with the dynos burried will certainly give you hearing loss, because GE decided to put the cooling blades right above head level just outside the door. Brilliant, really! Guess I'll still carry those earplugs!

I like the SD 40's.

Go figure.