N&W diesel locos with lines under the cab number

Mon Aug 17 16:57:00 EDT 2020

Bill

I cannot speak from personal experience, I was not out there. The stripe and rule, to the best I can find came about around April of 1980, as it was not in the timetables prior to Timetable 1 issued March 1, 1981, and dates of revisions to drawings

From the timetable, General Rule 10

Locomotive units moving dead-in-tow, when not handled as trail units in the locomotive consist, must be placed and handled within the head ten cars of the train, unless specific instructions are received from the Motive Power Department to handle on the rear

In addition, a locomotive unit not equipped with alignment control draft gear when moving dead-in-tow in the locomotive consist or train, must not be coupled to another unit which does not have alignment control draft gear

N&W diesel units in the following series do not have alignment control draft gear:
10-49, 250-258, 2011-2572, 2800-2863, 3120-3495

These units can be identified by a yellow or white stripe painted beneath the unit number on the outside of the cab Road units also have a similar stripe painted across the short hood door inside the cab

11 When a locomotive consist includes more than one unit that does not have alignment control draft gear (see previous rule for unit numbers), extreme caution must be exercised when applying locomotive or dynamic brake of handling the throttle in back-up of shoving movements to prevent units from jack-knifing.

I am assuming that the units not equipped with alignment control draft gear could easily be shoved to one side, leading to breakage of the knuckle or coupler shank from the buffering forces and the alignment control on the other unit trying to keep them aligned created issues. Since the NKP and Wabash units were filtering east more in the latter years, it became more of a visible problem.

Perhaps someone with operating experience at that time can expand on that.

Ken Miller

> On Aug 17, 2020, at 10:21 AM, NW Modeling List via NW-Modeling-List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Bob,
> 
> Thank you for the information.
> 
> The reason that I needed further clarification was because I thought the rule was that a white line under a cab-side number meant that no two locomotives with such a line were to be coupled together.  But since most locomotives with such a line were former Wabash and Nickel Plate units, did those roads experience problems when all of their non-aligning units were always coupled together.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Bill King
> Arlington, Virginia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NW Modeling List via NW-Modeling-List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
> To: nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org
> Cc: NW Modeling List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
> Sent: Sun, Aug 16, 2020 10:14 pm
> Subject: Re: N&W diesel locos with lines under the cab number
> 
> I would say that the (NKP & WAB) did not have this problem since they did not have self aligning couplers. Almost all N&W locos did.
> 
> Bob Bowers
>  
> In a message dated 8/15/2020 11:56:42 AM Eastern Standard Time, nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org writes:
>  
> I need further clarification on this issue.
>  
> As I recall, most underlined units were former Wabash and Nickel Plate Locomotives.
>  
> Did those pre-merger roads experience problems when their non-aligning units were coupled together?
>  
> Regards,
>  
> Bill King
> Arlington, Virginia
>  
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NW Modeling List via NW-Modeling-List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
> To: nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
> Cc: NW Modeling List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
> Sent: Fri, Aug 14, 2020 11:04 pm
> Subject: Re: N&W diesel locos with lines under the cab number
> 
> The line under the cab number indicates that the unit does not have self aligning couplers. In a reverse move with other units the lined unit will jack knife causing the truck to derail.
> 
> Bob Bowers
>  
> In a message dated 8/14/2020 10:58:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org> writes:
>  
> Could somebody tell me why some N&W diesel locomotives have a line under the numbers on the cab sides?  I am sure somebody said it to me...but you know how that is.
> Thank you,
> Mike Shockley
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