by Allen Hazen
(Sorry for the potentially misleading title…)
The U25B had its central equipment air blower in the radiator compartment. In the redesign that led to the "definitive" U-series carbody (introduced with the "Phase 2" U28B and U28C in 1966), this was changed: the equipment blower was now between the cab and the engine-generator set, with the central air intake high on the hood side behind the cab (the square opening). This arrangement was continued on six-axle Dash-7 units, but on 4-axle Dash-7 units the equipment blower went… back into the radiator compartment (in order to make room for other things -- toilet compartment and low-voltage control electricals --behind the cab). The Davis brothers have recently posted some original GE publications about (what has since come to be known as) the Dash-7 line when it was new, including cut-away drawings of the rear end of the long hood on 4-axle and 6-axle units:
http://railroadlocomotives.blogspot.ca" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There was, however, one exception to the rule that the air blower was behind the cab in later U-series units: the U34CH. (I assume because the HEP generator was located in the space where the equipment blower should have gone?). This can be spotted from the outside: unlike, say, the U36C, the U34CH didn't have the square intake on the side of the hood for the central air system.
So, question for anyone who knows the interior of a U34CH: was its central equipment blower installation similar to that on a B23-7?
(As for other possible interpretations of the title… No, the U34CH wasn't any more like a Dash-7 than other early-1970s U-series. Recall that when another U34CH was wanted in the late 1970s, GE thought it was easier to buy back a U30C from the C&NW and have it rebuilt to a U34CH (at, I think, GE's Cleveland shop, not Erie) than distract the Erie people by making them build a U-series unit in the middle of Dash-7 production!)
The U25B had its central equipment air blower in the radiator compartment. In the redesign that led to the "definitive" U-series carbody (introduced with the "Phase 2" U28B and U28C in 1966), this was changed: the equipment blower was now between the cab and the engine-generator set, with the central air intake high on the hood side behind the cab (the square opening). This arrangement was continued on six-axle Dash-7 units, but on 4-axle Dash-7 units the equipment blower went… back into the radiator compartment (in order to make room for other things -- toilet compartment and low-voltage control electricals --behind the cab). The Davis brothers have recently posted some original GE publications about (what has since come to be known as) the Dash-7 line when it was new, including cut-away drawings of the rear end of the long hood on 4-axle and 6-axle units:
http://railroadlocomotives.blogspot.ca" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There was, however, one exception to the rule that the air blower was behind the cab in later U-series units: the U34CH. (I assume because the HEP generator was located in the space where the equipment blower should have gone?). This can be spotted from the outside: unlike, say, the U36C, the U34CH didn't have the square intake on the side of the hood for the central air system.
So, question for anyone who knows the interior of a U34CH: was its central equipment blower installation similar to that on a B23-7?
(As for other possible interpretations of the title… No, the U34CH wasn't any more like a Dash-7 than other early-1970s U-series. Recall that when another U34CH was wanted in the late 1970s, GE thought it was easier to buy back a U30C from the C&NW and have it rebuilt to a U34CH (at, I think, GE's Cleveland shop, not Erie) than distract the Erie people by making them build a U-series unit in the middle of Dash-7 production!)
