What's inside the cover ?

Hi folks ! Can anyone out there tell me what is inside the cover that sits- facing the locomotive on many EMD cab units, about a foot away from the headlight at the front at about 8:00 ? I have seen, many times, a large irregular hole there as well, apparently to access whatever is inside there. Is that because the hatch cover jams ? Anybody know ? (Hole can be seen in this shot by Bill McCaffrey: http://photos.greatrails.net/showpic/?2 ... s&BOOL=ALL) Thanks !

From looking at other pix, sure looks like a door covering the MU cable connector to me...

I was gonna guess that it's where they fill the sand box, since the nose seems to be a common place for the sand fill hatch on roadswitchers, but I'm sure DutchRailnut will have the definitive answer for us!

The sand fillers are located beneath the cab windows near the #1 axle. That looks like it is an (add-on)MU jumper receptical.

Moderator's Note: Picture removed 11-11-10. See this picture from Dutch's post instead to see a sand filler.

That's for the photo and explanation, ex Budd Man! I've never had the good fortune of getting up close and personal with an F-unit.

The cover to left of Headlight is cover over MU receptacle.
the F units had high mounted MU receptacles, on front under cover at rear over rear door.

Thanks everyone !

With the added complication that not all F-type A-units were built with nose-m.u., and I think railroads adding m.u. to existing units didn't always use the same location. ... Notice how high the m.u. connection is. (Probably, if all locomotives were of F-type configuration, a high mounting would make more sense than having the m.u. cables droop below deck level....) Early roadswitchers sometimes had their m.u. sockets on pillars rising above the platform, so they could be connected either to other r.s. or to F-types.

Allen Hazen wrote:With the added complication that not all F-type A-units were built with nose-m.u., and I think railroads adding m.u. to existing units didn't always use the same location. ... Notice how high the m.u. connection is. (Probably, if all locomotives were of F-type configuration, a high mounting would make more sense than having the m.u. cables droop below deck level....) Early roadswitchers sometimes had their m.u. sockets on pillars rising above the platform, so they could be connected either to other r.s. or to F-types.

Makes sense having it up high. . .leave in lots of cable to reach other connections in different places, then just drop it into the nose when you're not using it.

The rear MU sockets on F units was near or at the top of the end door. They had short jumpers. They needed long jumpers to reach the sockets of a Geep or RS unit, with the socket on the railing or deck.