GP-9's Long-Hood Forward?

The New Haven Railroad operated its GP-9 long hood forward. Other railroads didn't. Did it really make a difference which hood was forward ?

gawlikfj wrote:The New Haven Railroad operated its GP-9 long hood forward. Other railroads didn't. Did it really make a difference which hood was forward ?

This is NOT correct, the New Haven's 1200 class GP-9's were set up to
operate short hood first.
Noel Weaver

For pulling power ,Did it make a difference which hood was first ?

Geeps were operated by some RR's long hood first for protection. Per PRR practice, the crew was to be afforded all protective measures possible, so running with long hood first offered additional protection for them should a head on encounter take place. Same reasoning that led to the P-5 and P-5A modification, which also led to the GG-1.

gawlikfj wrote:For pulling power ,Did it make a difference which hood was first ?

No a locomotive will have same pulling power in both directions.
Changing direction is just a matter of electrical reversing the electric motors driving the wheels.

i wasn't there, born 50 years too late!, but all the New Haven books I have show them on the head of a train short hood foward.
details. for a short period after they were delivered (about a year), some pics show them without the 'box' behind the cab. auxiliary water tanks were added for the steam generators. the rs-11's and FM's from that era of power were also set up for steam/passenger service (and short end foward), but fell out of favor after a few years, mainly used for freight afterwards.

the rs-11's and FM's from that era of power were also set up for steam/passenger service (and short end foward), but fell out of favor after a few years, mainly used for freight afterwards.

It's not that they "fell out of favor" but more a combination of three things: More and more FL-9s were coming on board to handle the passenger service, passenger service was being cut back on the Old Colony routes, and there was a persistent oil/water leakage problem with the fuel tanks. For the more numerous GP-9s, the problem was solved by relocating the water tanks topside. The RS-11s and H-16-44s retained their steam lines, but could only be used as trailing units for additional tractive effort.