Asked to any and all Engineers out there. With new EMD and GE locomotives being produced with desk top controls and those controls face forward, how is it to run long hood forward or switch with these controls?
We hardly ever switch with them. The most is a setoff or lift. One day while I worked a switch engine, the only available power was a Draper car body unit. I had to use the mirror to see any motions from the trainmen.
One other day we had to switch a few cuts, then we were to double a train together. The yardmaster insisted that I use the road power for everything, rather than changing power. The road unit was an AC4400. As many know, it takes them 20 years to load up. I couldn't give a good kick. The result was to keep the independent applied until the load built up.