I just learned that N&W had ARMORED locos! They were used in UMWA strikes and NS may still have them. Has ANYONE on TB know anything about these locos!?:wideeyes:
I know of several SD-45's that had armored cabs for use when Marrowbone Developments was under siege by Richard Trumka's UMW back in the early to mid-1980's. As I remember from what my step dad described (he was a UTU local chair and road engineer), the regular crew would get off before going up the branch to the mine and a crew of managers would take the empties in. That way the BLE and/or UTU didn't cross the UMWA picket lines. I seriously doubt if NS has any of these locos left.
They probably had steel plating tack welded over the more vulnerable areas, fuel tanks, and cab windows. I can remember a friend of mine, a former Va. State Trooper, talking about having been sent out there during one of the strikes. He brought back a couple of "West Virginia Jack Rocks" 4 20 penny nails, with the heads cut off, welded into the shape of the toy. These were thrown out, by bucket fulls, on the roads near the mine entrances and took a toll on the tires of passing vehicles.
