From May 1976 at Barrington, IL. The 833 is a GP-35, not sure why the C&NW omitted nose bells on these. Freight is probably #599. Track to the right is for EJ&E interchange.
I learned that the C&NW's nose bells weren't a standard feature when the GP-35s and SD-40s were ordered. (July 1984, Des Plaines, IL)
Most every picture of CNW F or E units I have seen - the traditional headlight is either covered with a blank plate or had the round bell mechanism positioned there. The actual headlight is set on the nose door. I am wondering what the CNW's thought processes were in doing this.
It's weird that the Es had no nose bells, while the Crandalls (to the right) had 'em. Go figure. [Barrington IL, 1975 or 1976]
While the pictures of E's indicate they were used in commuter service - as pictured, removing the number boards on the front of the engine almost precluded their use wherever Timetable and Train Orders was the method of operation as crews meeting the engine would likely have extreme difficulty in determining the engine number, especially at night.
Yes, I've wondered about that too, especially their operating past many open towers and agencies on three busy lines radiating from Chicago. Barrington had both a tower at the crossing with the EJ&E and the C&NW depot had a train order signal and controlled the interlocking just east where the mainline went from three tracks to two.
In the CNW's commuter areas, to my knowledge, most were multiple track territories where trains operated on Signal Indication by Automatic Block Signals - In such territory, it is rare to identify trains by their engine number, and almost never will a train order with engine number be used to set up a meet between trains.
Scene at Barrington, IL with a westbound "scoot" crossing the EJ&E. From '75 or '76. The armstrong interlocking machine remained in operation then. Barrington Tower is gone today.
C&NW/MILW crossing at Mayfair northwest of Chicago prior to the entire area being elevated under fill in 1908-1909. We are looking northwest on the C&NW.
Further along the same line is Mount Prospect. The second shot is mine from the mid-1970s. This station opened in 1930.
They were also timetabled in the Suburban territory, so any meets may have used the train number as opposed to the engine. Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk
I'm told it was a maintenance thing. If the headlight was present, it had to be usable, otherwise the engine would have to be bad ordered. Same thing with the number boards. Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk
The TT&TO rules I operated under on the B&O in addition to the scheduled train number also required the engine number - No 1 Engine 1444 or No 97 Engine 6904 To know you saw the proper train, you also needed to observe its engine number. Difficult to do, at night, without forward facing lighted number boards.
