The Frisco GP40-2s have that rounded anticlimber on the front clearly. But do they have it on the rear? Many models have them only on the front. I have no pictures in any books that will help. Pictures, advise? Thanks, Tom
Tom, From what I can see the rounded anti-climber was not on all GP40-2s. It was not on the rear or back at all. But I am not an authority.
Tom, I am no expert, but I always thought that the jumbo anti climbers where on both ends of the units. But I could be mistaken on this detail. Frisco units where phase II GP40-2 meaning that they where equipped with the newer anti climbers and a 88' nose as opposed to the 81' nose on the phase I. This was necessary as the FRA mandated the locomotives have "facilities" other than the walkways! They also had corrugated radiator grills where the phase I had chicken wire versions. FYI there was a phase III that had a different blower housing and the new quiet radiator fans that would be standard on the GP50s. Sorry about too much information beyond your question, I can be long winded! Brad
Tom, Are we talking about the "porch" or the "plow"? I guess maybe I do not know, what is an anti climber?
Thanks Sherrel and Brad for the input and comments. I did get directed to the website that had the attached pictures that show there is not an anti climber on the rear of at least 2 GP40-2s. I might have to live as is with the nose. If you can, look at page 100 of Frisco In Color and see that the tops of all the walkways on all four GP40-2s are painted with black anti-skid material. I have not noticed or found that on other Frisco power either. Never have been a rivet counter, but it seems I have gotten close. Cheers GJ Tom
Sherrel, The anti climber is for lack of a better explanation, an extension on the front and or rear of the walkways. The term anti climber means exactly what it says. Designed to keep other things like locomotives, automobiles, trucks or whatever is in front of the unit upon impact, from climbing over the sill and wiping the nose, cab and thereby crew from the locomotive. They actually work especially on the new stuff. I could show you horrific video, proof of head-on collisions where the North American safety cab anti climbers did its job. The crew sometimes walk away or with minimal injuries. But enough of that. In modeling, it is kind of a glaring difference to me, and the sort of thing I would change on a model. But I regress. GJ Tom
Thanks for the information. I have so much to learn. I looked at hundreds of picture on one of the locomotive websites. Seems like most folks do not shoot the rear of very many units. At first I thought you were talking about the plow being curved, then I realized that you meant something else. Anyway, from all the photographs I looked at it seems like the rounded anti climber is only on the front. Please correct me if I am wrong. I have a GP40-2 that I purchased from Ken. I better go and dig it out to see if that is something I may want to change down the road.
I too have much to learn. I had no clue what an anti climber was. Could some one show me a picture of a model with these so I know what I should be expect to see.
See the dark object between the Texas star and the coupler? That is the buffer. The fluted ribs wings that extend horizontally out each side from the buffer are the anti-climber. Should the engine strike something like an automobile, the vehicle would tend to "slide" up the pilot, then the nose toward the cab. The anti-climber was designed to help prevent or resist an object from climbing further up and ultimately into the crew compartment or cab. Tom
Also notice that the face of the buffer is almost always without paint, it has been rubbed off. When the coupler is fully compress, as during a hard coupling, or perhaps hard braking, the buffer is what the coupled car or coupled locomotive bumps into next. That wears off the paint. So, when you are painting a locomotive that has a buffer plate, like a F-unit or E-unit, rub the paint off the buffer and put on a bit of rust. That is the way they always were in the real world. Ken
That sign reads NSCO. Some kind of business in Tulsa? More of a "shield" than a coonskin. The sign below says "The Ideal Brick Mfg. Co. Inc". This photograph and several similar others, show the new Texas Special and Meteor engines at Tulsa being turned and serviced after having pulled the "Will Rogers" during the night. The "Will" was still a night train at the time. They were training crews in handling and servicing the diesels until the streamline cars arrived. The oil burning Northern class 4-8-4 engines SLSF 4500, 4501 and 4502 were still handling the heavyweight Meteor. Tom
NSCO could be National Supply Company. I think there was an oil field supply company by that name.....Karl?
National Supply Company (NSCO) was located on North Archer, which was not far from the Tulsa Union Depot.
Anti-climbers have developed and generally grown in size over the years, particularly after the mid 1970s. Frisco's early switch engines (VO-1000, DS-4-4-1000, S-4, NW-2, SW-7, SW-9, GE-44 ton, GE 45 ton, H-10-44, H-12-44) generally did not have anti-climbers. This is due to the low speeds at which this type unit generally operated. The low speed operation reduced the potential for a vehicle to be lifted above the pilot at a grade crossing accident. With the introduction to the Frisco of the EMD SW-1500 model, and its higher speeds, anti-climbers were introduced on the switcher fleet. An example of the "small standard" anti-climber is visible in this photograph of the front of SLSF 329. The anti-climber is the white ">" shaped protrusion below the multiple unit (MU) drop step, MU electrical cable receptacle box and between the outer two vertical handrail stanchions. Please see http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/slsf/slsf0329gea.jpg. Full car body type units (E7A (EA7), E8A, F3A, F7A, FP7A, FA-1) with anti-climbers were addressed in an earlier post by Tom Galbraith. Early road switchers (GP7, RS-1, RS-2), like early switchers, generally lacked anti-climbers. With the introduction of the EMD GP35 and GE U25B units to the Frisco, all subsequent four axle and the EMD SD45 locomotives had anti-climbers as standard equipment. An example of a typical "small standard" anti-climber on a road switcher is shown on GP38-2 SLSF 400. Like the example of the SW-1500 above, the anti-climber is a wedge shaped ">" under the MU drop step, MU electrical cable receptacle box and between the outer most vertical handrail stanchions. Please see GP38-2 SLSF 400 at the following link. http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/slsf/slsf400aga.jpg In 1977 EMD introduced a longer standard front hood length of 88" (formerly 81"). The overall frame length remained constant, and as a result, a new more massive, larger deep "V" shaped anti-climber was introduced. The first example on the Frisco was introduced with the EMD GP15-1. Note in the photograph of GP15-1 SLSF 105 the deep "V" shaped anti-climber and lack of drop step. With this deep style anti-climber, a drop step was no longer needed to bridge the gap between coupled units. Please see the following photograph. http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/slsf/slsf105abp.jpg An interesting note on the Frisco's EMD SD40-2 and SD38-2 units is that they lacked anti-climbers. The assignment of the SD38-2 units as hump yard switchers might help explain the absence of this feature. However, when the SD40-2 units were introduced, EMD was producing similar units for other railroads with large extended anti-climbers. One speculates that the railroad saw the extended "front porch" distance of the SD units as a sufficient substitute for the anti-climber. Additional crew protection is afforded by other anti-collision engineering including anti-climber impalement from couplers, deflection using rounded, curved or "V" shaped hoods, and energy absorption using the mass of sandboxes, internal anti collision bracing and the hood structure. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
