Okay the thread title is a joke, but I was wondering what these were for... In the early 80's, some ATSF locomotives had these vertical plates on roof, on either side, forward of the dynamic brake, about a foot tall and a few feet long. You can see examples on this SD40: http://www.trainpix.com/ATSF/EMDORIG/SD40/5008.HTM And on the three trailing units in this picture: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=315625&nseq=54 Anyone know what these were for and how long they lasted?
Those are, in fact, smoke deflectors. Check out Details West item AD-194. The Details West description indicates they were used on some second generation EMDs. Hope this helps.
Aha, that's funny that I guessed correctly by accident. Thanks, I would not have been aware of the Details West part 'cuz I'm an N-scaler. Anyone know why the smoke needed deflecting? I'm just curious.
Tried researching this online. Other names for smoke deflectors are "smoke lifters" and "exhaust lifters". Most of them seem to have been installed by the Santa Fe during rebuilds in the early/mid 80s but removed later that decade as a maintenance headache. I've seen photos of ATSF diesels with the lifters as late as 1986 and 1987. At least one SP SD45 had them too. I didn't find any explanation why they were used, i.e. why was it necessary to "lift" the exhaust? Must be someone on the forum here who knows.
