Western Railroad Discussion > locomotive windshield wipers...

So do they have several speeds or an intermitten feature like automobiles? Also, do they clatter and make a racket or is the glass thick enough to block out the noise? Do the blades need changing as often as auto wipers? Any crazy stories to pass along?

Most locomotives have air powered wiper motors and
are mounted inside the cab, so they can be very noisy!
Single speed, with a hand lever inside if they don't
start on their own!!
Mike

Hello,

Please also see:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,2904124,2906745#msg-2906745

Paul Bernath
Crawford, NE

They are all intermittent, sometime they work, sometimes they don't.

Eng.Shadetree

There are 2 speeds, off and warp factor 9. About 87% of the wiper blades needs changes. The other 13% need adjusted so they touch glass. On older units, you must wear ear plugs and conversation is impossible when they are on.

Why haven't they gone to electric motors?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/12 16:44 by upengr21.

some of the new engines actually have windshield wiper fluid tubes attached to them like autos, bet they don't work long........

It amazes me how terrible the windshield wipers are, especially for a $2mil. locomotive!

My main beef with them is that when you are at speed or meeting another train at speed, they will often 'float' across the windshield and stop right in your field of vision and stay there. You can adjust them back to their original position, but soon enough they'll float right back there. Some trips I feel like all I do is constantly move them out of my field of vision.

Like I said, for $2mil, you'd think they (GE at least) could come up with something better!!

Tom

or when some one leaves the window heater on and the wipers melt rubber on them

Posted from Android

>My main beef with them is that when you are at speed or meeting another train at speed, they will often 'float' across the windshield and stop right in your field of vision and stay there. You can adjust them back to their original position, but soon enough they'll float right back there

This is what train order string is, er rather "was", for: tieing up the manual handle. The newer, fat, round ones are even better. They have a parking setting on the valve, and when that setting fails, there is no handle to move the blade out of your line of sight. Not only that there isn't a handle to move the blade manually when they stall because of snow loading, which they are more pone to do than the Air-Push ones.. AND they are noisier than the Air-Push ones when the exhaust hose comes loose.

imrl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are 2 speeds, off and warp factor 9. About
> 87% of the wiper blades needs changes. The other
> 13% need adjusted so they touch glass. On older
> units, you must wear ear plugs and conversation is
> impossible when they are on.



This! This is the best description of wipers I have ever seen on TO ;) The new GEVOs have a button on them that shoots water to clean the windows as they wipe

Posted from iPhone

Steam engine wipers. Don't get me started. I could bitch about those all day, and I'm retired.

Posted from Android

>
> Like I said, for $2mil, you'd think they (GE at
> least) could come up with something better!!
>
> Tom
My thoughts exactly.How well do wipers work on jet aircraft,or are those just used while taxiing around on the ground.
Regards,dK

DKay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> My thoughts exactly.How well do wipers work on jet
> aircraft,or are those just used while taxiing
> around on the ground.
> Regards,dK

They work in flight too.
Have fun, be safe,
Bruce "Doc" Jones
Sierra Madre CA

And of course, and no one has mentioned this, they're freaking wonderful in snow and ice!

I recently rebuilt a wiper motor for a locomotive on the Oregon Coast Scenic RR. I completley disassembled it, cleaned it, lubricated and reassembled it. For my first time doing working on one it took me about 2 hours. It works wonderfully and is quitet. Of course if I had to maintain wipers on 1000 locomoitves I'd probably just say screw it.

shay2305 Wrote:
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Of course if I had to
> maintain wipers on 1000 locomoitves I'd probably
> just say screw it.

That's the problem with the roundhouse. They feel its a useless task but in reality it's unsafe for us out there trying to keep the window clean while trying to watch everything from switch points to signals. I even write them up on remote units, they are held to the same standard as a conventional locomotive.

Posted from iPhone

Was all of this less of an issue with older, conventional cab EMD's and GE's that had the numberboard/headlight overhang? How much protection from rain did that provide?

Fizzboy7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Was all of this less of an issue with older,
> conventional cab EMD's and GE's that had the
> numberboard/headlight overhang? How much
> protection from rain did that provide?

The overhang makes no difference on what rain hits the windows.

upengr21 Wrote:
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> Why haven't they gone to electric motors?

Not able to afford $1000 "Agreement Seats" and rotating electric windows too.