Introduction

In October, 1997 Canadian Pacific Railway started taking delivery of it's second batch (units 9583-9683) of General Electric AC 4400 locomotives. The earlier purchase order (units 9500-9582) was rather rushed and therefore the Cab Committee did not have a chance to fully appreciate the product. The most profound change at that time was the adoption of the Air Chief seat as standard for CPR locomotives. The Air Chief seat has since proven it's worth to both crew members who have to ride a very vibration-prone locomotive, and maintenance staff, who need not be as concerned about replacement of mechanical parts, nuts, screws, bolts and cushions. It was one of those 'win-win' situations.

Thanks to some very intensive sessions with GE design and production staff at the Erie, Pennsylvania factory on March 11 1997, the CPR Cab Committee was able to make some modifications to the workstation and carbody of a fairly standard General Electric design. This section of our Web page features pictures and some narrative about just what those changes are, as found in this second batch of locomotive. I am sure that even though some of these changes may seem insignificant on their own, you will agree that combined, the overall changes add up to a more safe and comfortable cab environment.

The most contentious issue of course has been the desk top control workstation layout. Although for various reasons beyond the control of the Cab Committe, CPR would not revert to the traditional left-side controls, CPR management members of the Cab Committee assured the BLE delegates that they would 'challenge GE' to find more room for legs under the desktop. The problem with desktops is that we cannot move our legs freely, and the longer-legged engineers have some problems reaching the controls without bending at the waist. As you will find in the following presentation, certain modifications have been made to the area under the desk. Hopefully these changes will moderate the problems that we have with this type of workstation design.