Cab Forward - Southern Pacific Cab Forward Locomotive

For the Southern Pacific, the principal reason for this cab location was the 38-mile series of snow sheds between Truckee and Blue Canyon that were built to keep the line open in the winter, when drifts of 50-200' piled up in the Sierras. In 1909, Baldwin delivered two 2-8-8-2 Mallets(4000 & 4001), to replace the Consolidations. They pulled well, but the crews were overcome by the gasses, and they could not see ahead, due their length.

To solve these problems, Baldwin delivered 15 MC-2 class locomotives in 1909, where the tender was attached at the smoke box end, and the fuel oil was piped the length of the engine at 5lbs pressure from the tender to the firebox. By 1913, there were 46 of these locomotives, most of which were later converted from compound to simple. In 1911, 12 Mallet Mogul (MM-2) cab-forward 2-6-6-2's were built for passenger work. Four wheel pilot trucks were added due to excessive flange wear that caused derailments. By the 1930's , SP had a total for 257 cab-forward locomotives.

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