Talk:Steeplecab

Diesel Steeplecabs?

The article currently states that a steeplecab it has to be electric. Are the examples below Steeplecabs? If they are, we should amend the articale add a suitable picture as an example.

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  AM 843 at Rotkreuz/ZG
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  AM 841 at Möhlin/AG
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  Diesel locomotive 363 200 at Frankfurt Central Station.
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  SBB Am 841.

These are all shunters and short-trip locos. TiffaF (talk) 12:59, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Generally, yes - electric only. The electric steeplecab dates from around 1900. As these locomotives used axle-mounted traction motors (or at least, bogie mounted) rather than the large diameter AC motors used for some other large electric locos, they didn't need much switchgear above the chassis. As they were also often used for shunting, the extra visibility of the sloping bonnets was an advantage.

"Diesel steeplecabs" didn't appear for another 50 years. They couldn't be built until the advent of small (i.e. low) diesel engines, typically high-speed diesel engines, and usually used in pairs. Although small diesel shunters date from the 1930s, these simply couldn't be built to the "steeplecab" profile. It wasn't until the 1960s that the same notion of gaining good visibility from a single central cab by making it high and over a low bonnet was even possible. By this time, the "steeplecab" name was somewhat archaic and wasn't re-applied to these designs.

There's also the issue that the steeplecab, as originally built, used a low bonnet, rather than a narrow bonnet. Visibility was over it, not alongside it. If we compare this to the closest thing to a successful "diesel steeplecab", perhaps the UK Class 14, then the visibility is through cab windows along the sides of the engine bonnet, not over it. It might be argued that the Class 17 was more of a true steeplecab, as this did have internal design features deliberately to improve visibility. Andy Dingley (talk) 15:37, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

These are not steeplecab locomotives, this are locomotives with central cab. Also that Stadler shunter in the article is not a steeplecab. A British living in Switzerland put it in the article. Will remove it.

Diesel steeplecabs may be rare because the diesel engine need some space, so the first diesels were all box cabs. Battery steeplecabs existed with the batteries in the hoods.--Pechristener (talk) 19:50, 25 February 2020 (UTC)