Locomotive auxiliary mirror

[pedro]

The question came up in Gary H's CP dash-9 detailing pics about the small mirrors on the cab side of modern wide cabs. I explained in the weekend update thread how you use them in conjunction with the main mirror to see someone on the lower front step without craning your neck out the window. I figured a picture is worth a thousand words, so I snapped an iPhone pic today at work of my conductor as seen in the 2-mirror setup:



Hope that makes it clearer what I was trying to explain

Pete

[ednadolski]

Great pic!  Thanks!

Reminds me a little bit of when I was in the cab in Italy last year.  The streets are very narrow, so some of the vehicles have proximity sensors that give off a little beep, to alert the driver when someone is in a blind spot.

Ed

[tom mann]

I see: so the small mirror is facing forward, and you see the steps as a result of the small mirror's reflection in the big mirror.

[davefoxx]

Up periscope!  ;D

[pfs]

A pic is worth 1000 words...I was scratching my head about this...thanks

[Lenny53]

A pic is worth 1000 words...I was scratching my head about this...thanks

well, I'm still scratching my head about this, 2 things;

>1   It looks like the view you get in the large mirror is about the same if both mirrors were not there to begin with.
>2   Is that a Soo painted unit you are on, the numbers under the cab are black.

[pfs]

A pic is worth 1000 words...I was scratching my head about this...thanks

well, I'm still scratching my head about this, 2 things;

>1   It looks like the view you get in the large mirror is about the same if both mirrors were not there to begin with.

I can answer 1.

The 'big" mirror is displaying as if you were looking back at the long hood/rear of engine.
The "little" mirror allows you to see your crew/conductor/stuff towards the short hood/front of engine while looking in the 'big' mirror.

Hope that is sufficient.

[pedro]

A pic is worth 1000 words...I was scratching my head about this...thanks

well, I'm still scratching my head about this, 2 things;

>1   It looks like the view you get in the large mirror is about the same if both mirrors were not there to begin with.
>2   Is that a Soo painted unit you are on, the numbers under the cab are black.

1) I guess you're basically right, except you'd have to stick your head out the window in order to see that front step. At the very least it's awkward to do that on a modern wide-cab because of the desktop control stand, even moreso with the newer side-mounted control stands.

2) BNSF dash-9