@Engineer-Joe posted:I don't see any sunshade or whatever they're called. Seems weird to me. I thought that all diesel engines had them.
Not necessarily. Sometimes they were required by a railroad's union agreement, but normally, it was just a functional appliance that some railroads felt was warranted. Reading used an A-shaped rain drain on the cab roof instead.
On the Santa Fe, the cab and booster units had none, and did not need them. The first generation hood units (SD24, RSD-15, RSD-5, GP7, GP9, H16-44) and all the switchers, had canvas awnings with a metal rod stiffener. At 70 MPH, those would go to full sail and the rattling of the rod was a normal sound.
The Company started using folding steel awnings with the SD45 and SD40 locomotives, but, for several years, only applied one, on the Engineer's side. After all, they cost $15 each back then. 
If they were applied correctly, they were handy when switching in rainy weather. But, if they were not well sealed against the cab, water dripped down the back of the Engineer's neck when he assumed the proper position for switching.
Personally, I never used mirrors for taking hand or lantern signals when switching, because it limited the peripheral view of adjacent tracks, which might be rolling out, but most Engineers started doing this around 1975-80. So I sometimes had rain on my neck.
C&NW had a special rule forbidding the use of mirrors to observe employees giving hand or lantern signals.
