# Windshield Wipers on Trains



## DET63 (Feb 13, 2011)

I know most if not all diesel and electric engines have windshield wipers, though the arrangements seem to vary considerably, often depending on how many panes of glass are used. For example, some locomotives have pantograph wipers, similar to those used on many intercity buses (and increasingly on street buses as well as transit-style school buses). Other engines have pivot wipers, though often two pivot wipers will be connected by an external bar, making them work in unison, even if they wipe separate panes of glass.

Were wipers ever used on steam engines, especially those with the cab-forward design used by the SP? If so, how were they powered? I would think they if they existed at all they might have used some sort of vacuum arrangement, like many car wipers had up until about the '50s or even early '60s. (They were the kind that would work fast when you took your foot off the gas, but very slowly when accelerating, which meant you didn't want to be going uphill in a driving storm!)

Here is a page in another forum that provides a partial answer to the question, but focuses mainly on fuel range.


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