Locomotive Cab Simulator

Visitors often climb up into the cab of a steam or diesel locomotive to see the controls, but to experience the feel of how the engineer operates a train, there's nothing better than our cab simulator!

It's built from a real Norfolk Southern diesel locomotive cab. We've installed realistic operating controls and a video monitor to help you guide the train from Lancaster into Harrisburg.

After viewing a brief introductory video, you'll sit in the engineer's seat, watch the track and signals ahead, and operate the throttle, brakes, and horn, all with realistic sounds. You'll even learn what the "dead man's pedal" does!

How It Works

The cab of Norfolk Southern No. 2898, an EMD (Electro-Motive Division of General Motors) GP-38 built in 1969 for Penn Central and subsequently operating under Conrail, is equipped with a flat-screen monitor and computer hardware. Its wheelchair accessible cab looks as good as it did the day it left the factory.

Visitors can take the throttle on a simulated run, complete with signals, grade crossings and radio transmissions. The cab simulator is as close as most individuals will ever come to being an engineer, and will be an experience remembered for a lifetime.

See larger view of controls here.

Grantors

The North American Railway Foundation granted the Railroad Museum $47,000 for the completion of this project. Norfolk Southern Corporation donated the actual cab, the seats, the stencils, the lettering, the control stand, railings and a number of other appurtenances. Father and son Bennett Levin and Eric Levin of Philadelphia donated stanchion and railing parts and brake stand levers. Amtrak provided the cab ride to shoot the actual video footage for the simulator. Preparation of the simulator was performed by the Museum's Restoration department.

Norfolk Southern Corporation is a Norfolk, Virginia-based company that controls a major freight railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway Company. The railway operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, serves 20 ports and connects with rail partners in the West and Canada, linking customers to markets around the world. Norfolk Southern provides comprehensive logistics services and offers the most extensive intermodal network in the East.