That "pile" was one cold, drafty SOB, to run in the winter time. I hated getting one of those "F's" on the train, as a leader. The fans loved them, but they were miserable, for the crews. Let's not forget all the smoke and fumes that were constantly being forced into the cabs either..........
Gimme an ALCO, or one of the SD's instead. Even the 1800's were better units, as far as being leaders. Those cowl units were only good for trailers, if you could keep them running long enough. Some folks forget, we used to start out with 6 or 8 units on a train, knowing that only 3 or 4 would still be running, at the other end of the run! That's no joke either, that's how we ran them. Those junkers from the BN were good for 2 things. Depositing copious amounts of oil on everything within a 300 foot radius of the exhaust stack, and giving the crew excersise, running back and forth through the consist all day, attempting to re-start the locos, while getting covered in that oily rain, while doing it !!!!! Regards