Description
The Half-Bay Window was a design championed by the New York Central and their successors and was adopted by a handful of other roads. When researching railroads, the "what" happened is often easy to find. The "why" it happened is more often then not an educated guess that is repeated until it becomes common wisdom. The guess for the existence of the Half-Bay Window design was to give the railroad the visibility of the bay window while still clearing low and tight obstructions such as through girder bridges and depot platforms.
Soo Line’s 1985 acquisition of Milwaukee Road brought the term “bandit” to the table as MILW lettering on locomotives was wiped out with large black rectangles. Cabooses also received the bandit treatment as illustrated here with two of the phase 4 bay window cabooses delivered to the MILW in 1973. On these cars, the side face of the bay windows was painted black.
