Rob Leese posted:
The answer is buried in one of my BRHS newsletters which is equally buried. What I remember is this was a proposal by the Burlington to EMC for the E5's.
However, crews generally didn't like the shovel noses as they offered little protection in a collision and I recall this had influenced the rejection of the design. Cost may have been another factor.
Plus, as standardization was taking hold the E5 as built not only offered more crew protection, but was essentially an E3 with customization of styling on the carbody sides.
Rusty