Dim lights when trains passing one another

[slchub]

regarding "If all headlight bulbs fail en route, the Engineer must take the following actions:"

Does the Engineer do a bulb replacement when out on the road? Or is this reserved for a "qualified" tradesman.

thanks

Cant speak for MNRR or the Amtrak guys, but i rareley if even see spare headlight bulbs anywhere on a loco. In most cases, you lose one of the two main headlight bulbs which still gives you plenty of light. If you a ditch light, it's still manageable. If you lose both ditch lights but still have the main headlight? Then you can still run normal speed except over crossings. I would most likley deal with slowing down for grade crossings, it is a pretty rare occourence. I had it happen once, but that was from striking a tree. Never lost both ditch lights by them both burning out the same trip. If the possibility of repairs were hours away, i would ASK a dispatcher if they wanted me to make the repairs. But i would never do it without asking. If anything went wrong, i don't want to be responsible. And you need to be very careful from a union standpoint. If an Electrician found out that you made an electrical repair which in turn, screwed him out of a call, or worse yet, an overtime situation, you could be in some hot water. We had a conductor who changed out some brake shoes on a "hot" car since there was no car department guys around and he didnt want to wait for them. He got a pretty serious talking to from both unions.

I know the passenger guys dont have this option, but on most freight loco's, you always have two spare bulbs handy. The ditch lights off the rear of the unit! Once got on power for a local at an outlying point and needed to replace a bulb in order to get the loco into compliance.

Agreed. Best left to the other crafts to do their jobs and keep 'em secure. In a pinch a headlight off the trailing motors will give you lamps if you need them for sure. However, on the Amtrak P42's you cannot change out the headlamps very easily. Write it up on the paperwork and off you go.

[esprrfan]

Slightly related: When he was alive, my grandfather (former NHRR/NYC/PRR/PC exec) told stories of momentarily shutting off the locomotive headlights when deer were spotted on the tracks ahead. Apparently it worked OK for clearing critters off the tracks,!

And if that don't work the snowplow critter remover combo tool normally will do the job