Conrail U36C - Ditchlights?

Did these units ever see ditch lights or where they gone before they became a requirement?

No. The U36C's, and for that matter almost all of the CR U boats (there were some of the U23B's and C's that hung around for a while but never got them) were gone before ditch lights really started showing up in appriciable numbers. However, the C30-7A's (not the C30-7's) and the C36-7's got ditch lights, as well as the B23-7's and B36-7's.

Scooter

Conrail only had 13 U36Cs, all former EL units, and all gone before 1992. It's possible three of them still exist; three former EL six-axle GE units, traded back in to GE, were rebuilt as cabless units for a mine in China. Check your circa 1988-1990 Railfan & Railroad magazines; I remember the picture of one with it's EL lettering restored for an EL group to photograph at the time.