Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.
Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.
So what was the official purpose of the Southern Pacific using the light clusters on their diesels, more so than other roads? UP and ATSF certainly serviced similar areas but the SP went with all the lights. Thanks.
Charles
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nydepot
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Fri Mar 12, 2004 7:50 am
by westr
The SP light packages included the regular twin-beam headlight, an occilating twin-beam white Mars light or Gyralite and a single-beam occilating red warning light. The twin-beam white Mars/Gyralite has a function similar to that of modern ditch lights. It sweeps across the tracks ahead in a figure-8 pattern, lighting areas the regular headlight doesn't. These lights were common on early cab units of many railroads, like E and F units and PAs, including those of ATSF and UP. There was no requirement to have them; it was just the railroad's choice. UP & ATSF phased them out in the late 50s and 60s but Western Pacific & Rio Grande, like SP, continued using them into the 1980s. As for the single red light, that was a special SP feature. It was a warning light that was rarely used. I believe it was just for emergencies, for a train to indicate to other trains that something was wrong.
