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 Posted - April 02 2008 : 03:04:03 AM
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Hey Guys:
Ever since Ray posted his Mike (and my failed attempts, so far to get him to trade it) I've been thinking about steam engine headlight placement.
Now all 4 of my steamers:
Tyco (Cast) Pacific
Mehano Hudson
Rivarossi U-4a 0-8-0
Bachmann Plus Consolidation Camelback
Have healight in the center of the smokebox cover. On Ray's Mike based on a G&D model has a more "Southern" style light mounted on the pilot.
What I'm interested in is, why did some of the railroads make that choice on the prototype? Anybody know?
Thanks,
Gareth
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Posted - April 02 2008 : 10:12:09 AM
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| I don't know, but I'll reply anyway, since I'm online! My guesses would be A) Tradition/Builder's preference B) Practicality (like if you've already got some kind of feedwater heater above the smokebox), and whether the unit is used for road or switching duties (where the light neeeds to shine, and how it will affect crewmembers)---------now it's time for someone here to give the real answers!...........on a related topic (CFK could elaborate), I've always found it interesting that British locos don't have headlights. I seem to remember reading something about how their right-of-ways are fenced, and grade crossings protected by gates, not to mention a lot of DT running.....but again, I really don't know what I'm talking about here, either, so I'll anticipate some good responses.
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Posted - April 02 2008 : 1:09:44 PM
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I think what Adams said is pretty close.
I found this statement about the PRR moving the headlights for easier maintainance on the generators.
Like most PRR locomotives, class L1s was subject to the post-World War II swapping of the locations of the headlamp and turbo-generator. The headlamp was placed in front of the stack on top of the smokebox, in the generator's former location, while the tubogenerator was mounted on the upper smokebox front in the location formerly occupied by the headlamp. This was for ease of maintenance; the turbogenerator needed work much more frequently than the headlight, so it was given the location with easier access.[4]
Ray
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Posted - April 02 2008 : 1:26:36 PM
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OK, so what about when they were built with the light down on or near the pilot? Was that much earlier?
-Gareth
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Posted - April 02 2008 : 3:04:10 PM
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| The only ones that come to mind at the moment on the pilot would be on the articulateds, for obvious reasons. Any others may be very old, when lights actually had to be "lit" manually. Again, just shooting my mouth off, with no recent research.
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Posted - April 02 2008 : 4:35:22 PM
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hi unlike america and others access to rail track is as adams says fenced off,and illegal to be on,hence no need for headlights? i disagree and loads of other uk residents have,as kids these days are on the tracks playing,etc,but the link might still be of interest ken
only uk loco i know that had a headlight was the prototype deltic
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/3-sigs/bellhead.htm
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