Our toy trains cars are a bit exaggerated. But search Google Images for example under searchlight flat car and you'll find a few prototype photos.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
I also seem to remember as a child seeing a flat car with a spot light on it but it seems it was on an army base I visited with a neighbor that was in the army. ( sorry for being so vague on it but I'm talking about 50 years ago and I was only about 6 or 7 years old)
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
It seems to me the Lionel searchlight car and generator car were based on real cars. They were used to provide light in remote areas if there was say a washout and they needed workers to work day and night to repair the line.
I'll see if I can find anything more.
Various searchlight cars have been offered by toy train manufacturers throughout the prewar and postwar eras. They were even offered in HO scale by Tyco. I was wondering if these cars are essentially fantasy cars or did the railroads actually have cars like these? The reason I am curious is because of the fact that I have never seen a prototype photo of any similar rolling stock, yet many variations were made by the toy manufacturers through the years. Personally, I think they are really cool--is it possible the toy companies simply thought the same thing, and as a result designed and built these cars for enjoyment rather than basing the cars on an actual prototype?
Karl
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