Norfolk and Western Steam Loco Marker Lights

[knewsom]

I am installing a decoder in a N&W 4-8-0 from PSC. The loco has working marker lights and I was wondering how these were used on the prototype. The way that it is wired for DC they only come on when the front headlight is on. Is this prototypical, or would they be on when the locomotive was in reverse as well?

[tomikawaTT]

The lights at the front of the locomotive are 'classification' lights. Markers are carried at the rear (which could be at the rear of the tender if the loco is running light).

Scheduled trains do not display classification lights unless they are operated in sections (multiple trains in a single timetable slot), in which case all but the last section will display green flags by day and green lights by night. (during WWII N&W ran as many as ten sections of their scheduled freights!)

Extra trains (created by train order, not on the timetable) carry white flags by day and white lights at night. On some roads, all freights were operated as extras, so every freight loco would 'show white' all the time.

[doctorwayne]

If a steam locomotive, such as a helper, is running light in reverse at night, do its class lights become marker lights and display red, or are they dark and are separate lights/lanterns displayed on the pilot deck? And in this situation, would the marker lights on the tender become class lights and display white to denote an "extra" move?

Wayne

[knewsom]

tomikawaTT,

Thanks for the information.

[jimrice4449]

No. The class lights are those fixtures on the front of the smkebox at about 10 or 11 and 1 or 2 o'clock positions. They are incapable of displaying more than one color at a time (from all apertures simoutaniously). They are either all green' all white or dark. If an engine is running light backwards or pushing in reverse at the rear of a train, it would display markers on each end of the pilot beam. In the case of the N&W (and the PRR, Santa Fe, and I think, Rio Grande) these would display red to the rear and yellow to the sides. Everybody else would display green to the sides.

[jimrice4449]

The above refers to steam engines. Diesels had a somewhat diferent arrangement. The class light/markers on a diesel were controlled by a small lever. In the verticle position the light (if on) would show white' By turning the lever to the right or left a red or a green lens would be postioned in front of the opening. They're no longer used and some RRs have plated over them on the units that were originally equiped w/ them. One Christmas I was on a train in a siding and somenbody on an opposing train got into the spirit of the season by running w/ one green and one red. It was CTC territory where all movement was by signal indication so the was no hazard involved

[doctorwayne]

Thanks, Jim, for taking the time to answer my question.

Wayne