Does anyone know when the Ditch Lights were mandated?

[UPTRAIN]

Ditch Lights......when were they mandated? Seems like it was like 1995.....can yall help.......AND OOHHH MY FIRST STAR!!!!!!

[David3]

It might have been 1995 but I'm not sure, but great job on your first star! Looking forward for you to get your second star! [swg]
Dave [:D][:D]

[David3]

By the way its an honor to be talking to a UP engineer. I'm 14 and looking forward to becoming a UP engineer. Do you think that would be a good choice? By the way you don't work on the sub that goes through Rochelle do you?
Dave[:D][:D]

[Jackflash]

I think it was the last day of December 1998, a lot of locomotives had
ditch lights long before that though

[M636C]

While this isn't quite on the subject, ditch lights were applied in Canada first, I think. I remember looking at a British Columbia Railway M630 in Red White and Blue at Williams Lake (a really nice place) in September 1986. It was standing there idling on a train with its headlight and ditch lights on in the bright afternoon sun, and I was just amazed at the sight of all those bright lights. I've got a photo, somewhere.

Peter

[kenneo]

The US mandate came as a result of the collsion of the MARC commuter and the AMTRAK Washington-Chicago (Capitol Limited?) train just outside of Washington. About 2 weeks after. I don't have the dates. Rational was so that you could tell if it was a train or not. ??? Really? [D)] That was supposed to have prevented the wreck. What caused the wreck was CSX removing the departure signal from the station stop to save money.

[UPTRAIN]

That's CSX for ya!!! [:D]

[AntonioFP45]

From what I've read 1997 was the "official year" of the ditch light mandate.

I was doing research on the Santa Fe FP-45 and learned that they were banned as leading units on trains because Santa Fe decided not install ditch lights on them. They were all retired by 2000.