Brightness of headlight in the 1930s to 1950s

[Jones1945]

Firelock76

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Ac4aXRY9A

It was a fun ride!

Time flies, but memories last forever!

 

Overmod

Much more to this.

Mars/Gyralites, etc. in that era had little to do with brighter headlighting; I have seen rotating sweep lights that spotlighted a much larger section of view but such an effect would be largely wasted on steam with long boilers or other impediment to forward visibility.  Many of the red Mars-type lights were to show stoppage or UDE on multiple-track routes rather than grade-crossing safety.

As I recall, the Pyle dual-beam lights used postwar on NYC power were primarily intended to keep a light burning if one bulb went out.  A number of early E units featured a rosette of sealed-beam units in the hole of a reflector light; this gave about as bright a light as a non-arc light could produce from such a location.

Many GG1s were given dual sealed-beam conversions (not protruding as the Pyle conversions for steam headlight casings were) and very late, so were a number of B&O engines.  I have documentation of at least one PRR T1 with vertical sealed-beam conversion (in 1948) and to me this really improves the look of the 'second-generation' production front end.

 

 

Thank you very much! I didn't know that there was at least one T1 had its single headlight converted into a vertical sealed-beam! Was it a dual sealed-beam? I agree that the design of Headlights or its positing really affect the looks of an engine a lot, IIRC there were at least 3 conceptual design options of T1 provided by Raymond Loewy, one of them was a bullet shape smokebox design, another two was the "shark nose" smokebox design with smooth casting or stainless steel skin on the nose, these three designs had one thing in common which was the position of the Headlight. Unlike S1 and 5 streamlined K4s,  The headlights on these designs were on the top half of the "smoke box" which were similar to Q1's (#6130 4-6-4-4) original streamlined design, its seems that the leader of PRR in the 1930s did care about where the headlight should be installed and where the Keystone number plate should be placed. (S1 didn't have a Keystone number plate at the front end, T1 "front end with portholes version" had the Keystone number plate installed below the smokebox but they were "put back" to the smokebox, below the headlight on the modified version ) T1 were designed to haul long-distance express trains, I wonder if there was any regulation about the brightness of their engine's headlights, beside the design of its overall appearance.

 

(Pic 1: Models of T1s conceptual design, Source: online archive of Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania) 

 

 

(Pic 2, A PRR K4s with its headlight turned on, Source: online archive of Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania) 

)

 

Btw, judging base on the above pic taken in a cloudy day and some videos I watched, the postwar headlight model used by PRR seems smaller and quite dim! I am not sure if there was a reflector inside it or the brightness of the lights were adjustable if the headlights used by post-war steam were just as bright as a 600 - 1000 lumens flashlight we use today, does that mean, at least for PRR, that the headlights of the steam engine, especially for the express engine were somewhat useless, it just functioned as a road safety device, similar to the British's railroad approach in the same era? (( ))

[Firelock76]

I mentioned the Morris County Central a bit earlier, care to see a bit of it?

First is a mid-sixties commercial...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkWzvVItgss

And  a railfan home movie shot in 1974.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Ac4aXRY9A

It was a fun ride!

[Overmod]

There is still some research going on as to what the T1 'auxiliary' light does.  It does not oscillate, and it is not colored, so the supposition that it is a 'fog' light closer to the track in poor visibility may be correct.

[Overmod]

Much more to this.

Mars/Gyralites, etc. in that era had little to do with brighter headlighting; I have seen rotating sweep lights that spotlighted a much larger section of view but such an effect would be largely wasted on steam with long boilers or other impediment to forward visibility.  Many of the red Mars-type lights were to show stoppage or UDE on multiple-track routes rather than grade-crossing safety.

As I recall, the Pyle dual-beam lights used postwar on NYC power were primarily intended to keep a light burning if one bulb went out.  A number of early E units featured a rosette of sealed-beam units in the hole of a reflector light; this gave about as bright a light as a non-arc light could produce from such a location.

Many GG1s were given dual sealed-beam conversions (not protruding as the Pyle conversions for steam headlight casings were) and very late, so were a number of B&O engines.  I have documentation of at least one PRR T1 with vertical sealed-beam conversion (in 1948) and to me this really improves the look of the 'second-generation' production front end.

[Jones1945]

Firelock76

Anyway, it was a night-time ride called "The Moonlight Special."  As the locomotive  ( A 1911 Baldwin product if I remember correctly) made it's dramatic approach to the station someone said over the loudspeaker  "Do NOT look directly at the locomotives headlight!  It's as bright as the sun!"

Whether or not it was original equipment or not I don't know, but that announcer wasn't kidding! 

That was a fun ride, by the way! 

 

SD70Dude

But speaking of PRR headlights, their GG1 electrics in particular were known for having headlights that were never bright enough, from a crew's point of view at least.

Thank you very much! It seems that difference railroads had difference standard in the past. Milwaukee Road Hiawatha installed additional mar lights on their Class A and F7 Hudson in late 40s, almost at the same time period, PRR also added an small auxillary headlight on some of their K4s and all(?) of their T1s (but their GG1, PA and centipede etc still only had the original single headlight) NYC's Niagara had the headlight conversion (from single headlight to duel beam) in Nov, 1948, I wonder what was the reason behind these changes.  

[Firelock76]

Just speaking of personal experience, for what it's worth, thirty-plus years ago we went for a ride on the steam-powered Morris County Central, a now-defunct tourist line that operated out of Newfoundland NJ. 

Anyway, it was a night-time ride called "The Moonlight Special."  As the locomotive  ( A 1907 Baldwin product if I remember correctly) made it's dramatic approach to the station someone said over the stations loudspeaker  "Do NOT look directly at the locomotives headlight!  It's as bright as the sun!"

Whether or not it was original equipment or not I don't know, but that announcer wasn't kidding! 

That was a fun ride, by the way! 

[SD70Dude]

Many (most?) steam locomotives had a 32V DC electrical system.  Not sure how that originated or how it was chosen. 

The steam turbine-driven dynamos on those engines can put out a lot of power, and are perfectly capable of powering bulbs which appear just as bright as those on modern diesels. 

But speaking of PRR headlights, their GG1 electrics in particular were known for having headlights that were never bright enough, from a crew's point of view at least.

[Jones1945]

I have been searching for information about the brightness of the headlight bulbs used on steamer during the 1930s to 50s. Still, I only can find some advertisements of headlight manufacturers that sold locomotive headlight with a "250,000 candlepower" light bulb inside. Take PRR as an example, I have seen a lot of pics showing K4s, M1s, Js only had a tiny light bulb which looks like a 40 watts incandescent bulb inside a pre-war model headlights with a larger reflector, post-war engines like the S2 turbine, Q2, K4s with headlight above the smokebox only had a much smaller headlight without light reflector inside, only painted white inside. I would like to know if there was any regulation about the headlight brightness of the States' railroads? Did railroads in the 40s use light bulbs below 100 watts to cut costs? Thank you very much!