Lights @ steps?

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rkcarguy
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Lights @ steps?

Post by rkcarguy »

I'm looking for some information only a real trains guy is probably going to know.
On diesel locomotives, they have lights near the steps on either end so you can see the steps in the dark. Are these placed behind the steps? On the underside of the frame?
I've purchased some little led illuminated license plate bolts that I want to add to my frame in the proper location.
0351
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Re: Lights @ steps?

Post by 0351 »

For some reason Ive always considered step/truck lights an important detail on model locomotives. Location varys on each model of locomotive. Step lights generally placed under the edge of the walkway platform above the top step, some are under the second step above the firs step and under the frame over the trucks. Flashers R Us sells 1/8 scale step light housings made by PSC.
http://flashersrus.com/products/steplights.htm
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ccvstmr
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Re: Lights @ steps?

Post by ccvstmr »

RK...
...was going to say...for safety reasons, behind the steps. Finding that 1st (or last) step in the dark can be a challenge. On covered wagon type locos (E's and F's), where the step ladder hung down below the bottom of the loco side panels...the lights were located up, behind the steps.

On the set of Backyard Rails F units that I own, installed AMBER license plate LED's. In real life, the step light bulbs were probably white or clear. You can imagine after a few trips, the lights would be dirty. Not high on the priority list loco service personnel to keep clean. Thought WHITE LED's would be too bright. RED LED's might not be bright enough. You might check out "warm white" LED's. Carl B.
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rkcarguy
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Re: Lights @ steps?

Post by rkcarguy »

Thanks for the pics!
The lights I bought look like little black domes with a slot in one side, and a very tiny surface mount LED was pushed inside the dome from the back and epoxied in place. These are probably going to be too bright, but I can fix that easily enough by spraying them with some flat clear or something to tone down the light. I'm modeling in a larger scale so it gives me ample opportunity not to skimp on detail, I'll also be running at night, which can come at 4:30pm in the winter, so more lights never hurts. The last of the Baldwin S12's were scrapped in the early 80's by most RR's, but maybe mine will be that mythical locomotive that lived on and was updated with ditch lights and a beacon just for the heck of it:)
Glenn Brooks
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Re: Lights @ steps?

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Don’t forget red end of train light on the rear!

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rkcarguy
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Re: Lights @ steps?

Post by rkcarguy »

Technically I'd be a switching railroad, did they use an EOT flasher back then when switching?
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Erskine Tramway
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Re: Lights @ steps?

Post by Erskine Tramway »

rkcarguy wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:58 pm Technically I'd be a switching railroad, did they use an EOT flasher back then when switching?
No, Rick, your Baldwin probably never saw a FRED, they are comparatively new. Nowadays switch jobs generally lay FRED on the ground while they are switching, and only 'hang' him when they are air tested and ready to go 'out on the road'. FRED's don't flash in the daylight, either. They have a big reflective red or orange panel on the back that constitutes the 'highly visible marker' required by the rule.

The BN was leaving the slave motor headlights on as a 'marker' instead of FRED, but who wants to have to look at a headlight when you are following another train. One day, I had a train out of Eagle Butte that had a FRED on the slave. So, I stopped on the way up to the head end, turned off the headlight, and cut in FRED. We were stopped about third out at Dewey, and the guy who pulled up behind me called up and told me my trailing headlight was off. I told him I knew, I'd turned it off, account I had a FRED back there for a marker. "But FRED's not flashing." "No, he isn't, it's daylight." Duh. Besides which, if someone is pulling up behind another train at Restricted Speed in the daylight, and can't see that great, big, orange motor in time to stop before you run into it, you aren't running at Restricted Speed :shock:

Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
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