There is a CSX siding that I drive by every day and half the time, there is a single CSX locomotive parked there. It is usually dark with no headlight or ditch lights lit. Tonight, I noticed a flashing yellow light mounted high up on the side of the long hood about halfway down the length of the hood. It was a small light, maybe a bit smaller than a marker light. I can’t ID the specific loco, nor its road number. Can someone shed some “light” on what this light is for? Thanks.
Just a guess, but it might be a remote controlled loco. These have flashing lights.
You need to try looking at the locomotive in the daytime to confirm where that light is, because the location you indicate is not standard for any remote control engine I have ever seen, where the row of different colored strobes is mounted on the cab roof. Mounting a flashing light half way back doesn’t sound right.
The siding where the loco is parked is a lead to the former Toledo Terminal RR engine facility. All of the facility trackage, including the turntable, roundhouse, and engine house, have been long gone. There is no yard there to be switched. The engine is tied down when it is there. I can see no reason for a remote control loco in this area. The engine is visable from an elevated interstate, so it is difficult to get a detailed look at it without going on to railroad property.
A single strobe on a CSX locomotive is used as a warning beacon for ground crews. I’ve worked on units with small strobes primarily around busy yard terminals.
A remote unit is indicated by multiple strobe beacons located on each end of the locomotive.
Erik
Could it be some form of alarm light for the prime mover? A locomotive was tied down on the spur tonight, completely dark and no flashing light on the side.
I think the light described is connected to the automatic engine stop/start system. I don’t know if it means the system is active or has had a malfunction when it is flashing.
Jeff
The strobe beacon is not used as an alarm. It simply serves as a warning device to ground crews that the locomotive is operative.
Its visibility also helps in night time yard ops; yard masters know exactly where a crew is working. In todays railroads’, many [most?] yards employ cameras to observe train movements.
OK, I understand. Does that mean there is another light on the other side of engine? The light I saw was on the side of the long hood. I would infer that there is another one on the other side so the warning would be seen regardless where the viewer was standing. Thanks
Is it by the brake wheel on the firemans side of the loco. I’ve seen a light there on NS units when they are parked. the NS units light is on when brake is on.
Here’s a picture of a CSX GP38-2.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=359146
At the top of the long hood on the engineer’s side behind the dynamic brake grids is a yellow light. Is this the light you saw? I still stand behind my original post, that it is tied into an Auto Start/Stop system or possibly an Auxiliary Power Unit. Looking at pictures on the site, I’ve only seen the light on older units (also only on EMD, but really haven’t looked as much at GE photos) which makes me think this is something the railroad added. Also, not all units have them.
Something else you can see on units with the light in that location, also visible in the photo, are red and white warning stickers placed at numerous places on the access doors to the engine compartment. I’m guessing the’re like stickers I’ve seen on other AESS equipped engines, warning that the engine can start by itself and to disable the system before working on it.
Jeff
Jeff:
I think you’ve nailed it. That is exactly the location I saw the light in. Remember, I only see the unit tied down there after dark, so I haven’t seen the unit in very good light. I don’t even know if it is a 4 or 6 axle unit. I am guessing that it is used to do transfer runs between two nearby Jeep distribution yards and the main CSX yard a few miles to the south in Walbridge, OH. There is a large Jeep assembly facility here in Toledo (Wrangler, Liberty, and Nitro) and they have two yards to load vehicles onto rail cars for distribution. Both yards are on Ann Arbour RR tracks, so I’m guessing the CSX unit is doing puller runs to get the cars to another rail system on an as needed basis.
Toledo used to have the Toledo Terminal RR which was a 32 mile long belt line that interchanged traffic between all of the different railroads that ran into or through Toledo. CSX was the final owner and nearly all of the old TTRR trackage has been torn up. CSX just sold 11 miles of the old TTRR right-of-way to the county for future rails to trails use. The remaining connecting track is CSX owned, so my guess is the single CSX loco i am seeing is doing the transfer work.