Locomotive Cab beacons

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

What would the beacons on locomotive roofs have done? Would they have rotated, flashed, or just stayed on? The ones I am interested in are the Santa Fe ones.

2

Depends on the railroad! There are at least 3 varriations of hardware:

  • Gumball Machine - Basically a lamp with a rotating mirror.

  • Stratolite - This design has 4 lamps that are ‘sequenced’ on/off to simulate the rotating pattern. No mechanical stuff to wear out, but hard on the lamps.

  • Strobe - Very bright!

Sometime in the 60’s I started seeing these devices in the Mpls/St Paul area. The GN/NP used the ‘gumball’ type with an amber lamp. The SOO used a very bright strobe on the roof of the engines and cabooses. The C&NW got into the act, but many of their switchers added another trick. If the engine was in forward or reverse, the beacon would flash. If the reverser handle was in neutral, the light was on, but did not flash. Then there was Amtrak with their dual white strobes!

The AT&SF generally mounted theirs on a small platform on the left angles side of the roof. Maybe some Santa Fe modeler has information on what types they used. BN bought both rotating ‘Western Cullen’ and the sequencing ‘Stratolite’ types through the years. Starting with the SD60M’s they went to a dual strobe mounted down on the pilot, and then to the standard ‘ditch light’ configuration.

Jim

3

ATSF had the Stratolite, if I am not mistaken, and the UP used the Western Cullent rotary beacon, up until the late 70’s when a greenish-yellow “flasher”, either s Stratolite or a strobe was used. This device lasted right up until the ditch light era. SP also had a couple of units equipped with the Western Cullen rotary beacons as an experiment, and the GP60’s I believe were the first to be delivered with the 2 strobe system with the lenses where the Mars light would normally be, alternately “strobing” so as to simulate a Mars light. Poor simulation.

4

Thanks to both of you!

Now I need to figure out a way to model one in 1:29.

5

I’ve made them in H0, working.

Wolfgang

6

At Least all the CNW engines I’ve worked on the strobe was wired to the reverser. i.e. the strobe would only work when the reverser was thrown is either direction. The SP ones i’ve seen were had four bulbs that flashed in order as described above. These seem to be wired to work whenever the unit was in run. but turned off when the unit was isolated