Why do some railroads prefer to have the headlights on the nose and others prefer that they be above the windows?
I think that it all is within preference of the railroad. May bee there is a reason that they want to get the beams from the head lightts more in the sight of moterists. Also it could be tho form a tighter tryangle of light that is very appearent. Also it could be that it is for ease of changing the bulbs, so that some person doesn’t have to clime all the way ontop of the nose to change 1 headlight!
LONG LIVE THE SW1
So there is no real added benefit to the placement of the lights? Why wouldn’t railroads just keep them in the nose for easier access then? Plus, in my opinion, locomotives look much better with the lights in the nose (SD70ACe).
I prefer them by the number boards ,unless its been a wet day! Brush up against one bare skin YIKES!!! However they do make good glove dryers 
O yes! They are very hot! Try having your hand resting on one while wiping down number boards when samrt engineer decides to test them out!
I’m with ya on that one, I burned the back of my arm[:(] accidentally on a GP38 this summer[:0].
With the lights on the nose it cuts through fog/rain/snow better, light goes under the weather like fog lights on a car. Lights up top on the cab would light up further distance ahead in good conditions.
DC[8D]
I don’t think it’s a matter of railroads get one location or the other, since I work with some engines that have lights in the nose and some with lights above the cab. I personally prefer lights above the cab, since I have to stand on the “front porch” for many tasks (like guiding a reverse move through the yard or towards a cut of cars), and it seems that I am always either standing in front of the light (dimmer vision), or to the side (the glare from the side makes it tough to see if you’re too close to it). I am a freight conductor, so I don’t know what an engineer prefers, but I’d guess above-cab mounted also, since the glare will be less when looking at upcoming swithches and the like.
Yes i hate how hot they get but it is eayser to guggle the hot bulb wheen you are changing between both hands when you are on the running boards. LOL[(-D][:P][(-D]
Any whay I think it is a railroad mistery that once there was reasoning behind it but now it has been lost in the corperate wash of the railroads, but for some reason the preferances are kept
Question for our European friends- How come the Brits, French, and Germans seemed to use just marker lights and not headlights on their steam locomotives?
Erik
Was looking at an old DRG&W loco it had lights in both spots! I loved the nose mounted ones as they would swish side to side. Not really a Mars light ( Mars lights go in an M pattern) but still a neat feature.
Someone replied on another forum that Canadian railways prefer the higher headlight because of blowing snow, it gives a longer reach on the beam.
That is odd… becuase all the SD40-2’s that we have that are from up there have nose headlights… who knows.
Hey, Will do you know what railroads the locomotives belonged to. I’m thinking Rio Grande or Santa Fe. but if you know that would help!
James
I am pretty sure that Transport Canada ( Canadian FRA) requires low headlights on the front of Canadian locomotives. That suggests that CN’s new ES44DCs are Canadian locomotives, while the new SD70M-2s are US locomotives.
CP 6060 6046 all those man
I like how the new CN ES44DC’s (dont kill me if the classification isnt right) have the marker lights on either side of the headlights, which are nose headlights BTW.
That is beacuse they are destined to be DPUs or helpers…BTW [:D]
I seem to remember reading that, in Britain at least, the rights of way were sufficiently restricted (no grade crossings; secure fences, walls or hedges; stricter tresspassing laws) that headlights weren’t used. Perhaps also in a good old London “Pea souper” they would be ineffective? The lights that were mounted on the locomotive denoted the type of train-passenger of freight (goods). Don’t take this as gospel, though-not with my memory.
I remember Frisco’s swishing lights. So neat seeing them swi***he night sky.
Thats odd… allthe 5 mars lights on the f units and observation cars “ossillate” ( that is a for sure spelling error) in a figure 8 pattern, what kind of mars lights do you see???And yes they are bonified mars lights original to the locomotive/ passenger car. Although there could be different models out there.[;)]