Kinda a dumb question: Do steamers and diesels always operate with their number boards illuminated - day or night? I was particular interested in F-units but figured it might be true “across the board”. Thanks.
Tom
Tom,
It depends on the operating practice of each railroad. Most railroads illuminate the number boards of the engine a clearance/train order is addressed to. Usually this is the lead unit. The rest of the engines have the number board lighting turned off. When I worked for the CB&Q, we had a WB train with a malfunctioning engine. The dispatcher arranged for a EB train that had lots of power to stop and we added his trailing unit to the point of our consist. We kept the old lead unit’s number boards illuminated ans the clearance card was for that engine. So when we arrived at out remote terminal, we were driving from the borrowed unit in the lead, and the following unit carried the illuminated number boards to math the clearance card we had been issued at the origination terminal.
Jim
The “numberboards” on a steamer are usually part of the headlight. Prior to the 1950’s engines would only have the headlight lit from one hour before sundown to one hour after sunrise or in periods of low visibility (exact wording will vary by rule book). Net was, headlights weren’t lit during the day, which means numberboards weren’t lit during the day.
The lead unit will have the number boards lit…There are exceptions such as parked in the yard or engine service area…
During a meet the engine in the siding will have its number boards lit.
Thanks for that latter tidbit of information, Jim. [tup] That was something I was wondering but forgot to add to my inquiry.
Tom
I recall a tale (from the old Railroad magazine, IIRC) about an SP fireman on a front end steam helper who failed to put the road engine’s number up on the numberboards. Confused the [:-^] out of the op who was trying to identfy the arriving train.
At that time, rules varied. Some roads wanted the timetable schedule train number on the board, others the loco number on the clearance card. Extras were always the loco number preceded by X. Keeping up with this could get to be a sub-hobby.
Happily for me, there are no number boards on JNR locos. Of course, named trains have drumheads - on both ends.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)