Hello,
According to a photo of the new Athearn Genesis F7’s seen on the Peach Creek Shops web site, the C&O engines are equipped with only one headlight. Is this prototypical?
Here is the link: http://www.peachcreekshops.com/images/cof7highwave.jpg
Regards,
Andre INGELS
Brussels, Belgium (the beer country [:I])
I did a quick search for F7 pictures on the C&O Historical Society web site, and the ones they showed all had dual front lights.
yes it is…a railroad dictated how many lights their locomotives would have…the UP didn’t light their locomotives much unlike the SP that put lights and lots of them on everything that moved…chuck
Thought so but needed confirmation. I always saw two headlights on C&O F7 and E8/9 diesel photos so that must been the rule. Bad news; I have to cancel my order [:(!].
Anyway, thanks for your help guys .
Regards,
Andre
The C & O did have some F-7s with only one light on the nose;
upper light,not in the door;they should be the ones no. 7000-7031.
The F-7s no. 7032-7093 did have two lights on the front.
As near as I can tell,all the Es (7s & 8s) along with the FP-7s
had two lights;headlight in the door,Mars light in the nose.
C&O may have ordered them both ways. The article link below implies this, although I haven’t found photographic evidence yet to support :
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3943/is_200404/ai_n9377810
I would do more research before cancelling the order !! Two quick points:
First, generally speaking, railroads ordered freight F’s with one headlight, and passenger F’s (and E units) with two. On the passenger engines, the lower headlight would be the main one, and the upper would have a Mars light or something other than a standard headlight. So it’s very possible a RR could have some freight F7’s with one headlight and some passenger F7’s with two at the same time.
Second, many railroads bought F’s with one headlight and later added a second one themselves. ATSF bought their FT’s for freight service with one headlight, but right after WW2 they converted some FT’s to passenger service while waiting for their new passenger F3’s to arrive (which took about a year I guess). Steam generators were added, and a second headlight too, and they were repainted into the warbonnet paint scheme. Later these engines went back to freight but I believe kept the second headlight.
BTW both the Soo Line and Rock Island had two-headlight engines that lost their upper headlight in accidents, the nose was filled in to be smooth with just the lower headlight.
I can’t vouch for the C&O but it was common for some RRs to order frt engines w/ one light and psgr engs w/ 2 (GN, WP,ATSF). others (PRR, NYC) used only one for frt or psgr and yet others (SP, NP,D&RGW) used 2 for both frt & psgr. Best bet, check photos of your favorite prototype.
Penn Central had F units both ways. The PRR and NYC units had a single headlight, while the ex-Rio Grande Fs PC bought had two headlights.
Former NYC unit: http://pc.smellycat.com/pics/equip/pc1672.jpg
Former PRR unit: http://pc.smellycat.com/pics/equip/pc1905.jpg
Ex-Rio Grande unit: http://pc.smellycat.com/pics/equip/pc721dr.jpg
Ok, with that little diversion out of the way… The first photo is a C&O F7 with a single headlight, while the units in the second and third photos have two.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/co/co7020alr.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/co/co7033c.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/co/co7036.jpg
Keep in mind too, that the B&O and C&O swapped a few units between each other around merger time.
If you can find a copy of:Chesapeake and Ohio Diesel Locomotives
By Carl W. Shaver and David L. Gilliland,which was put out through
the C & O Historical Society several years ago,you will find the
photograpic evidence. That is the book I was using.
[oops], I was a little too fast in decision!
The road numbers released by Genesis 7010, 7028 and 7029 are all lower than #7031 and Peach Creek Shops told that the modelized F7s were from the first order. As a result it becomes more evident that these locos are probably prototypical and thanks to your (head) lights I will certainly change my mind.
So many thanks again to all of you.
[}:)] But what about the Mars light then, was it combined in one optic? (No, no, that guy isn’t boring!) [banghead]
Regards,
Andre
Depends WHEN THEY WERE MADE. wjstix is right on.
When the US Goverment mandated a 2nd 'Oscilating Head lamp for all Passenger diesels. Diesels for freight were not. Engines for passenger service were then built with them in place, or added in the RR company’s shops.
‘F’ units were primarily ‘Freight’ designs, but some were ordered for Passenger service - notably Santa Fe - whose passenger 'F’s all had two lights and their freight 'F’s did not.
The most popular were made by Mars and Gyralight, but Santa Fe designed their own, as did some others. Southern Pacific experimented with Oscilitrol - 3 light system.
OK, no Mars lights on freights!
Many thanks again for your help guys.
Kind regards,
Andre
…well no Mars lights on freights unless it’s a passenger engine working on a freight train, or a older passenger engine that had been downgraded to freight service.
For example, GN used it’s first FT’s to run both passenger and freight trains between Mpls/St.Paul MN and Duluth MN/Superior WI; an FT set would take a passenger train say from Mpls to Duluth during the day, and run a freight back to Mpls during the night.
Hmm, I realize…sounds logical. Anyway thank you Stix for the well-defined description as well as Mark, Chuck, Walter (We traveled on the same C&O train for a few days), Bill, Jim ,emdgp92 (?Stealth) and Don.
Regards,
Andre
This Choo-choo (Eurostar) will take you from Brussels to London in 2:20h.
But then some roads put Mars/Gyralites on all thier F units or GP units if then didnt have F units like the NKP. I have the Santa Fe warbonnet passenger F3’s from Athearn with the sound and duel mode DCC. I love it, sounds great, looks museum quality sitting in my display case. Cheers Mike
NO NO NO! whether or not an engine had one or two headlights was at the option of the RR. NYC and PRR both had single headlight psgr units and SP, NP and D&RGW all used Mars (or whatever) lights on their frt units. Others (GN< ATSF< WP) used 2 on psgr and 1 on frt.
You’re welcome. I’m not really into the C&O, as I’m more a Penn Central guy. BTW, if you really want to have fun, turn the clock ahead a few years to the Chessie merger. That way, you can run Chessie System, B&O, C&O, and later Western Maryland engines together. Now that’s colorful [:D]
Thanks but sorry, I haven’t the cash for as many roads and all that colors would be somewhat [:o)]ish, isn’t it!? Maybe next carnival?[:)]
Regards,
Andre
