During the late 40’s and early 50’s a number of railroads adopted the proactice of displaying engine numbers on the nose of the engine using reflective numbers.
The practice ‘came out of nowhere’ and disappeared and I know of no reason for either happening. Anybody know?
Probably just a brief fad that was eventually dismissed as a useless expense. I mean, why would you have reflective numbers on the nose when you’ve already got them in illuminated blocks on either side?
It does look cool though!
There was a parallel ‘fad’ for glass cat-eye reflectors other places, for example on grade-crossings to show the number of tracks (I have one salvaged from a Shreveport expansion project) and at least one “AC Motor Stop” sign from the Gibbs and Hill PRR electrification. There are plenty of advantages seeing a big bright nose number instead of having to peer at FT-style numberboards as a train whizzes past.
The replacement for that technology involved making the glass cateyes much, much smaller, and embedding millions of them in a self-adhesive polyester ribbon – in other words, Scotchlite. The question then becomes why large Scotchlite nose or side numbers didn’t catch on – a case could be made that UP adopted the stuff for cab numbers, but there is certainly little evidence for widespread number ‘supergraphics’.
Suspect there is a rules component in there; for a while, something called for more legible cab numbers for some reason or combination of reasons, and then things changed. Be interesting to see a timeline.
The original diesels - EA’s etc, E6’s, E7’s and FT’s all had small number boards which could be difficult to read when passing at speed.
In a Timetable & Train Order world confirming engine numbers is critical for all employees involved.
Dang…didn’t fit! Seen them done in dots as well back in the day.
Reflective numbers seemed like a really good idea. CN numbers are definitely reflective.
Reflector rules from the 21st Century are not for primarily ‘railroad benefit’ they are for public benefit at road crossings at grade - lights from automobiles hit the reflectors on the locomotive and car sides and identify to the automobile driver that there is a train passing over the road crossing at grade.
Just scroll down to the left-hand end of the link to download the PDF. That works nicely and is easier to read. I was amused at their providing the helpful waiting time expected for a 28.8 connection – seems like just yesterday that was cutting-edge fast for “onliners”.
Here is the corresponding FRA section, as indicated at the end of the Canadian reference.
Thanks RME- Thats a great link to keep in my library. Take a century to read all that but what great references for a wide range of topics.
BaltACD- I did not mean to confuse the 2 issues of modern day with your initial question. Perhaps the “Scotch lite” or whatever they used did not hold up to rugged conditions, but it was a great idea and much easier to see, daytime or night. Love those photo’s.
The Scotchlite held up just fine, and continues to hold up to this day. What Balt noted was that his original question concerns use of reflective numbers for internal railroad purposes, like more easily recognized locomotive numbers when out in the boonies on a dark night with high speed involved. I have seen pictures of F units with very large ‘cat-eye’ equipped numbers (these numbers apparently didn’t persist long); see also Strapac’s picture of Cotton Belt 927 in original ‘black widow’. I suspect there were some applications where ‘reflectorized’ backdrops were used for printed information. But most of the existing use of reflectorized material, as described in both the Canadian and FRA standards, is as Balt said to help the public recognize and avoid colliding with or running under trains.
Well yes, that is what I meant, or at least its intent. Did not want to mix up visibility for the public with that designed for railroad use by its employees.
Still think its a great idea as it must have been beneficial for anyone trying to identify a locomotive number. The number boards on some locomotives, as in Canadian Pacifics Baldwin built switchers and those Milwaukee Road FT’s in the photo were tiny.
So the original question remains…why was the practice seemingly discontinued?
What are numbers with reflective dots called? Button copy?
http://penncentral2002.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1336719