I have always wondered this, but just never asked…
Why are ditch lights not required on steam locomotives? When the FRA mandated them on all locomotives over 10 years ago, the steamers seem to have been exempted.
Is there any reason why? Is it because they don’t want to destroy the historical sense of them, maybe?
I don’t see any reason why they are not required to have ditch lights. Just some food for thought…
Indeed, steam engines are exempted from this regulation as is any locomotive built before 12/31/48 that is not used in commuter or inter-city passenger service. See the attached link:
http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/safety/mpe/tb_1998/98_03.pdf
However, up here in Canada, most obviously as a result of DOT rules, ALL locos are ditchlights-equipped, including #2816 and #2860 when they venture out on ‘‘the main’’ .
On any ‘’ simili ‘’ runbuys , such as when the hogger has got her up in the 50s on a nice stretch, and a lot of photographers are known to be amassed somewhere near a crossing with good photo vantage points, . the ditch lights suffer a ‘‘temporary power shortage’’…Restores the ‘’ old days’’ quite nicely.
cheers
The Grand Canyon Railway put ditch lights on their steam engines. Whether it was an FRA mandate or not, I don’t know why they did it. Looked really silly to see ditch lights on a steam engine.
In my opinion the usage of ditch lights is another dumb law designed to do good but ineffective. The numbers of people getting hit remain constant in spite of every effort. Maybe a law against stupidity would be more effective.
Like most prevention efforts, we really don’t know how many lives/injuries ditch lights might have saved - people don’t usually call up the railroad or the newspaper and say “Gee - the auxiliary lights on that locomotive kept me from getting hit.”
As for steam engines, I’d think it would be possible to make them less obvious, say by putting them behind a plate with a grille to shine through. I’m sure it could be done without making them a total maintenance headache. Done properly, their location would not be obvious in most pictures, yet they would be seen down the tracks, as is the intent.
Beacon Lights seemed to get the job done now at night when i see ditch lights i think the police are coming.