My remarks above weren’t clear. My apologies.
Some Australian cab units that are very similar to F-Units (Clyde Engineering units) do have buffers. Australia is a very interesting place, having elements of both European and North American practices fused with some unique aspects into something familiar, but yet not, to the North American observer
No apologies needed. I had seen photos of the Australian locomotives with buffers and knew what you meant. Didn’t Australia also have units that looked a lot like Alco PA’s?
Yes, some ALCO (Goodwin) world locomotives with shorter FA-style noses, with a twist.
English Electric built some units that also have an uncanny resemblance to the PA, even more so than the ALCO licensed ones!
The Alco design is the World Locomotive, which also turned up in India, Argentina, Greece, Spain, Peru and perhaps some other places. Just to keep things interesting, most World Locomotives were double-ended, with a second cab in the flat end. Australian engine drivers prefer to operate from the cab in the flat end, as visibility is better.
Nice Video! Is that a Mars light on the front of the locomotive?
Easy to hear why the song is more famous than the artists that created it.
Just wow! I always wondered what that song would sound like being performed by the Chipmunks.
Any time you are having a bad day and need a lift, I suggest watching Annie Staninec’s version…
I will ask this again. The headlight on the locomotive appears to be rotating in a pattern. Is that a Mars headlight? We have one at our Scenic Railroad that works but we just take it to train shows and events. I never saw on in action before.
The headlight that is usually referred to as a “Mars Light” moved in a figure “8” (on its side) pattern. The Mars Signal Light company had a patent on it so even though they made other headlights (for locomotives, firetrucks and other purposes) that one was called a “Mars Light”.
The ones that moved in a circle were a “Gyra Light” made by Pyle-National
There was also a light that moved in a horizontal arc (aimed straight forward when centered, but down toward the ditch when to one side). I think that was known as an “Oscitrol”.
That would be properly spelled “Gyralite”.
I remember seeing the Oscitrol on ICG locomotives ca 1973-4. Prior to that they had motorized lights.
Usually the headlights and the oscillating lights were mounted in a vertical configuration, but on some of the Paducah rebuilds, the headlights were mounted on the short hood in a horizontal configuration I refer to as “frog eyes.” The oscillating lights were mounted above the windshield, if memory serves me correctly.
Semper We have a plaque that accompanies our Mars light. It says that the inventor of the light needed funding to get the light into production. Mars Candy company came up with the money but wanted the naming rights. Has anyone else heard that story? Rich
First time I have heard that story, but it might explain why it is not named after the inventor.
IIRC, I’ve seen advertising (or maybe even right on the lights) the phrase “the light from Mars,” which always led me to believe it was so named because of its “otherworldly” action.
I saw a Mars light mounted on an antique fire engine at an expo several years back, and sure enough, there was a plate on it that said “The Light From Mars.”
Colorful, to say the least.
“Steel Horse” is a brand of coffee produced by a subsidiary of Mars, Inc. According to their website, the story about the Mars Light’s connection to the founder of the candy bar company is true. http://steelhorsecoffee.com/hiawatha-story
The story about Frank Mars of the candy company (and later Ethel Mars, his famous widow) underwriting the company is correct. Mars Candy ‘wanting the naming rights’ is phony.
Wasn’t the story reasonably well-told in Mainline Modeler magazine, November 1990?
You can still get them, although with the move to LED warning systems, devices with moving parts are getting less and less popular. They are very effective.
My son’s FD in Maryland has two on the front of each apparatus, along with a “Buckeye RotoRay,” an idea that never caught on with the railroads.
Fire company in town still has their 48 Lafrance (they’ve had it since it was new). It’s retired, of course, and still runs and pumps, even though it was never really restored or anything like that. Just spent its whole life indoors.
Anyhow, it has a roto-ray on it. The original slow-moving kind. I’ve heard it said that it could give some people seizures. When that department got a new rescue in the late 90s, they put a new roto-ray on it. But that one spins like 1000 rpm or something ridiculous. When they got their roto-ray they were still pretty rare on new trucks. Now everybody and their brother has them, many in LED flavors. I’ve even seen photos of them on POVs.