Re: arc headlights and dynamos

Posted by John Greenly on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/arc-headlights-and-dynamos-tp15165p15182.html

Jim,
great set of photos of headlight blinds!  So it was the firemen-  wonder if any of them ever talked about this job in recorded oral history?  For those who have lived with kerosene lamps, it's not surprising that a blind would be used rather than dousing and relighting the lamp- they like to run at a steady temperature.

One thought-  if indeed the blinds ceased to be used when generators appeared on the boilers, I believe that argues against arc lamps.  I read that arc lamps also don't do well with cycling off and on, they like to run continuously, and that's why on railroads they were commonly equipped with shutters or blinds rather than just switching them off and on.  Incandescent bulbs, even early ones, were more forgiving of on/off cycling.  So this makes me more suspicious that on engines that acquired generators after about 1915,  the headlights may never have been arcs, but went from kerosene with blinds (no generators),  to  generators and incandescent bulbs, no blinds.  Is there evidence to the contrary?


Skip,
thanks for the search!  As to those headlights with what looks like an electric cable but no generator visible, well...??  I don't know.  Is it conceivable that this was an acetylene lamp with a gas feed tube rather than an electrical cable?

If a baggage car generator was used to power a loco headlight, this would have to be a loco restricted to passenger service only, otherwise no light! And maybe such an engine would always be with the same baggage car.  Is it possible that this was true of #12 for some time?

John