Elliston Feb 1953 - Oddball Left-Handed Signal - Headlights

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 Ken:  There was a headlight practice used in "dark territory" day and night that was not listed in the Book of Rules" nor approved by railroad management.  After taking siding at a pass track, when an opposing train showed up, the head-end crew would blink the headlight to let the approaching movement that their train was in the clear. Before radio, how did they know ?  Louis Newton once told me he was directed to conduct an investigation as to why an N&W caboose had been side-swiped on the 
Durham District.                                                   Harry Bundy
    On Friday, July 14, 2023 at 02:38:23 PM EDT, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:  
 
 Ask and ye shall receive. Here is the cover you are speaking of. March 1958, which was an error, as it was printed with 1957 as the date originally.
The caption reads:AS MOST N. & W. FOLKS KNOW, the headlights on N. & W. locomotives - have been burning continuously while in service in the daytime, as well as at night, since 1956 as a safety measure.
This is just one of the many steps the Norfolk and Western has taken to further protect its employees and the public from injury. But there is no locomotive headlight or any other mechanical device that can take the place of the employee's own mental alertness.
To prevent injury and death it is vital that we keep our mental and physical faculties-especially our brains, eyes and ears-on the beam, In other words, as the front cover of this issue suggests, “Iet's keep our 'headlight' on for safety, too!" 
The railroader pictured on the cover is brakeman Louis F. Cronk, Roanoke Terminal.
BestKen Miller


On Jul 14, 2023, at 12:13 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

I just noticed another anomaly with that photo of the 2148 at Elliston in 1953...
 
Namely, that the headlight on that engine is displayed by day.  Headlights were not "displayed by day" until 1957 (if I recall correctly.)  Most of the industry changed the rule on headlights by day, for safety sake, and the N&W followed suit.
 
If you want the date for the change, check out an N&W Magazine from 1957 (or perhaps 1956) showing on the front cover a young Brakeman standing in front of a 1200 with its headlight "displayed by day," and with a caption saying something like, Headlight On for Safety.   The paragraph describing the cover gave the date the new rule became effective,  I believe.  The young Brakeman in the photo was Louis Floyd Cronk who came from Huddleston, Bedford County, and who hired sometime in the 1940s.  Floyd Cronk was a peaceable soul and a True Southern Gentleman.
 
An understanding of the history of headlights helps one understand why they were not displayed by day early on.  Once upon a time, headlights burned oil: they were not very efficient in terms of illumination provided, and often the flame blew out.  The next phase was lighting headlights with carbon arc lamps... they gave a brilliant light but the carbon electrodes were very difficult to keep in adjustment (and therefore frequently failed en route.) The N&W was using carbon arc headlights on passenger engines as late as 1917 and I do not know when they were completely discontinued.  The next phase was large incandescent "bulbs" with large threaded bases called Mogul Bases.  But they tended to vibrate loose, so two stiff Phosphor-Bronze wires were inserted into the receptacles, parallel to and laying in the threads, but on opposite sides, to afford spring-like friction to clamp the "bulbs" against vibrating loose.  The sealed beam headlamp was first used in the railroad industry on the NYC Mohawks in 1948 (but maybe it was 1947.)  I never saw a sealed beam in an N&W locomotive headlight until the Diesel-thingies began showing up.
 
So now you know the story of headlights.  Was the change to daylight display of headlights a good move?  Absolutely !
 
-- abram burnett
Comin' to You Live from Turnip Holler 
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