All - When the Kansas City Zephyr was placed in service early in 1953 it was powered by the passenger F units. They had a single, big headlight bulb at that time. Later, in freight service, they had the double sealed beam headlight. I have a few photos from that period. PAW
On Monday, October 28, 2019, 10:35:48 AM CDT, James Sandrin <sandmantrains@gmail.com> wrote:
Bill and group: you are correct in that the ex-passenger F3 A-units and the two F9Am rebuilds, C&S 700D and FW&D 750A, were the only units to be updated with this feature. I have looked through a selection of A-unit shots thinking that perhaps another wreck rebuild might have been up-dated but no luck. My guess is that the former CZ units were retro-fitted when the conversion to freight status was done.Jim Sandriin Bryan,
I have never noticed that the three sets of passenger F3s were equipped with seal beam headlights. It looks like it was done after the locomotives were re assigned to freight service. I can find no photos of them in the passenger paint scheme with dual seal beam headlights in the BRHS Flickr Photo Archive. Judging by the photos available, it is possible that the conversion was done when the three consists were repainted in the freight paint scheme. I did find one other unit with a dual seal beam headlight. It is FW&D F7 No. 750A. See the attached photo. I have no idea why the change was made to those units only. It may have been a test so that the RR could stock only one type of bulb and headlight assembly. There is some evidence that the dual seal beam headlights provided more light at a given distance from the locomotive. ICC/FRA has a regulation about the amount of illumination that a locomotive headlight provides. I know that EMD engineers had a concern that short hood mounted and lower headlights only marginally provided sufficient light at the prescribed distance. Depending on when the conversion was made, the RR may have decided that it was not worth the expense to convert the entire F fleet.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO
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