What sorts of lights do locomotives display?

June 20, 2019, 1:01 PM

Headlight — All IR locomotives have headlights. Usually this is a single centrally mounted light near roof level at each end, although some locos have it at mid-level. Some of the newer locos feature twin-beam headlight fixtures. The headlights can be dimmed if needed.

Steam locos had their headlights mounted in various positions; either with an bracket mounting on top of the smokebox, or sometimes in the centre of the smokebox face, or mounted just above the buffer beam.

ये भी पढ़े – अगर कोई ब्लैकमेल करने की कोशिश करे तो क्या करना चाहिए

Flasher — All recent locomotives also have a flasher lamp for use in emergencies or special circumstances. This is usually amber or yellow, and mounted close to (usually on the right side) of the headlight near roof level, or on the edge of the roof. Recently LED flashers have come into use.

Markers — Usually each end of the loco has two marker lights, one on either side just above the buffers in the front. Each marker has a switchable lens so it can have one of two colours — red or white. Sometimes there are two lamps in each housing, one red and one white, instead. Normally the marker lamps are white in front (at the leading face of the loco). The rear marker lights are lit, and red in colour, when the loco is travelling light. This helps confirm that the loco is supposed to be travelling light and that there hasn’t been a parting of its load. A marker lamp can also be switched to red in the front if there is greater danger of collision on that side. However, there is great variation in local practice at different sheds and stations. At some stations or yards locos can be found moving about with no marker lamps lit at all, and often the red or white lamps may not have any correlation to the direction of travel.

Shunting locos in yards often have one red and one white lamp on all the time at either end as they keep switching direction. Marker lights are not always lit especially in bright daylight conditions. Depending on the working rules for a particular section, marker lights may have to be on if the loco is light. As with flasher, there is a trend towards replacement of incandescent bulbs by LEDs.

EMUs and DMUs usually do not have marker lights. The newer models have a parking lamp mounted in the same housing as the headlight, or adjacent to it, which remains lit when the EMU/DMU is not in motion. The route indicator (“K” for Kalyan, for instance) found between the windshields also remains lit when the EMU/DMU is not in motion. EMU/DMU cars also have one or more large red tail lamps; often flashing (two flashing, one steady, etc.).

India never had any conventions regarding the use of marker lights to identify the type of loco and the kind of load it was hauling as was common in Great Britain. However, steam locos working tender foremost often had two white marker lights, one vertically above the other, on the tender.

Source – IFRCA.org

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