ditchlights

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David Collins
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ditchlights

Unread post by David Collins »

So I’m confused about something, I was going thru photos on my Canon EOS Rebel SL2 and found this curiosity from a trip in December at Millbury, Ohio (CP281). NS 20E came by with two AC44C6M’s but I noticed the ditchlights on the front were not on or flashing. However the ones on the Long hood end were flashing. Which is really confusing. That begs the question, does the engineer have control of both front and rear ditchlights? I thought there was only one switch for ditchlights which came on depending on the reverser direction…
Last edited by David Collins on Sat Jul 03, 2021 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SD80MAC
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Re: Repost about ditchlights

Unread post by SD80MAC »

Yes, most locomotives have separate switches for the front and rear headlights and ditchlights. I have only ever seen the ditch lights tied to the reverser direction on older ex Conrail locomotives and some newer rebuilds.
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David Collins
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Re: Repost about ditchlights

Unread post by David Collins »

SD80MAC wrote:
Sat Jul 03, 2021 4:12 pm
Yes, most locomotives have separate switches for the front and rear headlights and ditchlights. I have only ever seen the ditch lights tied to the reverser direction on older ex Conrail locomotives and some newer rebuilds.
Can some of the newer rebuilds you’re talking about be the AC44C6M’s?
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Ypsi
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Re: ditchlights

Unread post by Ypsi »

On NS I have seen engineers switch the ditch
lights to the rear during meets. I believe they are tied to the horn and time out, so after/ before going through a crossing you can switch to the rear as to not blind opposing crews.
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