I think this night photo might clear up some misconceptions about the intended
use and angle of light/field of rotation coming from the roof-mounted
gyralights.
http://www.images.technomuses.ca/searchpf.php?id=57604&lang=en
The light beams wouldn't have been able to rotate along the line of the carbody
if they were making double circular patterns in the sky. It would also pose the
problem of blinding oncoming trains in meets. They were probably for the "ooo,
ahhh" factor for dome riders, and any additional benefits from lineside people
being able to see the train better would be coincidental. Using them to spot
icicles seems, at best, rather silly. Heck, they might have gotten smashed by
icicles a few times since the middle part of the front icicle brakers is open.
The way I see it, if CP needed more lights for their locomotives for increased
visibility for the engine crew, they would have likely installed a fixed light
above the cab or a second light(or a gyralight) in the nose door, or even
removable ditch lights that CN was using on some of their trains out west for
more visibility.
Has anyone checked the Dean & Hanna CP roster book on this?
Dan
--- In cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Michael Salfi <mikesue.salfi@...> wrote:
Just a clarification please, and I did see them in operation many times from
the dome car as I mentioned previously. The clarification, to the best of
my knowledge, is that each light oscillated in a circular pattern, and since
there were two lights, it appeared as a figure eight in the night sky,
rather than both lights moving in a figure 8 pattern. From an operational
point of view, it is much simpler to get a light to oscillate in a circular
pattern rather than a figure eight.
I am thankful I received a response to my actual question in the fourth
thread of this message, that they are, in fact, removable. In that thread,
John referred to ithe Mars light as a gyra light.
For a wikipedia explanation see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Light
Mike
