As I recall it described a figure eight on its side pattern, which when
the conditions were such, could be seen reflecting off low lying clouds.
It did NOT go near the ground.
Bill
---- Original Message -----
From: Doug Cummings
To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2010 12:13 AM
Subject: RE: [cpsig] Roof Mounted Mars Lights on CP FP7,s and CP FP9's
If you look at what oscillate means it means it would go down as much as it
goes up, so if it goes up into the sky it also goes down towards the ground
as well. So if it was pointed towards the sky to begin with then the lower
range would be straight ahead. I saw these things working for years and
while the headlight would give you good forward illumination it was not very
good looking into the sky. The Gyrolight was. It may have ended up as a p.r.
thing but that was not the original intention. On a locomotive with a
standard Mars light that Mars light was aimed straight ahead, just like the
headlight, but with the oscillation it gave a wider beam. Too bad there are
none out there today so you can go out and actually see it in action.
Doug
> Because of the rotation of the light the lower limit of the light
> would be about even with the top of the roof of the locomotive. The
> light oscillates.
> I doubt if they installed them just so the public could see them as
> the main headlight would do that job rather nicely.
The beams of light would oscillate up into the night sky, not along the
length of the car body. If you look at the photo and that is plainly
obvious. The lights are aimed up into the air at about a 45 degree angle.
They won't come anywhere near the car body. Projecting up into the night
sky made them visible from some distance away, possible well over a mile and
before the headlight came into view. That's what I believe they were
designed for. Just as the Mars rotating beacon was for. To draw attention
to the train before the headlight became visible.
