Lighting on Steam Footplates

[Grumbleweed]

Sorry if this sounds stupid, and I'm feeling a bit sheepish having only thought of this in my 53rd year, but how did crews of steam locos before the advent of electric lighting read gauges etc when out in the pitch-dark-middle-of-nowhere?

 

 

[Fay Singpoint]

Sorry if this sounds stupid, and I'm feeling a bit sheepish having only thought of this in my 53rd year, but how did crews of steam locos before the advent of electric lighting read gauges etc when out in the pitch-dark-middle-of-nowhere?

 

A couple of strategically placed oil lamps. Electric lighting, AFAIK, was only found on the Bulleid MN and WC/BB class locos.

 

I must admit we tend to cheat a little bit on heritage railways when running in the dark, well at least I do, by using LED lamps which have a magnet in the body so you can put them almost anywhere.

[PhilH]

Open the firehole door...

[Grumbleweed]

I thought about opening the fire door, but a) were there not quite a lot of times when that would be inadvisable, and b) wouldn't it be a blinding light, destroying night vision, going the wrong way?

 

I was reading about the electrical system on the Peppercorn A1, which said the  originals had electric light. Didn't the BR Standards too?

[Bon Accord]

Sorry if this sounds stupid, and I'm feeling a bit sheepish having only thought of this in my 53rd year, but how did crews of steam locos before the advent of electric lighting read gauges etc when out in the pitch-dark-middle-of-nowhere?

 

Whilst some crews had access to hand lamps (invariably purloined), when running at night there was invariably a lamp mounted on the boiler backhead next to the firemans gauge glass so as to allow the crew to keep an eye on the boiler water level. Every company (and indeed certain loco classes) had their own different style of lamp and mounting arrangement, so when BR came along they came up with a universal lamp with a special handle which could be mounted on any loco.

 

Here's a photo of the BR lamp: http://www.ukrailwayana.com/20140001/imgs/l_79.jpg

An image of the footplate of a Western engine showing the lamp mounted adjacent to the left hand (firemans side) gauge glass.: http://www.gwsr.com/footplate/LocoControls.jpg

As I remember, in Gresley locos it's mounted flush against the firemans gauge glass.

[PatB]

I would imagine that an experienced crew, familiar with their engine and route, would only have limited need to refer to gauges anyway, the gauge glass and, possibly, any vacuum gauge, being the only major exceptions I can think of. Maybe a speedometer, if fitted, but, even then, probably only around temporary speed restrictions or other unusual and transient conditions.

[Gordon A]

Gauge glass lamps which had a special shaped hangar that enabled them to be hung from the top nut of the water gauge.

 

Gordon A

Bristol

[Beatty 139]

Don't forget to use rape seed oil in your gauge glass lamp! Parafin soon boils and and you get far more 'light' than you expected!

[adanapress]

Now thats a funny thing,  I once handled a  steam turbine  electricicty generator,  made as i recall by Stones of Dartford.  It was a souvenir belonging to the Motive Power Superintendent at Norwich Thorpe, a Mr G. Ford back in the 1950s.   I think he said it provided

power on locos for the headlamps, and something in the cab, The generator worked fine, but the battery (for when not running) was the achillies heel, the vibration of running broke the plates within the battery case.   The generator was mounted somewhere well forward,

almost by the smokebox,  but as for the battery box location - i dont recall what was said, its a long time ago.   The generator itself was

surprisingly small, cylindrical in shape.   I dont know what loco it was fitted to. .  .

[asmay2002]

Now thats a funny thing,  I once handled a  steam turbine  electricicty generator,  made as i recall by Stones of Dartford.  It was a souvenir belonging to the Motive Power Superintendent at Norwich Thorpe, a Mr G. Ford back in the 1950s.   I think he said it provided

power on locos for the headlamps, and something in the cab, The generator worked fine, but the battery (for when not running) was the achillies heel, the vibration of running broke the plates within the battery case.   The generator was mounted somewhere well forward,

almost by the smokebox,  but as for the battery box location - i dont recall what was said, its a long time ago.   The generator itself was

surprisingly small, cylindrical in shape.   I dont know what loco it was fitted to. .  .

Probably a B1.

[Grumbleweed]

I would imagine that an experienced crew, familiar with their engine and route, would only have limited need to refer to gauges anyway, the gauge glass and, possibly, any vacuum gauge, being the only major exceptions I can think of. Maybe a speedometer, if fitted, but, even then, probably only around temporary speed restrictions or other unusual and transient conditions.

Hmmm.....I remember many years ago having a Mini. I knew that little car like the back of my hand, but I was skint, and couldn't afford to replace the backlight behind the instrument cluster when it blew. All very well driving round town, but a trip on an unlit motorway on a dark night proved most unnerving - I'd have said I was good at judging the speed I was going by sound, but it was actually surprisingly difficult...........

[PatB]

Hmmm.....I remember many years ago having a Mini. I knew that little car like the back of my hand, but I was skint, and couldn't afford to replace the backlight behind the instrument cluster when it blew. All very well driving round town, but a trip on an unlit motorway on a dark night proved most unnerving - I'd have said I was good at judging the speed I was going by sound, but it was actually surprisingly difficult...........

 

Well, yes, speed's a funny one, hence my qualifier about a speedometer if fitted. However, many locos didn't have them and so relied on the driver's judgement at all times. Most other things I can envisage being monitored on a steam locomotive would seem to directly affect performance; something I would expect an experienced crew to be able to detect without gauges. I'm only guessing though.

 

I had similar experiences to your mini with various motorcycles. Most didn't matter because I could read the speedo under streetlights and, out of town, they were too slow to worry about braking open road speed limits, but the last one had a bit of go. On long, overnight motorway runs the only way of accurately monitoring my speed was to overtake a truck and, once in front of it, twist awkwardly to one side so I could see my instruments by his headlamps . Otherwise, if asked by the nice gentleman in the fluoro jacket "Do you know what speed you were doing Sir?" I'd have had to honestly reply "Not a clue I'm afraid".