Industrial diesels yellow / orange flashing lights.

[Gordon A]

My question is when did the yellow / orange flashing beacons start to be fitted to the roof of industrial diesels in the UK?

 

Gordon A

[Mol_PMB]

This isn't going to quite answer your question, but it might be helpful in stimulating further discussion.

 

On the Manchester Ship Canal diesels, the second batch of Hudswell Clarke 204hp diesels had built-in orange side lights, near each corner of the loco. They didn't flash, but I think they were illuminated when the locos were street-running in Trafford Park or around the docks. Those locos were delivered in 1962, you can see the bulbous orange light on the side of the gear case very clearly in this photo, there is another one on the opposite end but it's slightly concealed by the handrail:

The RR-Sentinel locos delivered to the MSC in the mid-1960s also had similar orange side lights. Those delivered to Preston Docks around the same time had a different arrangement of orange lights.

However, these orange side lights had a predecessor on the MSC Railway, going back to steam days (1950s or earlier). The loco oil headlamps had a white lens at the front and an orange lens each side, so they would show an orange light to each side at the leading end of the loco too. The earlier batch of diesels had moveable plug-in electric lamps with the same feature. If you look closely at the lamp on this MSC steam loco you can see the side lenses:

https://rcts.zenfolio.com/industrial-and-light/industrial-steam/manchester-ship-canal/mode-wheel-shed/hA0FFD938#ha0ffd938

So the display of orange lights on industrial locos running on streets goes back to the 1950s at least.

 

Like I said, an answer to not exactly the right question but hopefully of some interest.

 

Regards,

Mol

 

 

[John_41241]

On 07/01/2021 at 21:35, Gordon A said:

My question is when did the yellow / orange flashing beacons start to be fitted to the roof of industrial diesels in the UK?

 

Gordon A

[dan_the_v8man]

In the steelworks it appears to have been late 70s/early 80s

[Tom Burnham]

Can't recall orange lights on the Swanscombe cement works diesel locos (almost all Sentinels) in the early 1980s, although the remnants of the once extensive system didn't have long to go by then. Locos were fitted with headlights, but they weren't used in daylight as far as I remember, even in tunnels.