Nostalgia & History > Some WP endearments?

I took these Ektachromes in 1965 and have looked at them dozens of times since.  Oh, I knew of the steam-era style headlights that Western Pacific was noted for using on
some diesels and perhaps that is one of the things I was trying to capture that day. Not until last week when I was doing editing on the slide with GP7 710 at Oakland, CA
​did I closely look at some of the details.

​Popping up above the roof line, behind the geep, on the next two 'B' units are what looks to be another hold-over from steam days in the form of two headlights, complete with
​what I would call number 'wings'. Maybe 'wings' are not what they were called back in the day, I don't know. I was soon looking at more of my WP slides and found another, taken
​at WP's roundhouse in Stockton, CA. This one appears to be mounted on a steam generator equipped 'B' unit.
Only one end of each 'B' unit, that I have photos of is, equipped with these headlights.

These photos bring questions. Was WP in the habit of running trains while 'bald-facing' with a 'B' unit leading; at least for some extended distances?
Were these headlights indeed salvaged from steamers? I understand WP exited steam operations fairly early so were these headlights just lying around the roundhouse
waiting for the diesels to arrive or were they a 'new' appliance installed by WP forces? Were any of them saved? Did any other railroads make use of these 'style' headlights or
was WP alone in this regard. I know there are WP experts out there. Needless to say, the WP certainly was a unique operation. 

Charlie

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WP didn't order back-up lights on their F's. Reusing lights taken from retired steamers was a cheap and effective solution.
And the WP way of doing things!

PHall Wrote:
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> WP didn't order back-up lights on their F's.
> Reusing lights taken from retired steamers was a
> cheap and effective solution.
> And the WP way of doing things!

Yep and that they had the little side number light was just an added bonus. Looks like they were a better back up light than most B units on most other railroads.

The WP was always thinking just outside the box.  Didn't they run a single F3 with a steam locomotive tender for extra range?
SR

Yup, those boilers in long runs sucked up quite a bit of water, looked strange, worked well.

Out

cewherry Wrote:
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> Was WP in the habit
> of running trains while 'bald-facing' with a 'B'
> unit leading; at least for some extended
> distances?

The back-up lights on the B-units were added by WP for safety while switching in the yards.