Steam & Excursion > New Haven 4-6-2 #1392

My Father's photo of a New Haven class I-4-E pacific taken at New London, Connecticut. Photo dated June 6, 1948 of the 4-6-2 built by ALCo in 1916. Always curious about the headlights on most of the New Haven steam engines. The front reflector section is really short compared to most other roads steam engine headlights. Does anyone know anything about these headlights and why they differed from the ones used on other roads?............. C.C.Chas.

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Charlie, thanks for another great shot from your dad's collection. Pyle-National vs. Sunbeam on the headlight? I don't know the difference, but NYC had versions of both and some looked like that one.

Charlie, I agree with NYCman. It appears as though the locomotive in your photo is equipped with a cast iron or aluminum Pyle National headlight without the accessory visor. If you can come up with some clear pictures of some other NH headlights we might be able to verify or repudiate this, or identify a specific make or model.

Cheers,
Africansteam

Charlie, I went back and too a look at the 4-8-2 in your earlier post: http://www.trainorders.com/images2/view.php?164433

It appears that the headlight is a Pyle National with the number boards flush with the case, as opposed to other versions of the same headlight where the number boards were containd within an angled triangular box which gave them some visibility to the front as well as the side. For an example of this type of headlight see the SP 5021 post here:http://www.trainorders.com/images2/view.php?164227
and http://www.trainorders.com/images2/view.php?22520

Thanks for the info nycman and africansteam. I guess I am not used to seeing that type of headlight without the hood on it. Been in California for a long time and have gotten used to the appearance of SP, ATSF and SP&S, WP, Rio Grande and other western engines. Seeing these New England shots mostly for the first time has me wondering about many things concernng those old steam engines and early diesels. Almost all of these shots are over 55 years old and I am enjoying every single one of them. I remember seeing some close up shots of the headlights on a couple of the New Haven engines in my Father's negatives. Will post one when I run across them. Am glad that some of the TO members are enjoying them with me. Thanks again for the comments and info.

C.C.Chas.

I know this message is from a while ago, but -

First, great picture.

Second, the New Haven used Golden Glow headlights manufactured by ESSCO. They are not Pyle. The spotting differences (for the New Haven version at least) is the flush number board, and the lens hinge is on top of the light, instead of on the left like Pyle. The glass reflector included uranium salts to give the light a gold hue, to better penetrate fog, etc. It's the same concept behind colored tinting on sunglasses.

They started appearing on the New Haven in the mid '20's, on both electric and steam locomotives.

Randy
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Randy Hammill
http://newbritainstation.com
Modeling the New Haven Railroad 1946-1954