All, I need some help with a question in regards to CSX SD60 #8786 that I'm modeling. If you look at the engineer side of the unit and go down the long hood right about middle of the unit at the top it looks like there is either a antenna or a beacon of some sort. Can some one tell me what this is and what it is for. Thanks, Joe
All, I figured it out last night when I had a discussion with my retired ATSF conductor and retired BNSF dispatcher buddies. They both confirmed that this a warning beacon for the train crew, mainly the engineer letting him know that the locomotive has either shut down or is starting up. This is a common practice that the railroads do to conserve fuel while sitting in a siding. What happens is that the train will pull to a stop and after a period of time all the units except for the lead unit will shutdown (going into conservation mode). Then when the dispatcher gives the train crew the switch the engineer notches the throttle on the lead unit to 1 and the trailing units restart thus triggering the startup alarm and small strobe. Most railroads use an electronic bell/alarm to indicate start up, but CSX went a step further and added the strobe for a visual as well thus the reason the strobe is only on the engineer side. ATSFJoe
Interesting. UP uses strobes on remote control engines that flash when they're running in remote control mode.
