I saw the 745 for the first time today, chasing between Delhi, La, and Vicksburg, Miss, and I was quite impressed. There was quite a crowd on hand when it crossed the BIG Illinois Central bridge over the Mississippi River. The tug boats on the river even whistled back at the 745. Hats off to LASTA for a great job.

I don't want to set off a stupid debate here, but ditch lights look great on a steam locomotive-I don't care what the purists say!

OK, you boys grab him and pin him to the ground. I'll get the sledge hammer and we'll knock some sense into him ;)

JAC:

First, take the sledge and knock the ditch lights off the engine!

Nice looking engine, otherwise.

I don't think anyone could complain about seeing the 745 run again, after having seen woeful looking photos of it in the park in New Orleans, but I have to wonder if the ditchlight/26L brake/sealed beam headlight phenomenon is an enthusiast misconception that these things just have to be applied if an engine is to run today. The volunteer groups usually add these items, while the Union Pacific, which runs its engines on one of the busiest mainlines in the country, gets by with the original equipment.

I can agree with you on sealed-beam headlights. They looked lousy on 611 and 2716. 26L brake systems I thought were required equipment nowadays.

I figured I'd get myself into trouble over this whole ditch light thing!

At the risk of joining your resulting position, I'll offer this!

I had THOUGHT about installing some very discreet brakets for removable ditch lights on the 1702. I had also thought about putting a double seal beam headlight insert in it. Visually both would look goofy in my opinion. On the other side of the coin, you just can't get enough light infront of you going through Cowee tunnel or running the loco at night, but alot of guys did it for alot of years. The tender has a standard head light, and a single ditch light mounted under it. Those GP9's we have now spoil us with the ditch lights, and the GP7's will be getting some soon. They lost their high hoods some years ago, so we might as well finish them off. In the end just properly aiming the original headlight got alot of the job done on the 1702. We were haveing some problems keeping bulbs in it for a while, and they are $35-40 each now. It has to run, but it has to look right too!!

Ready, aim, fire!!

Ryan

It's funny I used to think that ditch lights were something straight from hell when I used to fire a 1910 climax. Now that I regularly ride GP40's at 40 mph, they seem like you need them. However in hind sight, we could stoped before hitting something with the climax and it's week head light. With the GP 40's we just get a good look at it......

Ryan,

While some folks may complain about the cosmetics regarding ditch lights, the reality is that we're now running antique equipment in an era with cell phones, satellite radios, booming stereo systems and other life's distractions. When we left Hammond, LA and traveled over the CN/IC line to Baton Rouge, LA on May 1, we had 129 public grade crossings in 43 miles! I was debating about just tying the whistle down. It was certainly an added sense of security to have those ditch lights illuminated on the front.

Also, I don't care about how they got by in year's past with one 32 volt 250 watt bulb in front. I like being able to see, particularly when running in unfamiliar territory like the 950 mile trip we're just now completing, and those ditch lights were a tremendous help to me in seeing all the approaching grade crossings after dark. Let's face it, one bad accident on the mainline with steam could bring about the end of it for everyone and everything we can do to make operations safe and incident-free should be everyone's priority. You may not like the lamps, but at least you're getting the opportunity to witness steam on the mainline.

As to losing bulbs, we lost one ditch light on 745 during the second series of test runs in early March. I checked the output on the dynogenerator and found that the governor was overcompensating under load and putting out 38 volts. I adjusted it and everything's been working great since.

A group of us will be coming to your neck of the woods in an antique bus the third week of May for the SRHA convention. Maybe there will be time to grab a bite and swap lies?

Bill Johnson