494's new headlight will be coming soon from Copper and Tin Works. The kerosine lamp and reflector are not new, but are in potential working condition. The parabolic reflector is badly tarnished and won't respond to silver polish so resilvering is in order. Has anyone had this done and can anyone give me some tips on the process?

wrj494@aol.com

I had taken an old sheet metal reflector into my local plating company (look in the yellow pages under "plating") and it came back looking factory fresh. In operation though, metal reflectors pale in comparison to glass ones.

> 494's new headlight will be coming soon from
> Copper and Tin Works. The kerosine lamp and
> reflector are not new, but are in potential
> working condition. The parabolic reflector
> is badly tarnished and won't respond to
> silver polish so resilvering is in order.
> Has anyone had this done and can anyone give
> me some tips on the process?

Was the old plating still silvery looking here and there? Look around the edges where it's unlikely to have been polished a lot. If so, it's nickel plating. Silver tarnishes too quickly and wasn't widely used (besides being rather expensive). Nickel will plate readily on a concave surface, chome won't. BTDThis years ago.

A note of caution here. DO NOT waste your money on chrome plated reflectors. Chrome plating reflects a certain amount of light (to your eye) by ABSORBING light. These headlight reflectors are a DISASTER to see with at night, ask any 70Â’s era street rodder! Henry Ford, and the rest of the car world, used silver plating in the 30Â’s non
sealed beam headlights. The problem was, the silver tarnished over time, and you had to regularly take the headlight apart and polish the reflector. The current process from Uvira Corporation, uses a vacuum sealed aluminized process that lasts a very long time, and provides the same reflective qualities as silver.

Robert@trainorders.com

This address is a year old but should still be good.

Uvira Inc.

P.O. Box 1137

310 Pleasant Valley Road

Merlin, OR 97532

541-956-6880, Fax, 541-476-9096

e-Mail: uvira@terragon.com


Robert@trainorders.com

Dan Markoff's E&P "EUREKA" has a parabolic reflector that Dan fabricated himself. I'm not sure what he plated it with.

The head light has an oil lamp and Dan told me he was skeptical about how useful the light would actually be. But he was quite surprised when he lit the oil lamp and adjusted it so that the flame was at the focus of the parabolic reflector. "It really lit up the track."

Brian Norden

A while back I had the glass reflector from a Pyle-National switcher headlight resilvered at a place that did antique mirrors. They were not discomfitted at all by the heavy parabolic reflector, and said they did smaller parabolic mirrors all the time (for bowling alley score projectors). The cost was about $40 a dozen years ago. That headlight is now headed for a UP switcher at Orange Empire.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48840-0665

froboma@mdot.state.mi.us

The reflectivity of the old oil headlight shouldn't matter, because as we all know, every steam locomotive today must be equipped with ditch lights..............

http://www.trainweb.org/rshs/GRS%20-%20Cannan.htm
bobyar2001@yahoo.com

I thought I read that historic equipment (steam locomotives) were exempt from ditch lights. Do you have a specific regulation that states this?

Robert@trainorders.com

I wasn't serious. To my knowledge, there is no such regulation, though many seem to think a steam locomotive cannot run without them.

I thought I read that historic equipment
> (steam locomotives) were exempt from ditch
> lights. Do you have a specific regulation
> that states this?


http://www.trainweb.org/rshs/GRS%20-%20Cannan.htm
bobyar2001@yahoo.com

> I wasn't serious. To my knowledge, there is
> no such regulation, though many seem to
> think a steam locomotive cannot run without
> them.

> I thought I read that historic equipment

ARM and TRAIN fought this one and won--the reg doesn't apply.


Kevinmccabe@avenew.com

Here in Canada (and presumably in the US as well) there was a requirement that any locomotive headlamp had to have sufficient power to see a dark object so many feet ahead (I forget the actual distance). I was once told by an ex-Grand Trunk engineer that the oil lamps were terrible for lighting up the track. Will new silver reflectors and/or lenses bring them up to regulatory standards?

> A while back I had the glass reflector from
> a Pyle-National switcher headlight
> resilvered at a place that did antique
> mirrors. They were not discomfitted at all
> by the heavy parabolic reflector, and said
> they did smaller parabolic mirrors all the
> time (for bowling alley score projectors).
> The cost was about $40 a dozen years ago.

What's the name of this place? Do they still do silvering? About a year ago, I contacted some local mirror places, and they said nobody does this anymore because of some sort of environmental concerns. Just hope they're wrong. I have a couple of 12" diameter parabolic glass reflectors I'd like to have resilvered. Thanks!

> What's the name of this place? Do they still
> do silvering? About a year ago, I contacted
> some local mirror places, and they said
> nobody does this anymore because of some
> sort of environmental concerns. Just hope
> they're wrong. I have a couple of 12"
> diameter parabolic glass reflectors I'd like
> to have resilvered. Thanks!

If you find a place let us know over in the Diesel Dept. Randall. CMStP&P HH600 1603 needs both of it's reflectors replated also.

Todd Jones
IRM Diesel Department Painter Boy


milw104c@charter.net

To find a place to do re-silvering (actually, they use Aluminum) Pick up a copy of Sky and Telescope Magazine. In every issue are adss for the people who do resilvering of telescope mirrors.
These are mostly parabolic reflectors in sizes from several inches to several feet in diameter!
One source as of some time ago was P.A. Clausing, INC. 8038 Monticello Ave, Skokie, Ill. 60076 phone (847) 676-0330 Ther are others advertised as well. I believe you want rear silvering and not front surface silvering which is what is primarily used in telescope work.
Sincerly, Keith (Retired locomotive Engineer and amateur astronomer)

http://www.camdenmin.co.uk/new.htm
keith.h.taylor@att.net