Messages

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Bridgton & Saco River Railway / Re: Air pumps on BSR 7 & 8?

« on: October 23, 2025, 01:33:59 PM »

Gavin, do you have a source for them being added for aesthetic reasons? I would've thought it's because air brakes are stronger than vacuum, and the trains 7 and 8 could handle almost necessitated the extra braking force compared to 3 or 4.

Also, if aesthetics were the reason, then it seems awful strange that 8 was regularly outfitted with a box headlight and faux diamond stack, even with air brakes.

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Work and Events / Re: No. 9 Boiler Jacket

« on: October 23, 2025, 01:20:08 PM »

The smokejacks in the engine house caused it

In reality though, the working theory is that acid(s) are formed by the mix of soot and steam, which is now rained onto the jacket during fire up. Those acids react with the black oxide coating and turn it into red oxide (rust).

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General Discussion / Re: MEC Outside Frame Boxcar 35039

« on: October 09, 2025, 04:06:22 PM »

Allan, I am not sure acquisition of one standard gauge car is mission creep. Not anymore creep than having ownership of two B&SR boxcars at any rate. It's arguably well within our mission to display a size difference on site, giving a clear demonstration of how the smaller economies served by the narrow gauge only needed small freight cars.

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General Discussion / Re: MEC Outside Frame Boxcar 35039

« on: October 07, 2025, 07:59:52 PM »

The Car was built in 1919 and the last Keith Car Co. built car.

So it's well within our era, and is (probably) unique? Would pair nicely with another unique boxcar we have

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: August 31, 2025, 10:26:55 PM »

Further research has shown a few things

1. The headlight on 9 in that image is in fact not oil, it is carbide.

2. It is a lot thinner than the headlights we have in our own collection. Different images show the headlight as being ~10 inches long and ~12in diameter which match Handlan lamp models 545 or 545B, although the breather holes differ from the image.

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: July 01, 2025, 11:17:47 AM »

That is fine and fair enough, but even for the big SR&RL #23, Baldwin explicitly called out a kerosene headlight in the spec sheet (page 101, left page, 3 from bottom.

I believe it is more than fair to believe in this image, SR&RL 6 has a kerosene headlight, even with the rising popularity of acetylene/carbide lamps during that time.

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: July 01, 2025, 09:56:12 AM »

Keith, from my understanding, it seems kerosene was really the preferred fuel for headlights until electric really took over. Even in the 1915 Star catalog linked in the initial post, kerosene was still the standard with options for acetylene or electric.

I believe the switch from the box headlights to the round case was a matter of trying to match newer equipment. Builders' photos of the Eustis locomotives show the same style of headlight as the picture of #6. Later still, most SR&RL engines have the same headlight style that 9 wears now. It seems that the Phillips shop boys enjoyed having at least some standardization on their operating fleet.

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: June 30, 2025, 03:14:02 PM »

This is a consist that could be recreated, because in addition to SR&RL No. 6, both passenger cars are also currently present at Sheepscot: combine 14 (shown with its original clerestory roof) and of course the Rangeley.

That's another reason I was so drawn to this image. It would be so easy to set up at Alna Center if the stars align, but The Rangeley being well, The Rangeley makes it difficult. We can dream though

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: June 30, 2025, 10:25:11 AM »

Some more notes on this topic

A. This image is what started this whole search. Our #9 in a past life as SR&RL #6, with a round oil headlight. Picnic basket on the running board would make a nice touch for a future event, too


B. The headlight most suitable for what I'm trying to recreate is marked as being from WW&F 3, however it doesn't match historic pictures I've seen so far of #3 with a round case oil headlight. The builder's plate for the headlight as well identifies it as a Glazier headlight, which according to brief research merged into Star in 1890.

C. It is in rough condition, and the work needed to repair and modify it into a representation of what was on SR&RL 6 would destroy the main body of the headlight as it sits now. With it being from the 1880s or earlier and with enough scars from a working life, it almost goes against the idea of preservation to restore this one as would be required for operational purposes.

Now, it stands at approximately the right height, depth and width to stand in for the pictured headlight, but so many details are noticeably incorrect (lack of number boards, different chimney case profile, straight base instead of curved, etc). My question pivots to this, does anybody have access to blueprints for either Glazier headlights or Star headlights? Star classifies this style of headlight as a "Wabash Style" and I believe the size I'm looking for is 16". In the previously linked catalog, it would be Style 22.

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: June 23, 2025, 03:29:47 PM »

Introducing a non-point light source creates some beam spread with non-constant intensity, as does moving the light source off the focal point.

Very true. In my research I've found the common diameter of round wicks for headlights is generally 1 1/2", so the light output would be all ~3/4" out of focus.

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: June 19, 2025, 03:26:15 PM »

Thank you for the suggestion, Bruce. I wasn't able to search through the ICC reports as thoroughly as I would've liked. However I did find an answer from a different period technical magazine for enginemen, "Locomotive catechism; a practical and complete work on the locomotive" from 1911. 75 Candlepower peak output (942.75 lumens), which if my calculations are correct show a theoretical output at 800ft as approximately .01 lux, comparable to the light of a quarter-moon on a clear night. This is technically illuminating a man-sized object at the required distance but is so insignificant as to be practically ineffective.

However, the FRA guidelines don't mention lux, and only define required candela at specific angles which I'm assuming is in steradians. If this assumption is correct and I'm not confusing units of light measurement, then the following table shows approximate numbers for Candela at specific angles, calculated as (candlepower*12.57)/steradians

CP |	Lux   |	CD at 7.5d |	CD at 20d
40 |	502.8|	32850        |	5267
75 |	942.75|	70078        |	9876

Now, this hinges on the assumption that the old document is correct in the light output, but any light source with a lumen output of >300 or candlepower >~25 will meet pure candela requirements

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: June 17, 2025, 02:11:38 PM »

I believe I found the thread you're talking about. Skimming through it quickly it doesn't immediately show what I'm looking for, but it is interesting to hear about how Eureka's headlight was once lit by the sunlight.

Maybe one day if we have a properly functional and fine tuned oil headlight we can try to replicate that experience

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General Discussion / Re: Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: June 17, 2025, 09:59:05 AM »

Using them in service, but I want to at least know I'm in the ballpark for compliance before diving too deep into the "real world" side of things.

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General Discussion / Oil Headlights - Sourcing Information on Light Output

« on: June 16, 2025, 08:12:05 PM »

Hello all. As of late, I've fallen into a rabbit hole of oil headlights, but even in spite of digging out expired patents and reading period catalogs such as from the Star Headlight and Lantern Co. from 1915, I'm having trouble finding accurate and cited sources about how bright the headlights get at the burners. The Star catalog linked in this post references some states having requirements of headlights able to "distinguish an object the size of a man at a distance of 600ft." But that doesn't tell me how bright the lamp is at the burner, nor what the criteria is for discerning a man at 600ft is. Modern FRA code is very clear about candela requirements at specific distances and angles, but I cannot prove an oil lamp will meet those requirements with the sources I have for peak brightness based on burner/fuel type. Most sources I have are for kerosene lanterns which use flat wicks, whereas headlights of the day tended to use hollow round wicks with a center draft arrangement. Wikipedia has a table comparing peak brightnesses in candlepower, watts and lumens but doesn't cite any source so I am hesitant to use those figures.
If anyone has technical journals or documents, both modern and historic that can provide any more information about oil headlight light output they would be greatly appreciated.

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General Discussion / Re: Best steam locomotive wheel arrangement other than 0-4-4/2-4-4

« on: May 12, 2025, 10:14:58 AM »

2-6-2 and 2-6-0