I'm trying to research information about ditchlights on the BN and BNSF. I was pretty well out of railfanning during the period that the movement to ditchlights was happening, so I don't even really have any recollection of how things went down. I have plenty of information about the basics of the ditchlight requirements and so forth so I don't really want to get into a generic discussion on ditchlights...I would really like to keep it focused (no pun intended) on ditchlights (not the early strobe setups) on BN and early BNSF. I've noticed that generally BNSF ditchlights are always solid. In contrast to some other railroads that have alternating flashing ditchlights that trigger with a horn application. (or maybe there are some that alternate continuously?) Anyway, not relevant except that I always seemed to remember seeing a few BN/BNSF SD70MAC's do the alternating/flashing thing. But after having gone forever and seeing nothing but solid ditchlights (and from UP as well, so generally NOTHING I see has the alternating/flashing...the rare exception is always something like CSX) I assumed that my memory was failing me. But lo-and-behold while researching something else recently I came across a video on YouTube specifically noting the "rare" BN alternating ditchlights. My understanding is that early installations of ditchlights had settings (switch position) that allowed both, but eventually that was done away with for railroads that settled on solid lights. But maybe that is incorrect and we're simply talking about a switch inside the cab? Anyway, assuming this was a unit or series-specific configuration, does anyone have a list or resource about which BN locomotives had flashing/alternating ditchlights versus the more standard solid ditchlights on most BN/BNSF locos? Apparently (some?) early SD70MAC's and "more-than-a-handful" of others had them. My research focused on the SD70MAC's, and the following were reported to have the alt/flash ditchlights: BN Exec: 9478, 9482, 9509, 9675; BNSF Exec: 9726, 9734, 9735, 9740. There are conflicting "guidelines" that I've come across. Some said all early BN 70MAC's, some said only a small subset, some said it was the 9500 & 9600 series only. My list above really isn't enough to discount any of that, since they could be anomalies from wreck rebuilds, etc. Secondarily, I would also be interested in the dates that BN locos were converted. Just curious more than anything, since the era I model they should have all been converted. :question:
I believe all of the ditch lights are on solid unit horn activation. Never seen any that flash continuously. In the early 90s, when they started to add ditchlights, BN had some that were just strobe lights. These would only flash once the horn was activated. Want to say the date that required all units to have ditchlights was later mid 90s, after 96, but not too sure.
Older AC44 SP locos still have the flashing ditchlights. As the ditch lights need work, they are being converted to solid on. Some of the units have been repainted to UP Armor Yellow, but still retain the flashing ditch lights.
