Hello all, Got a couple of questions for ya'll... (1) On nearly all of the SP GP9's there are small number board-size doors mounted below the number boards. What where these used for? I have also noticed something like them on the SD9's. (2) On the 5-light package, the top red "emergency" light would come on when the train went into an emergency brake application, my question is: since these units had the light show on both ends, did they both come on, or did it only come on in the direction of travel? Could the engineer turn it on without the train being in emergency? Like was there a switch to turn it on like there was for the gyralight? Thanks to anyone that can help me, it is really appreciated!
On the GP9s, they were there to provide storage and access to the numberboard digits. When the GP9s were built, SP used the number boards (aka "indicators") to display train numbers, so the individual digits were changable. There's a nice shot in Joe Strapac's SP Historic Diesel Series on GP9s that shows a conductor using the access door to change the train number on a Bay Area commute unit. I *think* it activated on both ends, but I'm not positive. Hopefully someone else can chime in with a definitive answer. And IIRC, the light could be activated manually.
