http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=411264 A typically ugly Romanian switcher on the IHB. Why was it here, and what happened to it afterward?
It was being road tested by several U.S. roads, I know that Southern also had it for a while. If I remember correctly, there were no takers and I believe it returned to Rumania.
In Europe it is quite common that engines have 3 lights in triangular shape. This switcher looks typicall European, but it also looks strange. Well, Rumanian, he? Were they trying to sell their engines outside the Warshaw Pact???
IIRC, this locomotive (or one like it) was also in service on the Washington (DC) Terminal at about the same time frame.
This Rumanian "Ugly Duckling" was indeed here as a Demonstration Unit. No US sales were forthcoming. I am by no means an expert on European railways, but IIRC, those aren't ditch lights. I remember reading something that explained that which lights were lit was used to indicate the class of train it was. Tom
It is different per country, the light scheme. In Holland, we have a triangular scheme of 3 white lights in front and 2 red lights behind (or 1 red light at the end of freight trains). When a train has only 1 light, it is switching or standing in the yard, and 2 lights will also have a meaning I do not know. I think that all lights lit together means danger.
