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March 1943. "Needles, Calif. Electrician B. Fitzgerald cleaning the headlight of a locomotive at the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe yard. All engines operating west of Needles are equipped with hooded headlights in accordance with the blackout regulations." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.
When the war is over, railroads will continue their mad dash to replace the steam locomotive with diesels and diesels need electricans, which will make them busier than ever and other trades, such as boilermakers, no longer needed.
Lights in the cab, gauge lights, and possibly Cab Signals or Automatic Train Stop also need electricity on a steam locomotive.
Used primarily on West Coast locomotives, it was used to prevent a wayward Japanese eye from seeing it at night!
Also, this guy was an "electrician" on a steam engine, besides the headlight, and markers (if equipped) and the steam-driven generator, what else did he fix? ?
Love the photos of old timers and trains, together in a photo. It's a bit different today oddly enough...when the hair turns white, you retire (e.g., not many OLD TIMERS in any profession for that matter, but especially in RR'ing).
This 3891 locomotive is classed as a SANTA FE 2-10-2 type first used by AT&SF in 1903, it had 85,486 lbs of tractive effort, you convert it to horsepower.
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