Loco Lighting

[Col Hogan]

A question has come up in our office about when the railroads began to run their lights during the daylight hours.
I know there has been lighting on the front since pre-1900 and they were mostly used in the evening. Does anyone know when they began to keep the lights on all the time ?

And also when the rotating beacon made its debut.

My first thought was after 1950 when the diesels came out.

Ken

[bdaneal]

That's always been my assumption, re the headlights. I have a few railroad rulebooks from various eras. The 1909 M&NA, 1912 GA, and 1940 MP all say headlights on at night only. Same with marker lights. The 1957 SLSF and 1967 L&N say lights on at day and night. Marker lights seem to be only for the day in the '57, but can be used day or night on an engine in '67 (cabooses are shown with flags still).

I don't know about the rotating beacons. It seems like those came about in the 1970s.

[Pencil]

That's what I seem to remember as well - flags at night, and marker lights after dark, but I don't have any documentation to back it up.