OPRRMS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Poplar Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > J Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Need to back a little further in time. The
> 7200
> > > has already lost its headlight package to a
> > wimpy
> > > flasher.
> >
> >
> > I arrived in Oakland in 89. So it can't be
> farther
> > back than that.
>
> SP began to replace their signal lights with Prime
> Model 8911 beacons in 1986, due to the influence
> of Santa Fe's Chief Mechanical Officer (think SPSF
> merger). Santa Fe used that type of light at the
> time. The stated reason was cost; however, over
> time the beacons became just as expensive to
> maintain as the signal lights due to the cost of
> replacing burnt-out bulbs, plus concerns about
> injury payments since it required climbing on the
> cab roof.
>
> The first new units delivered with them were the
> GP60s and B39-8s, althought many existing units
> had already been converted by then.
>
> As an aside, SP tested Prime beacons on
> approximately a dozen units starting in 1971/1972.
> Units 1808, 2407, 4004 and 9150, come to mind
> offhand.


There was a local Oregon law that in some towns,I think Salem, that beacons were required on locomotives. Pictures of S-12s and SW1500s with beacons