Ditch lights came into being in British Columbia around 1957. Train crews were distressed over the likely encounter with rock and mud slides along the Skeena Sub of the CNR. Actually, most subs between Prince Rupert and Prince George, and from Prince George down the Fraser River.

They were crude but effect; bolted to the handrail of the front end of road units, and to a fabricated bar bolted to the nose of cab units.

Pacific Great Eastern installed ditch lights, for obvious safety reasons, to the roof line of their RDC units, but oddly, I don't recall ditch lights on freighters. But then, I was only 15 or 16 at that time.

CPR did not use ditch lights during than era. But then they ran in suicide mode anyway, running short nose forward, including their side of the Fraser River. The crew would be among the first to know - as they were arriving at the rock slide AHEAD of the rest of the locomotive!

I wrote several Blog articles, including this one: [www.oil-electric.com] Plug in "ditch lights" on my search engine for various permutations of this information.