Upturned Head light

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

Can anyone confirm for me that the upturned headlight on the front of this Baby GM was so that the British Army Helicopters could see the freight trains at night time crossing the border

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ttc0169]

That is correct Anthony,thats what I was told by a former loco driver who operated cross border trains during the 1970s/1980s.btw-Nice photo of Limerick depot.

Edited June 21, 2012 by ttc0169

[heirflick]

interesting to note that this only applied to irish trains going north and not to NIR trains heading south.....or am i open to correction?

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

interesting to note that this only applied to irish trains going north and not to NIR trains heading south.....or am i open to correction?

 

I think it only applied to the night time freight trains which were mostly operated by CIE/IR at the time on that line. I don't remember ever seeing NIR locos hauling freight trains across the border but that's not to say they didn't. Mostly the NIR locos operated the Enterprise.

[ttc0169]

interesting to note that this only applied to irish trains going north and not to NIR trains heading south.....or am i open to correction?

 

Correct Herflick-that was because it was CIE locos that operated all virtually all cross border freights at that time-the Hunslets were working Enterprise trains and later the GM 111s took over that duty-It was all either 001,B201 or 141/181 that operated freight trains with B201,004,008,046 coming off the worst and 146 being rebuilt after bomb damage.

[heirflick]

poor old B201...a horrible end-

 

 

[Mayner]

I have a sneaking suspicion that the idea of the upturned headlight was also intended to assist in locating the Asahi Liner in case of emergency. Not sure what the crew were supposed to do if anything went wrong without telephone or eadio communication on a remote section of the Ballina Branch.

 

John

[Weshty]

Is that an old six-wheel coach acting as departmental stock in the left hand side of the picture? If so, was it one of the ones that ended up in Mallow in the early 80's?

[ttc0169]

I have a sneaking suspicion that the idea of the upturned headlight was also intended to assist in locating the Asahi Liner in case of emergency. Not sure what the crew were supposed to do if anything went wrong without telephone or eadio communication on a remote section of the Ballina Branch.

 

John

 

There was an emergency telephone located in the old goods/Perway store at Foxford station in the event of an emergency with the Asahi liner and also there was special arrangements in place if the liner was overdue by 10 mins in a section,

It would have been quicker to get to the location of a failed Asahi liner by road than it would by helicopter particularly during the hours of darkness down the west,

There was also a telephone located at the 129 mpost near Bekan station between Ballyhaunis and Claremorris for that purpose also,

That telephone was used and was connected to the ETS signalling system and was decommissioned when the mini CTC was introduced-the yellow box is still there today on the up side of the line.

[waffles]

poor old B201...a horrible end-

 

 

 

to think that was normal everyday life and it was not that long ago

[The Asahi]

For the hard core A class modellers, the below link shows a rare pic of an A class (002) supporting the upturned headlight. There is another pic of 002 out there in circulation with the headlight. Maybe a once off for the A class but puts to bed the view that no A classes carried the up turned headlight.

 

[Southern Yard]

That's a rare photo alright, I never saw an A class with one before

[heirflick]

 

this one is a cracker! great site and a great find:tumbsup:

[Glenderg]

 

this one is a cracker! great site and a great find:tumbsup:

 

yeah, some stunning photos, thanks for sharing.

[The Asahi]

The same collection also shows 058 supporting the upturned headlight.