On the Santa Fe Los Angeles Division, we used to get a weekly coal train which originated at Sunnyside, Utah, was interchanged to the UP by the D&RGW, and then, at Barstow, by UP to ATSF for delivery to Kaiser. The locomotives ran through, and the normal consist was one D&RGW SD45 leading three UP SD45's. The Rio Grande engines had nose-mounted, twin sealed beam, white, figure-8 Mars lights, and, whenever I caught the UP coal train, I always used the Mars light, as it actually seemed to cause some motorists who might have been thinking of running the flasher signals or wigwags at crossings, to stop.
I also enjoyed watching a diesel with a Mars light from trackside. The figure-8 pattern was more impressive than the circular pattern of a Pyle Gyralite.
