VISIONLINE Niagara: headlight styles & road number

I am not sure but I was under the impression that only the first Niagara had single headlight and it was changed later to the double ?

Good question. I think the only way to know for sure is to find a picture of 6013. The New York Central Historical Society may be able to help.

The headlight seems to have been replaced with a round one similar to what Lionel used on their J3as so you could swap out headlights if you wanted. The number boards are removable.

That said I would think all of the S1bs would have been built with the same dual headlight. There are pics of some taken in 1956 that show some still had the dual headlight so not all were swapped out. 

BTW I just saw a copy of the latest LCCA newsletter and the Front Cover illustration is of 6019 (LCCA version) with New York Central on the tender (not LCCA) and single round headlight.

Pete

Gregcz1 posted:

Also, I am curious why the headlight style was changed during the Niagara's life-span.

Greg

Greg, beginning in 1949*, twin sealed-beam headlights became optional on new locomotives, replacing the headlight bulb and glass mirror reflector with a pair of par lamps.  The sealed beam twins produced more candlepower, and were easier to maintain.

Besides New York Central, Baltimore and Ohio applied sealed beam headlights to a number of steam engines, and Santa Fe tried it on a small number of 2-10-4's and 4-8-4's.  Southern Pacific retrofitted the Daylight 4-8-4's that had a Mars light with sealed-beam headlights and Mars lights.

*  I have not been able to determine if any were produced prior to 1949.

Number 90 posted:

Gregcz1 posted:

Also, I am curious why the headlight style was changed during the Niagara's life-span.

Greg

Greg, beginning in 1949*, twin sealed-beam headlights became optional on new locomotives, replacing the headlight bulb and glass mirror reflector with a pair of par lamps.  The sealed beam twins produced more candlepower, and were easier to maintain.  Pyle National was first to market the twin sealed beam housings, and Mars followed soon thereafter.

Besides New York Central, Baltimore and Ohio applied sealed beam headlights to a number of steam engines, and Santa Fe tried it on a small number of 2-10-4's and 4-8-4's.  Southern Pacific retrofitted the Daylight 4-8-4's that had a Mars light with sealed-beam headlights and Mars lights.  Nickel Plate extensively retrofitted Berkshires and possibly other steam engines with sealed beams.  Otherwise, just about every steam locomotive arrived at the scrap yard with unmodified bulb-and-mirror headlights intact.

*  I have not been able to determine if any were produced prior to 1949.

"I am not sure but I was under the impression that only the first Niagara had single headlight and it was changed later to the double ?"

They all were built with the "single" headlight; the twin sealed-beam improvement was done later; not sure when.

The twin-beam was an esthetic improvement, too, to me. It looked modern, like the Niagara itself.

One NYC Hudson had a twin-beam headlight, at least for a while. 5414, I think.

The sealed-beam headlight was the same as used on automobiles at the time, so far as I know, and was still the automotive standard until around 1990, when halogen and the like began to predominate. My 1984 Dodge Daytona coupe had rectangular sealed beams; my 1992 Daytona had halogen.