Gyralights
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These gyralights
were manufactured by Pyle National Company.
They are now manufactured and supported by Trans-Lite, Inc. located in
Milford, Connecticut. Gyralights are
becoming rare because of their high maintenance costs as compared to simple
flashing warning lights which contain no moving parts. The outer casings
are made from light weight element resistant cast aluminum. Internal parts are generally steel. The knob securing the hinged front is made
from brass. The top gyralight
is a model 17550. The bottom
gyralight is a model 20585. These
particular units are designed for back mounting as shown on the GP9 below. More common units have flanges which
enable the gyralights to be recess mounted into the front of the engine. When mounted over a cab, these lights
usually have visors installed underneath the lights to prevent light from
reflecting off of the hood into the engineer’s eyes. Both gyralights
sweep in an oval pattern. Lights
generating figure eight patterns where manufactured by Mars Signal Light
Company. These lights require two
moving arm connections to the platform holding the bulbs versus the single
moving connection required for the gyralights. The white lights
were used in normal operation to warn pedestrians and others that a train was
coming. These lights were also useful
at night as it enabled the engineer to better see the track surroundings due
to the sweeping nature of the lights.
The red light was for emergency use.
Each of these
gyralights take standard PAR56 railroad bulbs with screw terminals. I learned from a light distributor that
PAR stands for parabolic reflector and 56 indicates the diameter of the bulb
in 1/8 inch increments. These 7 inch
bulbs are standard in the railroad industry and still readily available due
to their continued use in headlights.
The bulbs are rated at 200 watts at 30 volts drawing a rather hefty
6-7 amps each. Locomotive Gyrating Warning Lights -
the
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