I have always had some interest in railroads, and trains since I was a boy.  Back then I had an American Flyer Electric Train set.   When I was in College, I worked part time at the Magic Mountain Amusment Park in California.  I operated a scaled down live steam train.  Since then, my interest in railroads and its important history in building our country has grown.

What is a Mars light?  Sometimes called the light from Mars,  is a gyrating  light that makes a figure 8 pattern.  These lights were in use on the front of  every train locomotives up until a few years ago. The light was invented in the 30's by a retired fireman in Chicago.  He wanted to develop a light that would go in the front of a fire truck.  With the help of a friend down the street, who worked as a machinist at the MARS CANDY COMPANY, he developed this light.  The Mars Candy Company got involved, and started making this light, and other types of railroad lighting and signal equipment. To get the full history on these lights, go to...http://www.trainweb.org/gyra
    My MARS LIGHT pictured below, came off of a 1930's steam engine that belonged to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.  It has a patent date of 1936.  The light is a model # SB-WR-2-200 with serial #1370.  It has been restored with it's original RED & WHITE lens configuration.  In later years, both lenses were changed to white.  It still smells of fuel oil.
    This unit was built to attach on the front of the engine.  The lamps, and motor operate at the steam engine standard of 32volts.  When diesel locomotives were built, the light was built into the body of the engine.  Diesel locomotives use a voltage of 72 volts.

To see pictures of how my light looked on train engines, and a little history of my MARS LIGHT,
go to this site....  http://www.trainweb.org/gyra/photo/sbwr2200.htm
 
 
 

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