My Prime 8901 and 8911 beacon lights

[ITM83A]

Here are my two Prime flasher beacons, both hail from the roof of a Burlington Northern locomotive. The early model 8901 has a taller sand cast alum base, solid state analog circuitry that will only run on 74vdc power and the light will go off if a single light fails(like old xmas lights). The later model 8911 and 8913 have digital circuitry and will run on 12vdc if you swap out the sealed beam lamps for 12vt tractor flood lamp bulbs. It also has a spun alum base with a lower overall height. These were my first locomotive artifacts I got many years ago, the 8911 I personally removed from the ex BN GP7u #1410 before we repainted it at the shortline I volunteered at in the shops. I got to keep the light in appreciation for all the help around the shop(cleaning, fetching tools, washing engines and cleaning out the cab ect). The older 8901 I got after writing a letter(pre internet era!) to the BN Alliance NB shops. A few weeks later I two huge boxes on my parents porch when I got home from school(was a senior in HS then), one box had the beacon, the other had 2 brand new amber domes and a spare dome clamp ring with specks of BN cascade green on it. The Foreman wrote that the beacon came off a U33c headed to scrap but didnt say what road number. It has 4 new 74vt bulbs but they are the wrong type(spot beam instead of flood beam), the spot beam is for the rotating gumball lights BN used in the early days. Enjoy!

[12bridge]

Nice! I love Stratolites, they seem so 1980's tech to me. I found one at a train show a few years ago and could not buy it quick enough. For as many were built, its amazing how few are actually in collectors hands.

I converted my 8911 to 12V bulbs also, although I have heard its not good for them, cant recall exactly which component did not like the lower voltage?

[ITM83A]

I have run mine on 12vt for years without any problems. I know the base gets quite warm as its the heat sink for the SCR transfomers that take the load of the lamps. I am wondering if LED floods you can get now that are the size as the old PAR36 sealed beams would help ease the load on the SCR's? This is why you dont see 88 watt sealed beams in this size for 12vt, the amp draw would be horrible. And yes, I think most of the thousands of these ended up in the dumpster when the BN, ATSF and SP yanked them off the locomotives. Only Metra and the odd shortine engines still sport these lights. The sealed beam lamps are getting very hard to find for them to keep them in service on a locomotive. Mike