Did the Reading F units (either GM or Alco) have backup lights on the rear of the units? They could easily be modeled with surface mount leds, but were they used and where were they mounted?

Ah, yes. I had asked this very question regarding F-3 units on the old Reading Modeler. Butch Curll very helpfully noted that one of the books featuring the photographs of Bruce and Arch Kantner shows the rear of an F-3AF-3. I bought both ("Colorful Memories of Reading's Shamokin Division" and "Anthracite Country Color")

"Colorful Memories of Reading's Shamokin Division" shows a backup light on the rear of F-3 No. 262B on page 12. Page 33 shows a backup light on the rear of FT No. 250B.

"Anthracite Country Color" shows a backup light on the rear of FT No. 259B on page 44.

"Reading Railroad Action" Vol. 1, page 45, shows a backup light on F-7 No. 207B270B.

I'm not sure about the ends of the A units.

Riggelweg,
Thank you for the information. I have both "Colorful Memories..." and "Anthracite County Color" but I have not looked at them for a while. Will check the references out.
I am not familiar with "Reading Railroad Action". Can you give me any more information on it -- source, author, availability etc, not only for the picture on page 45, but for Reading information in general. Thanks again for the response.

Bill

Bill,

"Reading Railroad Action" vol. 1 is by Benjamin Bernhart. It features the photography of Charles Yrigoyen around the Outer Station from 1952-1954. There are a lot of interesting photographs of the facility and its track work, locomotives, passenger and freight equipment, and MOW equipment. It's a nice book. Most photographs are in black and white; several are in color. The volume has a green cover, so as not to be confused with vol. 2 (yellow cover featuring the photography of Charles Yrigoyen in Reading and beyond) and vol. 3 (black cover featuring the photography of F.W. Trittenback).

I bought it at the gift shop at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum a few weeks ago. I think there was another copy. You could try calling. Other than that, you'll have to keep an eye out on eBay.

Peter

I've been working on and off on some EMD F-units, and here's my best guess based on paging through many books and magazines.

FT--I don't think there were any backup lights on the A-units, but, on the B-units, there may have been two, one on each side and quite close to the rear door frame. I never actually saw a square-on picture verifying this, but I have seen an angled shot of the rear with the light to the left of the door and another with the light to the right.

F3--I haven't seen a picture with a backup light showing on the A-unit, but all the Bs seemed to have a single light to the left of the rear door.

F7--I think both the A and B units had a single light to the left of the rear door.

FP7--Again, there's a single light to the left of the rear door.

I also have some FAs to build and guess I'll have to research those as well.--Dave

Dave and Others,

Based on your information, I have put a back-up light on my Stewart F3 "B" unit to the left of the door, using a surface mount led. I also added 2 red marker lights, again using surface mount leds. The "A" unit has a Soundtraxx sound decoder and operates the headlight. The "B" unit has no sound, but has a NCE decoder and the backup light is operated on F(0) and the rear markers on F(1). That way the markers can be turned off when the units are pulling a train. At this point, the markers are a little too bright, so I need to add more resistance in the circuit. If there is any interest. I will try to post some pictures.

Bill