Golden Glow?

[Fred W. Schneider III]

I have no knowledge of whether or not the headlights on the PCCs were Golden
Glo units.  I remember lights on the P&W Bullet cars, called Golden Glow
headlights, that emitted a strong golden beam.

I thought that all the original PCC lights were built by Keystone Electric
Supply Company.  They may have been out of business early in the 1950s.  The
one on Baltimore 7407 is, to the best of my knowledge, a low voltage bulb fed
through a dropping resistor under the dash (it gets quite warm) off 600 volts.
I suspect that the replacements might have all been battery powered, 32 volt
sealed beam bulbs.  Why?  Probably for better lighting.  Probably also because
some replacement was needed after accidents.  If Keystone was still in
business, perhaps the sealed beam conversions were cheaper.  They certainly
were not esthetically pleasing, but esthetics don't put dinner on the table.

Frederick J Sauerburger MD wrote:

> Ken J. wrote:
>
> >To get back on subject, why did most Pittsburgh PCCs, including the newest
> cars
> >lose their Golden-Glo headlights so early in their careers? I have noticed
> most
> >Toronto cars lost theirs by the 1960's. Quite a few El Paso and LA PCCs
> appear
> >to have retained theirs until the end of operations.
> >
> >Also, what voltage did the PCC car's headlights use? Ken J.
>
> For those of us still in the 3rd grade, (but still eager to learn), what is
> a golden-glow headlight??
>
> The Grateful Fred