[PRCo] Re: voltage and frequency

[robert netzlof]

--- Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:

> I don't remember that the lights on Pennsy MP54 or the old Reading 
> 
> green MU cars were very annoying ... they were probably all across
> 25  
> hz.

Weren't a lot of passenger car lights run on 32 volt DC?

One way to avoid flicker would be to use low voltage bulbs drawing
more current. For example, a 32 volt 100 watt bulb would draw about 3
amps. The thicker filament would have greater mass and thus would not
heat and cool as fast as would a 115 V 100 watt bulb. Also it would
be less fragile and hence better able to stand up to the jolts and
rattles of railroad service.

I was told by the father of one of my friends that in the 1930's he
drove to Buffalo, arriving in the late evening. He was startled to
see "the whole town flickering in unison".

I've also been told that some folks in the Niagara Falls area would
buy special lamps which had a step-down transformer in the base,
driving a low voltage bulb. The object was to reduce flicker.

Bob Netzlof

Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob



       
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