About Mars Light - Trains Magazine

The Mars light (so named after the company which manufactured it, the Mars Signal Light Company of Chicago) was in its time -- and still is -- an absolute attention-getter. Much more so than a standard locomotive headlamp. It was created in the 1930s as a warning device for fire apparatus -- its inventor was a Chicago fireman who began by attaching a windshield wiper motor to a spotlight so he didn't have to manually sweep the road while trying to drive.

It was quickly adapted for use in the railroad industry.

Above is an animation of a Pyle GyraLight.

"The Light From Mars" as the manufacturer's plate said pierced the night sky with a narrow finger of brilliance, its dramatic side-to-side figure-8 sweeping motion illuminating areas 100 yards to either side of the tracks. When attacted to the front of a speeding train or vehicle, it was hard to ignore or mistake for something else, and thus the secret to its success.

Mars' "TB8 Traffic Buster" had a tremendous popularity on emergency vehicles in the days before the light bar made its debut. We had these lights (clear lenses, like locomotives) on the noses of our fire engines, and the view from the driver's seat at night was better because not only did the sweeping "888" better alert traffic we were coming, but it also gave us a better (wider) view of what was on each side of the road ahead. The FD version moved back-and forth (L to R) while gyrating in a figure 8 -- top to bottom, just as you see the number here. It was nicknamed "888" because during each sweep from right to left (and back) it made three distinct figure-8 motions. They were available in 60,000 and 100,000 CP versions. I can't speak to the CP of the ones used by locomotives.

The vehicle versions characteristically had a sealed-beam lamp that fit into a movable housing pivoted by a motor. On locomotives, however, most were of a design using a bulb and parabolic reflector -- and a motor oscillated the reflector behind the bulb, which was screwed into a fixed recepticle. In other words, the relector moved, but the lamp didn't.

Mars was dissolved in the 1990s, but another company is still producing the light for emergency vehicles.

They were really cool, and I have a working 888 (12v) salvaged from a retired pumper.

PZ