Re: Headlight Reproductions

Bill,
I agree, those engines look dreadful without headlights.
I think they could be replicated fairly well. I'd start with a piece of 12" dia. PVC pipe of the correct length and two pieces of 1/4" thick Plexiglass, also 12" dia. Glue one piece of Plexiglass to one end of the pipe. With some sheet metal, cut a shield and screw it on to the open end of the pipe. With some more sheet metal, cut out a pattern for the numberboards and fold them into the correct shape. Attach them to the sides of the pipe, also with screws. Spray paint the whole thing black.
Create two numberboards out of rectangles of Plexiglass, painting the numbers on the backside and screw them to the sheetmetal numberboards (I just made two such Plexiglass numberboards for D&RGW #268).
Attach the other Plexiglass disc to the front. Oughtta look pretty good from more than 5-10 feet away.
A decent reflector could probably be fabricated from a sheet metal disc, shaped into a cone and painted with chrome paint.
Regards,
Matt Hutson
Crested Butte, CO
PS - I'd be happy to build one.....