Re: Purpose of various steam locomotive parts

Also, there is no voltage regulation in the electronic sense on any steam locomotives that I've seen. In other words, if the lights are dim, open the steam valve to the turbo up a little more. That probably also means doing something silly you could send too much voltage too them and blow the bulbs right out.
Pre ca. 1914 model Ts had a similar arrangement, Henry wanted to run electric headlights, but didn't want to pay to put in a battery electric system. So what they ended up doing was running the headlights off the low tension magneto for the ignition system. The thing I just mentionted was the only thing that kept it from being a great innovation (ha) at high speeds you'd blow the headlight bulbs out.
Regards,
Trevor H.