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[Gone] H4 Subway Car Lighting
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Here's a shot of some strip fluorescent lighting on a old early-mid 70s Hawker Siddeley "H4" subway car. The lights use F72T12/CW Philips Alto slimlines powered off 525V 400Hz from an MA set, I believe. This is so they could run off the 600V DC traction power fed in to the train from the 3rd rail since fluorescent lamps need AC to run and this was before the advent of solid state inverter ballasts.
Most of our newer subway cars still have a similar lighting arrangement but have an double (cab end has triple, with the middle lamp separately switched) F40T12 recessed fixture at the ends of the car because of the lowered ceiling used to house the air conditioner. Also I believe the newer cars have a different electrical system for the lights (H5s had inverter ballasts, H6s had 120v 60Hz ballasts fed off a MA set, and I believe T-1s also have inverter ballasts). Some of the T1s have since had their F72T12 and F40T12 tubes replaced with LED tubes which are noticeably dimmer than the fluorescents.
The newest "Toronto Rocket" uses F32T8s in separate lighting fixtures that don't backlight the ads and currently use 4100K Philips Altos.
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Boarding this train was like going back to the 70s complete with orange seats and fake wood paneling.
Now that you mention it, I do remember the Hawkers having faster lights than the T1s. The chimes also sound different too as the Hawkers had electronic chimes while the T1s have air chimes.
The TR went back to the electronic chime (although I don't like how they blast it over the PA as only one TR train has outside speakers) though. I'm guessing the T1's air chimes were too maintenance heavy since they tend to go out of tune after a while.