>>1266851Until recently ( railroad wise - so mid XX century ), there really were not lights which were both compact enough and powerful enough to illuminate the road before the train - so lights in front of the locomotives are mostly for signalling to the world where the train is. After all, a train might need a kilometer or so to stop. So seeing an obstacle early was of little use.
In the UK they just felt that those tiny lights are adequate. I gather that their safety record is similar to those of other contemporary railroads, so I guess they were right.
