Headlights on modern locomotives

[Crun]

Can anyone please tell me if 'headlights' on modern locomotives light the way as well as car headlights do at night?

 

[Deltic1]

They do to a small degree, but they're more meant as a warning to anyone near or on the line that a train is approaching.

 

[D365]

They do to a small degree, but they're more meant as a warning to anyone near or on the line that a train is approaching.

Indeed. ”Full beam” headlights are only used during the daytime, not at night.

 

[TRAX]

Newer European trains now tend to have full beams much brighter than that on cars.
France usually runs trains with full beams at night, for extra visibility, and I believe this is common in other European countries as well.

 

[ac6000cw]

American trains have very bright headlights too - normally a double-lamp high-level headlight plus a pair of low-level 'ditch' lights (one on each side) of the same intensity, so you have a triangle of lights.

Quoting from the Federal rules for them:

When illuminated, the headlight shall produce a peak intensity of at least 200,000 candela and produce at least 3,000 candela at an angle of 7.5 degrees and at least 400 candela at an angle of 20 degrees from the centerline of the locomotive when the light is aimed parallel to the tracks.

Each headlight shall be aimed to illuminate a person at least 800 feet ahead and in front of the headlight.

The following operative lamps meet the standard set forth in this paragraph: a single incandescent PAR-56, 200-watt, 30-volt lamp; a single halogen PAR-56, 200-watt, 30-volt lamp; a single halogen PAR-56, 350-watt, 75-volt lamp, or a single lamp meeting the intensity requirements given above.

As it's normal for the high-level headlight to be a double unit, that adds up to between 800 to 1400 watts of PAR-56 sealed-beam spotlights on the front - this is almost searingly bright, and on straight track illuminates a fair way ahead.