Lamps!

[The Johnster]

Have just spent an hour drilling holes in the bottoms of the Springside lamps, 20x head and 4x tail.  The small vice is essential for this job, as I cannot imagine how one might hold the lamps in position, upside down, to file the moulding pip off where you break the lamp off the sprue and to drill the hole.  I did it freehand, and had no trouble, but it is important to take your time with drills this fine; I let the drill bit feed into the metal using no more than the weight of the drill to gently push it in.  24 lamps at a session was about enough, though; maybe I could have done them a bit easier if the weather had not been so hot and stuffy!

 

There will be an intensive operating session over the weekend to fault find.  The lamps seem to be a loose-ish fit on the staple brackets, and may move around while the trains are moving, in which case I will have to fill the holes with milliput to keep them orientated correctly.  

[The Johnster]

Seems fine so far!  The drilled Springsides fit easily over the staples, but do not seem to revolve or bounce off in running on my very hard and unforgiving, track glued direct to baseboard to amplify the noise, baseboar; my track laying is not bad, but my 4mm loco crews will affirm that there are some bouncy, lurchy bits that induce the sounds of wheels grinding and muttered curses from the footplate in my imagination..  i suspect I have got away with this accidentally because the inside bore surface of the holes I drillied must be pretty rough, and the slightly oblong rather than square 'pegs' in the holes are holding them adequately, while allowing them to be placed and removed easily.  They are probably not so firmly held that they will not drop off if a vehicle is held upside down, though; the Modelus have the edge here!

 

But they are very white and shiny, and all but a few will be toned down a bit next time the weathering mix is out!  Is this it, the end of the saga, and the beginning of a trouble free existence of lamp placing and removal for correct working at Cwmdimbath? Possibly, though I'm sure I will still have to replace a few every so often as the carpet monster takes it's toll.  If so, the topic becomes a bit moribund; thank you all for your input, fellas.  And if I have helped anyone or encouraged them to have a go, so much the better!!!!

[31A]

I've never had any bouncing off yet (although they do bounce off my tweezers into oblivion with alarming regularity!) but have found that the ones which are on loco buffer beams in particular can pirouette on the tops of the lamp irons rather than remaining facing forward as you placed them.  The answer (if you can bear to do it) seems to be to make the hole in the lamp slightly deeper than the length of the lamp iron, so that the lamp sits on the actual buffer beam.  I try and make lamp irons 2.5mm tall; must be a measurement I picked up from somewhere but I'm not sure where!  You can (just) drill out the Springside lamps to slightly deeper than that.

[tomparryharry]

Seems fine so far!  The drilled Springsides fit easily over the staples, but do not seem to revolve or bounce off in running on my very hard and unforgiving, track glued direct to baseboard to amplify the noise, baseboar; my track laying is not bad, but my 4mm loco crews will affirm that there are some bouncy, lurchy bits that induce the sounds of wheels grinding and muttered curses from the footplate in my imagination..  i suspect I have got away with this accidentally because the inside bore surface of the holes I drillied must be pretty rough, and the slightly oblong rather than square 'pegs' in the holes are holding them adequately, while allowing them to be placed and removed easily.  They are probably not so firmly held that they will not drop off if a vehicle is held upside down, though; the Modelus have the edge here!

 

But they are very white and shiny, and all but a few will be toned down a bit next time the weathering mix is out!  Is this it, the end of the saga, and the beginning of a trouble free existence of lamp placing and removal for correct working at Cwmdimbath? Possibly, though I'm sure I will still have to replace a few every so often as the carpet monster takes it's toll.  If so, the topic becomes a bit moribund; thank you all for your input, fellas.  And if I have helped anyone or encouraged them to have a go, so much the better!!!!

 

Try drilling a square hole. It won't bounce about so much!

 

Sorry now, back to my hole....

[The Johnster]

Square hole; of course, it's obvious now you've said it!  If I do have any pirouetting I will be stuffing a bit of Milliput up the hole to steady things up, and lubing the bracket, but so far it does not seem to be necessary.  Speeds on Cwmdimbath are generally low and operation pretty smooth, which I am sure helps.

Edited July 1, 2018 by The Johnster

[31A]

Having read earlier in this thread about illuminated tweezers, I set out to try and find some in shops locally, but gave up the search after it only resulted in embarrassing staring at make up counters etc. but no tweezers.  So I went on Amazon and found these:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01EJNWH04/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

at £3.69 for two, a bargain!  Given the speedy delivery we're used to with internet shopping I was surprised on placing the order on 12th June to receive an estimated delivery date of 9th July, and even more disappointed when they didn't appear. In fact I'd given up expecting to see them but this morning they arrived in a package bearing an official-looking label relating to the  Malaysian Customs Authorities!

 

Anyway, here they are next to the old pair of tweezers I usually use for changing lamps:

 

 

They seem to be of decent quality, of all metal construction.  As you can see, the 'legs' of the tweezers are quite a lot shorter than the ones I usually use, so more force is needed to squeeze them together but it's probably just a case of getting used to them.  I may try re-profiling the slanted ends to be more like the shape of the conventional ones that I'm used to.  The 'tweezers' part is held to the 'torch' part by the same screw cap that gives access to the batteries, so it might be possible to use the torch of one of them for a different purpose; for example I might try turning one of then into an illuminated uncoupling 'paddle'.

[The Johnster]

Those look identical to the ones I got at Poundworld; you'll be pleased to hear that the batteries supplied are still going strong and the tweezers are tweezing to the required standard; I have no complaints and am thus complaint compliant...

[31A]

Those look identical to the ones I got at Poundworld; you'll be pleased to hear that the batteries supplied are still going strong and the tweezers are tweezing to the required standard; I have no complaints and am thus complaint compliant...

 

Thanks Johnster, I did have a look in the local Poundworld and the other one (Poundland?) as well as various girly shops to no avail but thought £3.69 was a small price to pay to get two of them shipped half way round the world to me personally whilst at the same time saving me further embarrassment!!  Isn't modern life wonderful.

 

I was wondering about battery life, so your experience is good to know ...

[The Johnster]

Batteries just died in one of tweezerlampholders; well pleased with the performance.  They are not bad as just tweezers, mind.  

 

We have settled into a fairly smooth routine with the lamps on Cwmdimbath, but there is still a bit of attrition and they are in something of the nature of a comestible.  I am about to order another batch from Modelu; the issue is the very fragile handles which break if you look at them a bit severely.  As I've said, I feel a bit unjustified in complaining about this; they are otherwise excellent models and are probably not really designed for the sort of extensive and repetitive handling I give them.  The breakage rate, with more careful handling and the tweezers, is better than it used to was, though.

 

I am going to experiment with coating a handle in superglue to toughen it up a bit, but it may just make it more brittle.  An alternative is to try to replace the broken handles with wire, and I will have a go at this as well, but this sort of work is at the extremity of what I am capable of nowadays!

 

I am, for the moment, up to date in lamp irons; all stock that should have them has them, though some will only see very infrequent use as tail traffic on passenger trains.  The timetable turnaround times of mid morning and mid afternoon slack period train have been extended to allow for this.

[The Johnster]

Over on another thread, 9793's wonderful Cwm Prysor, there is a reference (post 717) to a book, 'Welsh Railways, A Photographer's View' by Alan Jarvis, the cover of which features, as well as a colour shot of the Maerdy Monster, a shot of a 56xx on a coal train.  The loco is running bunker first and the location looks very much like Walnut Tree from the viaduct looking downwards, with the train on the Down Goods.  You wouldn't have had to wait long in this position back in the day for just such a train as this to show up; the shadows suggest it is lunchtime in high summer, the season being confirmed by the undergrowth, but by tea time trains would be backed up on the permisssive block as far as Maesmawr and take several hours to all clear into Radyr yard.

 

Now, usually a good photograph (and this is a very good one) answers questions, but this one has brought one up.  The train's single head lamp is positioned on the central bracket at the bunker end, in the position I would have expected the target disc to be, but this is on the left hand front bracket facing 'backwards' in the direction of travel, so really only readable to anyone on that side of the loco.  My coal trains and empties run as BR post Jan 1954 class K, single lamp on the left hand buffer beam bracket, but clearly if I am doing this wrong, I need to know!  

 

The date could be any time between 1942 and 1965, with the loco in plain black, and, while dirty as a working engine should be, is not completely disreputable; but the totem is not distinguishable.  I would suggest that it is not a GW or early BR livery, though!

 

I suspect Mike Stationmaster will be able to provide chapter and verse on this, and probably others as well; I'll be most grateful for your input!

Edited December 6, 2018 by The Johnster

[G-BOAF]

I've used Springside lamps for a few years, and like the sparkle in the lense.

However today a friend was remarking that they looked a bit on the 'large' side when put in the storage position on the GW Castle (only with blu-tak).

Are they a little overscale?

Are there any other lamps available that I can consider for my next order?

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by G-BOAF

[The Johnster]

IMHO the best alternative to Springsides are Modelu, plastic 3D printed with self adhesive clear plastic lenses on foil backing.  These are printed with oblong recesses in the base to be used with lamp irons.  There are also lamps available from Lanarkshire Models, which I've never used as they are not suitable for WR use, but the photos look very realistic indeed.  

 

A drawback of Modelu is that the lamps are a bit delicate for frequent handling, though fine with a bit of care.  The handles are very fragile, but you should be ok if you pick the lamps up by the body.  Fixing the lenses is a fairly intensely precise task, and about as fiddly as I can manage in my dotage, but I can do it, and if a hamfisted bodger like me can do it...

 

I suspect all these mentioned are slightly overscale, but it really doesn't show in practice. and makes handling that much easier; an acceptable compromise to my view, and certainly less objectionable than a scale 4'1" gauge track.

 

Bachmann also make head and tail lamps which I believe are magnetised to fix to their lamp brackets.  These are probably the easiest to handle but least detailed and are a bit simplified in shape. 

[G-BOAF]

On 22/07/2020 at 02:44, The Johnster said:

IMHO the best alternative to Springsides are Modelu, plastic 3D printed with self adhesive clear plastic lenses on foil backing.  These are printed with oblong recesses in the base to be used with lamp irons.  There are also lamps available from Lanarkshire Models, which I've never used as they are not suitable for WR use, but the photos look very realistic indeed.  

 

A drawback of Modelu is that the lamps are a bit delicate for frequent handling, though fine with a bit of care.  The handles are very fragile, but you should be ok if you pick the lamps up by the body.  Fixing the lenses is a fairly intensely precise task, and about as fiddly as I can manage in my dotage, but I can do it, and if a hamfisted bodger like me can do it...

 

I suspect all these mentioned are slightly overscale, but it really doesn't show in practice. and makes handling that much easier; an acceptable compromise to my view, and certainly less objectionable than a scale 4'1" gauge track.

 

Bachmann also make head and tail lamps which I believe are magnetised to fix to their lamp brackets.  These are probably the easiest to handle but least detailed and are a bit simplified in shape. 

Thanks,  I may give Modelu a try. They look brillient, especially ability to be fitted to lamp iron.

Sadly no BR standard lamps (I presume there were such things...?)

[The Johnster]

3 hours ago, G-BOAF said:

Thanks,  I may give Modelu a try. They look brillient, especially ability to be fitted to lamp iron.

Sadly no BR standard lamps (I presume there were such things...?)

Certainly were such things, introduced during the 50s I think as the older lamps wore out.  The BR standard tail lamps had a handle shaped so that the lamp could be used on a vehicle without a lamp bracket if required (such as a trip job without a brake van authorised over a short distance by local Sectional Appendix.  This is a narrow profile on the top part of the handle which fits over the drawhook of the wagon to stop the lamp swinging about and damaging itself.  IIRC Springside do these.

 

GW type loco lamps remained in existence for some time as the GW lamp irons remained in use on the WR well into the 70s, being fitted to diesel locos and dmus.  Loco head lamps had gone out of general use by this time replaced by marker lights or headcode panel lights, but locos retained brackets to carry tail lamps when being hauled dead.  Dmus and emus (except on Southern Region) still carried oil tail lamps, though dmus had red shades that were meant to fit over the trailing marker lamps; these were carried in boxes with slots for them fixed to the wall of the driver's desk.  This was because the marker lamps were on the same circuit and could not be illuminated independently of each other, and the trains were required to show a single tail lamp and no other.  A common error on exhibition layouts with green or early blue liveried multiple unit trains is 2 red led marker tail lamps lit, and another is trains being hauled by locos of all liveries with 2 red tail lamps let; the lamps should be extinguished when the loco is hauling a train.

 

I am not sure when the use of double electric tail lamps was first permitted, but I think it was in the very late 70s or early 80s; prior to that one oil lamps on multiple units and one red marker tail lamp on light engines was the rule.  It may have been part of the introduction of high intensity headlamps, which are to identify a an approaching light as that of a train to those who are working on the track rather than showing the driver where he is going...

 

If you are going to remove and replace your lamps during operation, Modelus will fit on etched brass scale lamp irons but not on some RTR ones; certainly not Bachmann's.  I compromise and replace lamp irons (or provide them on older tooled stock where only a representative moulding is provided) with my standard lamp iron, which is a cut to sizes Rexel no.13 staple.  Modelu lamps will sit firmly and happily on these whereas use on Bachmann irons will split the lamp body, and Springsides can be drilled underneath 0.5mm, the hole then filled with Milliput and the lamps placed on a Rexel to shape it, withdrawn, and left to set to the correct profile.  Scale appearance is compromised but an effective lamping system results which looks acceptable with black painted staples.  

 

You will need a stock of lamps for each loco and a tail lamp for each train in your timetable.  Depending on period 2 or 3 head lamps, or 4 if you intend to run Royal Trains but one has a crown on it, centre buffer beam iron. and a tail lamp to run light engine.  Pilots within station limits (between outermost home signal and most advanced starter plus limit of shunt) carry a white and a red lamp at both ends.  Stock shunted within Station Limits does not need lamps at all, neither does stock within yards or sidings, but locos do.  Locos moving around within loco yards or depots do not need lamps.

 

Brake vans need 3 lamps, a red tail and two side lamps which can show a white apsect forward and a red to the rear on unfitted or part fitted trains.  The white aspect forward on each side of the van is so that loco crew can look back to ascertain that the train has not divided and is following in good order; the guard can reverse the lamps to show red forward to indicate a problem and stop the train.  The side lamps show a white aspect to the rear (they have removable shades) to indicate that the train is running on a slow, goods, or relief line or is on a loop or refuge siding next to a running line to re-assure drivers on adjacent fast lines overtaking them that they are not in his path; this can be difficult to determine at night especially on curves where shifting perspectives come into play.  Fully fitted goods trains carry a single tail lamp on the van pre-1969 and on the rearmost vehicle, which being fitted has a lamp bracket, after that except in specific cases where brake vans were still required.

 

It is at present impossible to model the 'white light to the rear of brake van' situation except by having spare side lamps showing the correct aspects, so arguably each brake van needs a spare side lamp with white aspects in both lenses as well.