Canadian Head and Tail Lighting Protocols

[cessna152towser]

A year or so ago I bought the Rapido Budd RDC as Via Rail #6148 as a memento of my trips on the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway during past visits.  I had occasion to run it in the darkened room this evening.   I noted  that the four headlights (two up top near the horns and two lower down towards the sides) illuminate in the direction of travel only but the other lights (the white lights of the illuminated number panels and the red lights alongside them) light up at both ends in both directions.    This differs from European practice in having red lights visible in the direction of travel.   Is this correct?

[davknigh]

The lights by the number boards are the class lights which would indicate what sort of train was coming. They would be off for a regular scheduled train, white for an extra, green for a second section to a train and red for tail lights. The fact that you are seeing red in both directions would indicate a light leak between the number boards and the class lights. Not quite sure how you might sort this but an email to Rapido might get a useful reply. All sorts of info on the prototypes can be found here: https://rapidotrains.com/master-class/ho-scale/diesel-locomotives/budd-rdc-master-class

 

HTH

 

David

[dave1905]

The large white lights at the top center of the front are the headlights, they are on when the train is moving or occupying the main track.

The large white lights on lower front on either sides are "ditch lights", they are on when the train is moving.

In the upper corners on both ends are smaller lights that might be off, white, green or red.  Off, white and green are classification lights, denoting whether it is a scheduled, regular train a extra or a leading section of a scheduled train.  Red is a marker light, denoting the rear of the train.

• If the train is a regularly scheduled train, the front class lights will be off and the rear marker on the train will be red.
• If the train is a leading section of a scheduled train, the front class lights will be green and the rear marker on the train will be red.
• If the train is an extra train, not operating on a timetable schedule, the front class lights will be white and the rear marker on the train will be red.