Loco parking lights - circa 1975

[Theraffman]

Hi everyone.

 

Apologies if this topic has already been covered, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Namely, what lights would be displayed on a loco parked in a siding/depot either during day time or at night?

 

From elsewhere, I think what I hear is that a red tail light at each end would be illuminated, and possibly 1 or both cab lights. Can anyone confirm or correct this?

 

Thanks.

 

Chris.

[101]

Locos don't have "parking lights" there is/was no requirement to display any lights when - "parked" - stabled In a depot/sidings  (i.e. not on a running line)

Any movement carried out in sidings/depots should be at speeds to stop short of any obstructions whether lit or not.

If you had left most locos with tail lights and cab lights on for long then they wouldn't have started again, and locos were stabled with the battery switch out - i.e. the loco was electrically dead.

[Theraffman]

Thanks 101 - I did wonder.

[Davexoc]

Depending on the loco type, some had three battery switch positions, - On, Off or Lights Only.

Others were merely on or off, but the lights were always available, so if someone left the engine-room lights on, a few hours later the batteries might be too depleted to start the engine. It was also common for headcode lights to be inadvertently left on, as during daylight hours they were pretty much unnoticeable.

[Wheatley]

At that date, apart from marker lights left on by accident, locos or vehicles left on running lines including in bay platforms had to exhibit a red light after sunset or during fog or falling snow. For the reasons mentioned above concerning battery life this would invariably be an oil tail lamp. 1972 Rule Book rules B.7 and J.2.3. In sidings - no lights at all.

 

The spangly LED lights fitted to RTR deisels are largely superfluous on layouts set before the introduction of WIPAC lights on the 80s. Even when they were on you couldn't see them in daylight, and they weren't much better at night. 

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by Wheatley

[NorthEndCab]

When did the requirement to mimic whatever light is on the bufferstop come into the rule book?

 

eg: if the loco is up against some stops with a red light then it must display a red light on the other end or markers if the stops have a white lights

[Nearholmer]

Something nags at the back of my mind: I’m pretty sure that BR(S) practice was that MUs and locos displayed red blinds, and on EMUs a shoe paddle over the handbrake wheel in the , ‘screwed down’, rear cab, when stabled. 
 

What I cannot recall is whether the blinds were illuminated …… I don’t think they can have been. 
 

Also, I’m 99% sure that when Engineer’s trains were ‘outstabled’, and that would be without a loco, in odd sidings adjacent to running lines, they carried a red lamp. I recall the guard having to take it to the other end when the loco arrived. But, I first got involved with these trains c1978/79, so this practice may post-date 1975. Thinking about it, though, the train would need a tail lamp on it somewhere, to be used when it went out on the line, so the logical place to put it was where the loco driver could use it as a sighting mark when he arrived.

[Jeremy Cumberland]

12 hours ago, NorthEndCab said:

When did the requirement to mimic whatever light is on the bufferstop come into the rule book?

 

eg: if the loco is up against some stops with a red light then it must display a red light on the other end or markers if the stops have a white lights

It's in the 1988 rule book (Rule J4.5.2).

 

There's nothing in the 1972 rule book, but the rules on lamps changed considerably between 1972 and 1988. In 1972, for example, tail lamps on trains (except on light engines) did not need to be lit, except "after sunset, during fog or falling snow, when passing through tunnels in a section where there is a block failure, or where otherwise specified."

[w124bob]

On 26/11/2021 at 08:39, Nearholmer said:

Something nags at the back of my mind: I’m pretty sure that BR(S) practice was that MUs and locos displayed red blinds, and on EMUs a shoe paddle over the handbrake wheel in the , ‘screwed down’, rear cab, when stabled. 
 

What I cannot recall is whether the blinds were illuminated …… I don’t think they can have been. 
 

Also, I’m 99% sure that when Engineer’s trains were ‘outstabled’, and that would be without a loco, in odd sidings adjacent to running lines, they carried a red lamp. I recall the guard having to take it to the other end when the loco arrived. But, I first got involved with these trains c1978/79, so this practice may post-date 1975. Thinking about it, though, the train would need a tail lamp on it somewhere, to be used when it went out on the line, so the logical place to put it was where the loco driver could use it as a sighting mark when he arrived.

I did a short spell on the SR(Orpington)in the early 80's and can confirm the red blind and paddle in the window for the handbrake. As for a tail light on the rear when stabled this seemed to be very much a depot thing, proper disposal of a loco involved battery and lighting switches to off.