I have watched videos on the MTH website of their HO Steamers. They say that their is a light in the cab so the engineer can seee what he is doing. For any of you who own an MTH HO steamer, where is the “cab light”?
Hi CB&Q,
I own 2 MTH K4’s, a Triplex, and a GS-4. All four have a warm white LED cab light in the upper right hand corner of the cab above the engineer cab figure. It’s not that noticable when the room lights are up, but quite noticeable when the room is dimmed down.
Yes, its a bright LED that you can see very well in the dark. Sometimes it has a greenish or blueish hue. It does illuminate the cab quite well and you can see some remarkable detailing, all the pipes, pressure gauges, levers, and so on.
Its a nice feature, very suitable for night time running. The cab light can be turned on or off with DCC.
Not owning any MTH locos, a can’t say where any cab lights would be, but I would interject these thoughts:
No engineer runs at night with the overhead light on in the cab. It destroys your night vision. On steamers, they had small, dim lights above and attached to the air and steam gauges, and sometimes a little one on the water glass, as well. That’s all the light they need. Any engineer who has to look to find either the throttle, air brake handles, or reverse lever needs more training.
The overhead light (usually centered on the back wall of the cab) was normally used only to read train orders, change crews, etc., then switched off.
Sometimes manufacturers get carried away in adding “details” that have little relation to how the details are used on the prototype.
And that’s why, as rjake said, you can turn it off. Engineer’s choice.
Thanks, good info there.