Excellent writeup in latest Trains on the new steam locomotive TORNADO. I’m curious why there is no headlight on this amazing locomotive. Also what’s with the small white lanterns on the front? Some photos show one lantern in the middle while other photos show two lanterns, one on each side. Looking up photos of other British locos, I noticed for the first time these similar lights ???
British steamers rarely had lights, for some reason… Modern high speed trains there do have lights now, but those little white lights are all the old steamers (and many diesels up till the 80s) had in the way of headlights.
The main reason was that the early trains didn’t run at night, so headlights weren’t required, then when they did start to run at night, there were no regulations on headlightsl Why that continued till so far into the 21st century I have no idea…
Hopefully someone else has the rest of the story?
The way it was expalined to me years ago is that that the railroads in britian have a guarded right of way In that there are no or very few grade crossings and the public is kept off the property by fences and such so the need for headlights is not needed as much as in other countries hope this helps Larry
cnwfan is essentially correct. English railways books would have to explain to their readers why North American locomotives had such large headlights (an unusal sight for UK fans), and usually attribute it to the unfenced and/or unprotected rights of way, particularly in the early days of North American railroading. Public access to rights of way is much more restricted in the UK.
Night running, however, was common from an early stage–I often thought it took a particular kind of courage (and trust in the signalling system) to run at speed at night with little or no effective illumination.
The small lamps to which the original poster referred are classification lamps, denoting the type of service in which the locomotive is running. They could be moved as required. Two lamps, one over each of the buffers, indicated express passenger service, I believe.
That’s right. These codes are still used to classify trains to this day in Britain. An express passenger service for example, is a class 1 train. The complete list in steam days was:-
1 - Express passenger, parcels or mailtrain, snowplough or breakdown train going to clear the line
2 - local passenger train
3 - Parcels train not running as class 1
4 - freight train authorised to run at 75mph (in some case 90mph nowadays
5 - empty passenger train, snowplough or breakdown train NOT going to clear the line
6 - freight train authorised to run at 60 mph
7 - ditto but 45 mph
8 - freight train where not all vehicles fully braked
9 - freight train with no continous brakes (the above two classesof trainare now extinct
on Network Rail)
0 - light engine ie a locomotive not pulling anything
In the days when we had a joined up railway the above list would determine the order of
priority of trains - the higher the number the lower the priority ( 0 is the highest!). At stations and junctions were a decision has to be made about which train to give priority. So for example a class 6 - 9 freight train would often be sidelined to allow a (faster!) passenger train to overtake it.
Nowadays this process of ensuring a higher priority train gets priority over a lower one is not generally done as the operator who casues another train to be delayed would have to pay compensation to the operator of the delayed train. Class 9 freight trains are now extinct and Classes 4 and 6-8 are now based so
To add to what has been said above, most trains in Britain carried no headlights for illumination purposes until the 1980s. The small oil lamps carried on steam locomotives were for train identification purposes and did nothing to light the road ahead. They did provide a means by which people could see that a train was approaching, but they were not large or bright enough to do so with any great effectiveness. There were four headlamp positions, left, middle and right bufferbeam, and smokebox top, and the positioning of the one or two lamps normally carried signified the class of train.
Some early British diesels also relied upon oil lamps, but when dieselisation began in earnest (late '50s) most designs carried four ‘headcode discs’ on each end, which had the same role as oil lamps. These were circular metal discs, hinged horizontally so that the top half could be folded down over the lower half. The inside of the disc was painted white for maximum visibilty, and there was a small electric light in the lower half which was only visible when the disc was in the open (i.e. display) position.
In the early '60s British Railways realised that this was an archaic arrangement, and subsequently new locomotives were built with ‘headcode boxes’ instead. These were backlit 4-character roller-blinds which displayed the train’s reporting number (e.g. 1M06, 6V70, or whatever), and again these provided no significant forward illumination. The headcode discs and blinds fell out of use for train identification purposes after 1976, and thereafter two marker lights were displayed instead. As the name implies, these ‘markers’ were to allow people to see the train rather than to light the road ahead.
It was only in the 1980s that high powered headlights began to be fitted to British trains. I believe that this was finally brought about as a result of
Also, many of the grade crossings that existed were gated also - the fencing along the right of way extended across the road, only to be opened when allowing people or cars to cross.
BTW a couple more differences - UK engines don’t have bells either. Also, in Britain and Europe they have whistles or horns but don’t use them to communicate the way we do in North America…there is no standard whistle signal for backing up, or going forward, or grade crossings etc.
Although I think it’s true to say that there are no standard whistle codes in the UK, I do know of one or two places where specials codes are or were in use. For example on the old Brecon & Merthyr line, at Pentre-Rhiw station which was at the bottom of a 7 mile long gradiend of 1 in 38 (2.6%) it was in the standing instructions at the signalbox there, that the point at the foot of the incline would normally be set for a runaway siding.The signalman would only set it for the main line and clear the protecting signal when the driver of an approaching train had given three long whistles to indicate the train was under control. Otherwise the signalman was to assume it was a runaway!
The use of Whistle Codes was quite common throughout the UK, and those lucky enough to get their hands on really old Working Time Tables can check out the special arrangements of how trains were to be worked at certain locations, and what whistle codes were to be blown for particular messages. These were listed as combinations of Long and Short, and a Crow was a Long-Short-Long-Short Long (cock a doodle doo).
Typically they would be requests for Bankers (Helpers in US parlance), to advise Signalboxes of intended water stops, or to ask for particular routes, within busy yards, dockyards, etc., to be set up. I think I’ve read that Barry Docks had around 2 dozen or so whistle codes to indicate the separate movements of loaded and empty trips to and from the different groups of tipplers and sidings.
Turning to Bells, GWR 6000 "King George V " continues to proudly show off its Baltimore & Ohio Bell, and I seem to think that LNER A4 “Dominion of Canada” was also kitted out with a Bell. I’ve seen pictures of LMS 6100 “Royal Scot” running across Canada equipped with a CPR Bell, but I can’t recall any photos of it with the Bell in BR service, and I wouldn’t know about LMS 6220 (or should it have been 6229??) “Coronation” which was touring the US when WW2 broke out in September 1939, and which was marooned there for a few years until things were judged safe enough for her to be repatriated.
So while bells weren’t a requirement for main line running in the UK, memory tells me they were fitted on the Dock Pilot Engines at Swansea and elsewhere. Perhaps someone with access to the right books might clarify this.
Hwyl,
Martin
Friend just sent me this link…I think you’ll like it…I was very impressed.
I LIKE IT VERY IMPRESSED Oh to be in England
With regard to use the of bells in Britain, I think it was a requirement for locomotives on roadside tramways to have them. The most notable example being the tram engines used on the Wisbech and Upwell tramway in Cambridgeshire. (The character “Toby” in the Thomas books is based on one of these!). I think I’ve seen a picture of a GWR Pannier with a bell for use in either Birkenhead or Weymouth docks - can’t remember which. In the case of the latter, when the tramway was in use I think the trains still had to be proceeded by a man carrying a bell and waving a flag!
The fact that this locomotive was built, from scratch, reminds me of something I’ve said before - it wouldn’t be a stretch for one “plant” to build modern versions of classic steamers. CNC machines and modern techniques and metallurgy would yield safe, reliable machines which might allay the fears of the Class 1’s who currently fear letting them tread on their rails.
Of course, the $6M price tag of “Tornado” is a bit off-putting, but considering the final products (and the current financial situation aside) I should think that the money could be raised.
Sure would be neat to see a NYC Niagara thundering down the Water Level Route…
For over 20 years English steam locomotive Pendennis Castle ran in Western Australia.
I have just put two photos on: www.flickr.com/photos/pm1225
the first taken by my late mother no headlight
the second I took with a headlight as was required to operate under West Australian law
English steam locomotives do look strange with headlights