Use of Headlights

[KajFlo]

Hi !

How should you realistically use the headlights of trains in general ?
I guess you turn them on in the night and during bad weather, or should you always turn them on even during a sunny day ?

- Should you turn them off while in a station/approaching a station (to not dazzle the people there) ?
- Should you turn them off in tunnels ? (to not dazzle other trains) ?

In which case would you use the red front lights some trains seem to have ?

[Cat]

Modern trains have headlights, (some with various combinations) on while moving day and night. The red lights are tail light at the rear.

[Dodgydruid]

UK trains have to have their day running lights or their night lights whenever active, they are designed not like car headlights to illuminate the way other than catch the light reflective speed and other signs but to allow trackside workers to see the trains from a greater distance.

[KajFlo]

I guess TS2016 only simulates one type of lights on most trains. I have never seen two different white lights.

[electronx]

Depends on the area.
Most American trains have two settings, most likely for forward and backward respectively, on some trains they are white and red, while on others - Donner Pass - white either way.

Yes, you have to use them. The lights communicate a number of things, depending on the country / area.
If you complete the BR 9F academy about secondary controls, it will explain in short all 5 settings, ranging from solo loco, light train, medium train, heavy train...
In Hungary, one light stands for a stationary (parking, not just stopped) train, two lights for a moving one, but also a 3rd one is required at the top, forming a triangle. Strength of light is not ruled however afaik, and if you drive the 1116 Eurosprinters on Semmering, you can notice that 2 and 3 are both forward lights, but 2 is weak and 3 is strong. I noticed that in the section below my apartment, engineers use 2 when another train approaches, otherwise 3 for better sight.

The core of the regulation is simple: if you see a (single or red) light ahead of you, brake. If you see an approach light ahead of you, it's an emergency. Same as a car driver trying to cross rails.

"Red front lights" don't exist, you use them when you move the train backwards. So indeed they may be at the front end of the loco, but used either when shunting, or while driving with a cab car and the loco is at the end.

One last story about an occasion when lights have been shut... World War II. Trains would run during the night, but their headlights hidden any way it was possible, so that they wouldn't become a bombing target. (Told by old relatives and teachers, but couldn't verify otherwise.)

[dmgibbs1997]

It's best to use your headlights at all times.

[david.artrex]

Historically headlights are not for the driver to see better, they are signal lights for other trains or control stations, telling what kind of train is coming.
So at least in most countries, you still have to leave them on all the time. Red headlights are only to have taillights when you go backwards.

[Chicken Balti]

Hello, here are the Headlamp codes for UK Steam Engines and Trains. These codes determine what type of train to aid Signalmen and correct routing plus good's yard sorting requirements. These codes are lit and display both day and night.
http://uksteam.info/gwr/hcodes.htm

[Zauberblümele]

I think it is logical that the headlight must provide at least support for the engineer to see better.
May not in case of saving human lives, but to recognize rocks or lumbers on the track, to prevent a collision what could result in heavy damage.

[Chicken Balti]

ATBlob původně napsal:

I think it is logical that the headlight must provide at least support for the engineer to see better.
May not in case of saving human lives, but to recognize rocks or lumbers on the track, to prevent a collision what could result in heavy damage.

Hello ATBlob, if you have a headlight that lights up the track enough to see ahead, what would be the point in the uk? Chances are, your going to hit any obstruction anyway, trains can't stop rapidly like a car for instance. In addition, don't forget, the uk in general, does not have mile after mile of dead straight track and is also completely fenced off on both sides, unlike some other countries around the world where a powerful headlight may be of some use.
I well remember training a young chap on his first time out on a night run and what we call 'Third Man', learning the ropes. He was rather alarmed that he could not see far ahead and asked me how I knew where we were, I replied, ''we are on two lines that I remember were also here during daylight and I don't have to steer the train, only look out for iluminated signals that also confirm where I am''. He thought about my reply for a few seconds and then said ''of course, that's logical''.
All the best.

[Dodgydruid]

Yes I should have mentioned lamp configurations for signalmen who had to note in the UK the headcode of every passing train in their book and time and this is why early diesels had discs like steam engines instead of the 4 digit headcode box that became the de rigour on such like the 47, 81-87, 101-121 but this became obsolete as a working rule when transponders could show on the signal diagram each trains unique code but in modern powered boxes the logs were automatically time stamped too thus allowing traction inspectors to monitor late trains etc.

Drivers, signalmen and other railway workers were exempted from national service and there was unofficial talk of pervatin chocolate being given to drivers who were sometimes expected to work double shifts on long hauls, whether this is true or not I cannot say and whilst the engines were without lights, the firebox was still a beacon to the lone wolf looking to nail a train hence why so many trains did end up wiped out and the UK had to ask America for assistance with some 1000 locos shared out between 3 of the big 4 as the Consolidation or whatever it was proved too large for the SR's network so some swapping of engines occurred giving the SR smaller locos from the other three who got the American locos in replacement.

The SR of course had to be difficult anyway, at night the only illumination fore or aft on EMU's, 73, 33 were frontal two digits or two white blinds and rear two red blinds lit by a fairly dim set of bulbs and nothing else, luckily an approaching EMU makes the rails "sing" which was probably the only warning a trackside staff member would get, I myself was nearly run over near West Brompton station on the Clapham-Olympia section by a 33 on a cold wet and wintry night and the engine could hardly be heard.

[Dodgydruid]

@Chicken Balti - Should say that drivers in the UK know their line sections down to almost the inch and usually can tell where they are by landmarks, markers, signals etc even in pitch black, dunno what the route learning expectations is now but my late uncle Ray used to have all these books he had to learn to "pass out" for the route as well as taking driver instruction in cab too.

[Smokebox]

I too have read that in the UK, it's been written in law for a long time that the tracks must be fenced off (to prevent accidents), so there was no need for a headlight to warn people of an oncoming train, but I also read that another reason was the prevalent fog and smog - the light beam from a powerful headlight would reflect off the fog and actually make it harder for the crew to see the coloured glass in the semaphore signals at night, making it more dangerous to have strong lights. I'm not sure if that's true or apocryphal.

[Chicken Balti]

Dodgydruid původně napsal:

@Chicken Balti - Should say that drivers in the UK know their line sections down to almost the inch and usually can tell where they are by landmarks, markers, signals etc even in pitch black, dunno what the route learning expectations is now but my late uncle Ray used to have all these books he had to learn to "pass out" for the route as well as taking driver instruction in cab too.

Correct Dodgydruid, when driving, I know exactly where I am, even on a moonless night in thick fog. You get to know every single rail noise/bridge sound and dropped rail joint for hundreds of miles. Even sound reflections off linside buildings.
Best.

[david.artrex]

ATBlob původně napsal:

I think it is logical that the headlight must provide at least support for the engineer to see better.
May not in case of saving human lives, but to recognize rocks or lumbers on the track, to prevent a collision what could result in heavy damage.

1. hör auf Deine Kommentare unter reviews zu posten, die nichts mit dem Thema zu tun haben.
2. Deswegen heißen headlights auch heute Zugspitzensignale, weil sie keine Signalfunktion haben, sondern man Steine auf der Strecke sehen soll... is klar.
3. je nach Geschwindigkeit haben Züge Bremswege von weit über 1 km. Deswegen sollte man auch Steine sehen...
Interessier Dich lieber mal für Züge oder schau mal in die ESO, bevor Du andere des Stusses beschuldigst.

[phl_approach]

I like to turn off/dim my lights if I see an AI train coming opposite direction and flip them back on as I pass their engines.