O Scale	Wargaming	Architectural	Narrow Gauge	Tools+

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT - DCC Concepts Locomotive Lamps

JAMES HICKMAN looks at this great range of lamps for detailing your locomotives.

CLICK HERE to view the range

There has recently been a lot of focus on coach lighting for your rolling stock in the model railway press, but nothing much said about your locomotives. Many of the diesels on the market do have lighting built into the locomotive, but not one of the British steam locomotives does. Never would you have seen any locomotive running with coach lights on without at least one lamp of the front illuminating the driver's path. This is where DCC Concepts come in. Their Loco lamps are a perfect addition to any locomotive. They are easy to fit and true to scale, and the range of lamps will light the way for any locomotive.

The locomotive lamps are sold in packs of six, allowing for any head-code arrangement. They are fitted with either a red, white, or bi-coloured red/white micro L.E.D. and fine brass handles. The lamps themselves are very easy to install and a pre-fitted with thin enamelled wires to allow the wiring to be discretely hidden anywhere on the locomotive. The actual wiring for the lamps is again simple. For analogue users, simply attach the appropriate resistor and wire them to the locomotive pick-ups. For those of you using DCC operation, simply attach the wires directly to the auxiliary output of your preferred decoder, generally the blue and white wires for the front lamp and blue and yellow for the rear, but remember to check with the decoder instructions first.

Loco lamps are installed on the Stanier on the left.

So where do you install the lamps?

The range includes varying regions of lamps and would be suitable for any OO Scale locomotive. The white light lamps would be found on the front of the train, and the red to the rear. This does not mean the front or rear of the locomotive, as remember many of the smaller locomotives would run either way round at the head of the train.

CLICK HERE to view the range

The positioning of the lamps on the locomotives was very important for the prototypes as they allowed the signalmen and other drivers to see what the approaching locomotive had in tow. Different positioning and configurations of lamps described whether the approaching train was coaching stock, goods, or even a mixture of the two. There was even a specific arrangement only used on the royal trains signalling their importance. Below is a diagram of some of the possible combinations used during the BR era, but other combinations were used during the time of the 'Big 4', but remember that if you don't want to arrange them in specific positions don't worry too much about it, it is your railway and locomotives after all.

I hope you've all been paying attention, because James will be testing you if you come into the shop...

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