Er
Zee, theres no headlight on your locomotive?
Proudly, thats because its a British loco. The carrots (orange M&Ms) are so good our driver can see in the dark.
He doesnt have to. The driver isnt the guy whos steering.
And if being seen is the issue, you shouldnt be on the (same) track anyway.
I am confused. Who me? I dont know what you mean.
Seriously though, at a flea market recently I picked up some UK mags, Old Glory, Heritage Railway, British Railways Illustrated, Back Track. Now, I was never really interested in the UK rail scene. I always liked USA rail with its interchange traffic. US locos just look the business, made for work ( day or night ). And South African rail, big locos, American, British or German imports running on our narrow 3 6 track, all with a headlight in front (where else?) and a head(?)light on the tender. We had a school field trip, back in the day, to the steam loco workshops in downtown Durban. All that is gone. You look at the same area today and cant make out what has replaced it. More of the same. I must say British rail is/was something else. Elegant locomotives, immaculately tended track, narrow loading gauge, shorty goods wagons. But no headlights. Little marker lights for train classification, yes; headlights none. Am I missing something? Steam powered pop-ups maybe? Removable lights? Ive ridden a few km on the footplate of one of SARs ALCO built 4-8-2s and I must confirm that forward vision is not good past that big boiler, even in daytime.
If I ever am able to build a loco, I would love to try modelling a British prototype with cylinders and valvework between the frames. True, you miss all the working bits of a Walscherts, but the overall visual impact is so neato.
I should probably be asking this on a railfan forum, but hey I feel like I know you all and Im sure Ill get a more educated answer here.
Cheers,
Ant
Proudly, thats because its a British loco. The carrots (orange M&Ms) are so good our driver can see in the dark.
He doesnt have to. The driver isnt the guy whos steering.
And if being seen is the issue, you shouldnt be on the (same) track anyway.
I am confused. Who me? I dont know what you mean.
Seriously though, at a flea market recently I picked up some UK mags, Old Glory, Heritage Railway, British Railways Illustrated, Back Track. Now, I was never really interested in the UK rail scene. I always liked USA rail with its interchange traffic. US locos just look the business, made for work ( day or night ). And South African rail, big locos, American, British or German imports running on our narrow 3 6 track, all with a headlight in front (where else?) and a head(?)light on the tender. We had a school field trip, back in the day, to the steam loco workshops in downtown Durban. All that is gone. You look at the same area today and cant make out what has replaced it. More of the same. I must say British rail is/was something else. Elegant locomotives, immaculately tended track, narrow loading gauge, shorty goods wagons. But no headlights. Little marker lights for train classification, yes; headlights none. Am I missing something? Steam powered pop-ups maybe? Removable lights? Ive ridden a few km on the footplate of one of SARs ALCO built 4-8-2s and I must confirm that forward vision is not good past that big boiler, even in daytime.
If I ever am able to build a loco, I would love to try modelling a British prototype with cylinders and valvework between the frames. True, you miss all the working bits of a Walscherts, but the overall visual impact is so neato.
I should probably be asking this on a railfan forum, but hey I feel like I know you all and Im sure Ill get a more educated answer here.
Cheers,
Ant
