UK "Pen Pals", headlights and pilots

[nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org]

In the steam era British locomotives not only tended to lack
headlights, they also lacked "cowcatchers", what Americans would call,
if I understand correctly, "pilots".

The reason for both omissions almost certainly lies in the fact that,
as Peter Prydderch has pointed out, most British railway tracks,
including all main lines, were fenced off. Thus, theoretically at
least, there ought to be no people or animals obstructing the tracks.
(I suspect strongly that there were occasional instances when this
assumption fell down, and accidents ensued.) At night time, the
drivers (engineers) would have been mainly concerned with looking out
for the lit signals, and a bright headlight on the loco would have
been of no help in this - possibly a slight hindrance.

The differences in the various "cultures" of rail practice are quite
interesting. In some respects continental European practice was more
similar to American than to the British, in other respects it was more
like the British. These differences also extended to such fields as
locomotive design, especially with regard to steam locomotives.

Over the past few years new legislation and different attitudes mean
that British locomotives and multiple-unit trains do now have
headlights and pilots. The headlights are required to be illuminated
even in daylight, which, to judge from DVDs of the N&W and other
railroads was already the case with American locos in the 1950s. The
latest stock has very bright headlights, which attract attention even
in quite bright daylight. The purpose is clearly to act as a warning
to track-workers, or others straying on the lines, not as a help for
the vision of the engineers.

Frank Hung  

-----Original Message-----
From: nw-modeling-list-bounces at nwhs.org
[mailto:nw-modeling-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org
Sent: 06 June 2006 03:18
To: 'N and W Modeling List'
Subject: RE: UK "Pen Pals"


I have a UK rail question that I hope the Reverend can answer. It's
something I've wondered about for a while. Steam - era British
locomotives didn't appear to have headlights. Why was that? I would
think that a headlight is absolutely essential for any night
operation. Thanks for your time. 

Rob Doorack