Lights on class 110 DMU

I used the Express Models kit, and it is red/yellow bi-colour, though I put a small white filter on the yellow, and it looks like a dirty white (ie looks good to me!) THe Express kit is direction dependant, with yellow (white) in front and red at the rear.

Thanks Ian. What do you get in an Express kit? =A310 each for front and back seems a lot for a few LEDs/resistors.

Are both red and both white used at the same time? I understand some diesels these days use one or the other depending whether its night or day, or am I completely wrong?

Andrew

In the 1960's red bulbs wouldn't have been fitted and so an oil lamp would have been hung on the rear of the unit. I don't think red bulbs were put in the marker lights until sometime in the 1970's. Some units did were modified to have holders on the bottom of the marker light housing to put red filters in.

Iain

I Didn't see any resistors, but you get 4 lights, the connecting cables and a circuit board (with no components that I could see). You can control the lights so that both are on (colour dependant on direction), or independantly, though I've not bothered yet to work out which combination of F1/F2 etc are used to work out the combinations.

the only criticism I have with express models, is that the after sales support is not good (though others say phone support is excellent), and the instructions focus on the electrical side of the installation, but ignore the mechanical aspects (ie how to route the cables between cars).

Ian

That's for them to know and you to figure out. ;-)

Thanks for all the help!

Andrew

If cost is an issue have you considered buying form Maplin, they supply the leds in a variety of colours and shapes. Do note that you will need a resistor in addition to the led although there are some 12v LED's avaialbe in ALL colours including white. You may care to check the colour tho' as dirty yello can look better bearing in mind that the bulds in the 60's would not have been halogen. You only have to see a classic cars headlights at night to spot the differnece.

Iain is correct. Pariffin oil tail lamps were still in use on the rear of DMUs into the early 1980s at least..

I joined BR in July 78 and one of our porters duties was to prepare the tail lamps and signal lamps.

I couldn't figure out why a diesel unit built with the ability to display a red at the rear had to have an oil lamp on a bracket. It was something to do with signalling apparently and was still like it in June 1980 when I transferred to a freight centre.

Incidentally, the marker light fittings on the DMUs had a slot for dropping coloured shades into, thus turning white into red. AFAIK these were never used.

Phil