Lamps on front of rebuilt Bulleid Pacific from R1038

[IslandBoy]

I have a Merchant Navy Class "United States Lines" from the R1038 VSOE boxed set. According to research, USL was rebuilt in 1957.

I am having it converted to DCC and have been offered the option of adding lamps at the front. But this could be 2, 4 or 6 lamps. I have been told:

"The bulleid pacifics have built in lights. 3 across buffer beam, 1 either side of the smoke box on the wind deflectors, and 1 on the top of the smoke box. I can light fit those., or you can have a pair of lamps".

Which is historically correct for the rebuilt bulleids?

Does anyone have a pic? I'd take one of mine but it was posted earlier today :)

Thanks, Mike

PS I found a (copyright so not posted here) pic of an original 34070 and a rebuilt Bulleid 35005 (mine's USL 35012) and you can see clearly the lamps as described in the quote above. This "should" be right - any disagreements?

[Tony57]

Hi

It s correct that Merchant Navy Locos had 6 identification electric lamps pre and post rebuild. both on the loco and tender.

In regards to how many lamps to have working what loco duties do you wish them to show as some duties require one lamp other duties 2 lamps and others 3 lamps for night time workings and and white disks for day time workings?

[Bulleidboy]

I stand to be corrected, but are you sure your United States Lines loco is not DCC Ready?

This loco only appeared in the R1038 set and never as a stand alone loco. I have the loco from the R1038 set and it was/is DCC Ready. These were early days in DCC (2004) and some loco's, Elders Fyffes for example, were DCC Ready, but there was no mention of this in the Hornby catalogue. Elders Fyffes was introduced in 2003, and it was not until the 2004 catalogue where it was stated as being DCC Ready.

United States Lines appeared in the R1038 set from 2004 until 2006 - in 2007 the set became R1073 with Clan Line.

[96RAF]

My USL from the R1038 boxed set was DCC Ready and the main reason I jumped from analogue to DCC.

[DBfan]

and thus this loco would not have had the deflectors.

All rebuilds had smoke deflectors

[IslandBoy]

@Tony57 thanks. Different duties? Wow, that's way above my knowledge. But I found a pic on searching of "my" 35012 USL (and other Bulleid rebuilts) showing 6 lamps in the config mentioned so I'm happy having 6 is accurate enough for me :)

@Bulleidboy. It's definitely DCC ready. I posted the pic elsewhere in a couple of threads. According to Matt (who fixed the loose motor) it's a late production (yes in the 2004 - 2007 R1038 boxed set) and is both 8-pin DCC ready and has a sprung chassis.

@ 96RAF yes me, too :)

@DBfan I thought I'd edited that inaccuracy out. It does indeed have deflectors just not the cowl as originally built. Newbie lack of knowledge on my part.

Thanks all for your comments and replies. I'll post a pic or several when it gets back.....

[Tony57]

Hi

I was looking in a book I have, it showed most southern express locos with disks on the bottom near and off side lamp brackets.

So if I was to go to the trouble of having working lights put in I would have just 2 installed one on the bottom left hand side and one on the bottom right hand sides of the locos. signalling its an express train.

The issue of coded lamps for different duties and on the different regions is a very complex and requires some research.

[atom3624]

It's a wonderful idea, but space is at a premium, once you start adding things.

If there's a clear installation, selectable DCC lighting may be possible, but feeding the wires and keeping everything tidy may be difficult.

I agree with T57, the express passenger front lower left and right are probably the most optimal.

Al.

[Going Spare]

On the SR, headcode discs were used to inform the route of the train rather than just its classification as on other regions.

Having lamps/discs at bottom left and right signifies none of the Western Section main line trains upon which rebuilt Merchant Navies were principally used after rebuilding, those lamp/disc positions relating in part to Central and Eastern Section routes by then mostly electrified and the like of empty coaching stock trains between Waterloo and Clapham Junction with a humble tank at their head.

Waterloo to Southampton Docks, for example, was top and centre right while Waterloo to Bournemouth was centre right and bottom left.

[ColinB]

When I was adding DCC to my rebuilt merchant navy locos, I found that the valve gear was so brittle, I put virtually all the wiring in the tender, so that the only wiring in the loco was the motor. Trouble is as you try to fit the chassis to the body you don't want to have worry about trapped wires. In my case I was so worried about trapping wires, I broke the valve gear. Probably if you want lights I found the best way to go is use a function decoder, where you can stick it to the body and connect the two wires you need to the pickups via a 2 pin connector. That way there are only 2 wires to worry about getting trapped as the others are taped to the body.