As an addition to my DCC topic on fitting a decoder to a Warship, it has been mentioned on other topics on how to determine the front of some diesels & I had made reference to the fact that I would paint parts of my diesels.
Well picture 1 is one end normal



while picture 2 had the other end steps & face of the buffers painted Red


Buffers given a slight dirtyness.   Loco is sitting on my what will be, hidden storage tracks.

I have also done a Class 37 with yellow buffer faces & steps.

HI..

Steam is my main thing at the moment but I think I will have to have one on them in the RED…

Stuart in OZ

Sol
i have one of these, it is the one in the demo vid of my layout (i will do that second vid you requested at the weekend) my warship took a nose dive whilst testing track ( one disadvantage of elevated track) i now have a warship with 3 buffers :x  so i may use this method and take two buffers from a loco in the spares box and replace the odd one. cheers Sol i was wandering what to do 8)

Sol,

YOu could have added a driver at one end. This could have indicated the forward position.

Craig

Craig, they have two bodies in one end but like most locos, especially diesels, they are not that visible until you get down to their level.
But that being said, yes, that  should have indicated forward direction & perhaps that would have helped in setting the decoder correctly. As it turns out, the crew are sitting at my painted end buffers, steps so all is OK.

An update, I am looking into providing the small lights ( marker lights) red & white as per
File:Class 42 D832.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Now my question is for those who may remember them, is the white light ,white or yellowish?

This seems to me to be yellowish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFwfNr4q90I

Dim Ron, very very dim!  It would be more of a dull yellow glow.

Hi Ron

You could also change the headcodes so that one end is is 1A52 and the other 2something.

HTH

Jim

Depends what plans he has for his Warship Jim.  If it is only going to run one way then the tail end headcode is immaterial.

If the loco is destined to haul trains in either direction then sure it can look more realistic to have a different code at the other end since 1A52 is a Class 1 (Express passenger, in most cases) to or towards London.  The opposite direction in the days of green diesels would be 1C then two digits to identify the train; this became 1B in the 1970s when green Warships had gone and the West of England Division became managed from Bristol instead of Plymouth.

If the loco is only intended to pull trains in one direction but might work light engine the other way then it might display something like 0C88 for a light engine move (Class 0 train).

But those are just words of advice and the Directors of the D&S will have to have the final say!

Well, the Directors of the D&S having purchased the Class 42, needed to update it with knuckle couplings, etc & new head codes & here it is - both ends.




So that it is easier to identify forward from reverse, the front has had the yellow bar added below the window ( curse the camera as it shows up the slight jagged edge - will have to fix that :exclam) Also front steps painted yellow.

The rear now with new head code




By removing buffers, it has closed up the gap by 9mm. May have to re-do the number boards to remove the fine white edge

Now to get the small marker  lights installed.

 

My mate said I will no doubt get banned from the BRMA here in Oz doing that to UK locos. MNWR springs to mind!

Just ask those mates what happened to the Teddy Bears ;-).

Almost an entire class of BR green diesels sold to private operators and renumbered in their youth.

I now have a new Blue warship - supplied with a Bachmann decoder which died after running for about 4 minutes. The decoder accepted the address & put lights on/off but no motor even after resetting so I had a spare TCS MC2 which I fitted - all is now good



Now I needed to replace couplings with Kadee but as this model does not have a NEM pocket


it has the tension lock screwed to part of the bogie side frames which just clip onto the bogie




a close up of the existing method



by using a Kadee NERM #20 and having a 2.5mm hole drilled through the shank near the shoulders, cut the swallow tails off & it will use existing screw & mounting process as the tension lock



the unit clips back onto the motor bogie & the coupler lines up perfect with Kadee height gauge

[user=0]Stuart in OZ[/user] wrote:

HI..

Steam is my main thing at the moment but I think I will have to have one on them in the RED…

Stuart in OZ

Just paint the smokebox and chimney red, Stuart, so you can tell which end is the front!
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

A neat fitting Sol but I'm also impressed with the way the coupling is attached to the loco.  I wonder if this is Bachmann doing some clever thinking or just coincidence…….:roll::roll:

Coincidence - no, just a carry over from the old tooling of Mainline - but it worked out well.

Just off the topic of fitting kadees etc, but those Warships are an ugly looking beast ! ;-) (Each to their own !)

Cheers, Gary.

I'm glad you said that Gary - I wouldn't have dared   :shock::shock:  (but I agree - not my favourite either)

I also agree! They were supposed to look like a 'cut-down' version of the German V200 diesels but the 'cutting down' absolutely ruined the effect! An earlier styling exercise had them looking more like a rounded-off version of what became the Westerns but that was overridden by the British Railways Board (BRB).

When the result was seen in the flesh, the BRB gave Swindon a free hand in styling the Westerns and the result was superb (IMHO).

And NO, I am not biased - I am not a fan of all things Swindon!!!  ;-) 

If they are ugly, what about these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_70_(diesel)

or

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?locomotive=EMD%20BL-2

actually in both cases, I like them.