Hi all…just after a bit of info on gwr head and tail lamp colours..red & white, does it matter which colour goes on front or back as pictures i have seen are mixed? i have found meanings of light positions but not colour of lamp positions??:hmm

Not as simple an answer as you might think. It depends on where the loco is running. In which direction (orientation). Coupled or Light Engine

Mainline running required white lamps at the forward end (in the direction of travel).

If running boiler first, that would be white at the front, smokebox, end of the loco.

If running tender/bunker first, the white lamps would be on the tender or bunker.

The number and arrangement of the lamps would be determind by the type of train running. EG., through freight, express passenger, stopping goods…

Locos running 'Light Engine' would have red lamp showing at the opposite end to the white lamps, but a loco hauling any vehicles would not have a red lamp. (That would be fitted to the rearmost vehicle)

There are no lamps showing between vehicles. This is so when the signalman sees the red lamp, he knows the whole train has passed through his block. (no red lamp could mean part of the train has become detached and may be sitting in the path of the following loco).

Shunting or Station Pilot locos are under local control, and frequent lamp changes during shunting forwards and backwards would be inconvenient. I'm not sure about GWR regs but in BR days such locos were required to carry a white lamp at each end and a red lamp at each end, each lamp positioned over a different buffer. (in poor visibility, darkness and falling snow).

There was no stipulation which side the white lamps should be, but regular practice was to fit the white lamps on the side nearest the main line.

See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82JBSvaXnKE

I believe that some GWR local practice was to paint the outside of the lamps red.

Kind regards,

Paul