Hello Board I have a question about marslights. What happends with the light when a Diesel runs backwards? Did the light change the color to red (like in Switzerland)? Did an F7 have lights on the back also? If yes, where? best Regards Jürg
hi jurg, there were no lights on the back of an F unit, so a helper consist would have to have a "nose" pointed to the rear of the consist to provide light (for movement in each direction). a mars (occilating) light would go off when trailing and the other light set would be dimmed. each railroad had their own practises, but this is what i have seen. i think the marker (on the sides over the number boards) were lit to red, when that end became the trailing end of a [helper] consist. most of this also only applied to caboose era rules, with modern end of train devices i suspect the rules are different. but before trailing engines would have to show red when (returning) from helper service. i'm sure you'll get a lot more answers to your question from around the country. later, dave f.
This varied by railroad. ATSF and CB&Q are two railroads that had the ability to flip the upper mars light to red for reverse moves or during emergency brake applications. On most railroads though, it was simply turned off. Back-up lights varied by railroad as well.
Thank you guys for the informations. Yesterday I read a lot about Marslight in a great website with lots of informations. http://www.trainweb.org/gyra/photo.htm Regards Jürg
Most roads had the same style lights on both ends of standard hood units, so when in either direction, they simply turn one off and turn the other on.
the main light (not the mars light) would be dimmed while running in reverse. ditch lights go off too, i think.
Hello, This will be one of my next jobs. I have never seen realistic F7 mars light in model trains from all scale. It's always limited to a flickering led. Sure, it's not easy to imitate the oscillation of the original WR-5000 mars light with the complicated mecanism inside. Two motors, one for the 8 style oscillation and one for the shutter red screen to alternate white and red fading, and all this in one round metallic frame. It seems that after the death of the original units, everything apart beehive's was put into this hole I found a 2mmx5mm micro-motor, unfortunatly he cost about 1000 bucks with gearbox and electronic so I forgot very quick. But I'am working on something.
Hello Chris, You know where to find pictures of their EZ04 board, or of modified locos ? They dont show nothing about on their Website. Greetings Armand
Sorry I don't have these lights or know anything about them other that that RC makes them in N scale. This is all I could find: http://www.richmondcontrols.com/special.html I have E-mailed him before and he did respond. Those in N scale who have these say the effect is good even though I think it is just 2 LEDs that flicker in a certain order.
EEe GaddZ~!!! Did you get a load of that ordering instructions sheet on Richmond Controls site? That's harder to understand than designing your own circuit... And having to run the silicon wafers through the whole wafer fab line yourself!
