Of course, in the 80s the Escanaba and Lake Superior used to send its one working Sharknose out on local turns alone, so some of us NEED that rear light...
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
rrinker Lights on a real loco are not automatic directional. There are two switches, one for the headlight and one for the rear light. Prior to ditch lights they typically had 3 positions - Off, Dim, and Bright. Possible diffrences from loco manufacturer to loco manufacturer. But the bottom line is, the headlight did not dim automatically when the loco stopped, and the rear light did not automatically turn on when the loco was switched into reverse. --Randy
Lights on a real loco are not automatic directional. There are two switches, one for the headlight and one for the rear light. Prior to ditch lights they typically had 3 positions - Off, Dim, and Bright. Possible diffrences from loco manufacturer to loco manufacturer. But the bottom line is, the headlight did not dim automatically when the loco stopped, and the rear light did not automatically turn on when the loco was switched into reverse.
--Randy
Not only were the headlights completely "manual", in 1949 when the F7 was introduced, daytime use of headlights was not universal and was just starting to be practiced on some roads.
Those rear backup lights were only used for night time loco hostling in yards and engine terminals. Considering that in the early days F units often ran as matched sets, I'm sure those lights saw very little use until much later.
It is nice modeling the 50's, when things were simpler..........
Sheldon
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
7j43kIt's gonna be a pretty rare day when a modeler is going to be running an A unit backwards.
Right, except maybe with an ABA set up, which you don't want a reverse light.
I just added a decoder to a P2K E6, and there are 2 headlights, the regular and the mars light, and no back light. Following a procedure from Digitrax, I used a basic 2 function decoder, resoldered a wire from one pin to another, on the 8 pin plug, and used the back light (yellow wire) to operate the mars light, on F1.
Mike.
My You Tube
One thing of interest might be how the prototype behaves. If the headlight is on, which I presume the crew turns on, does the backup light come on automatically in reverse? Or does the crew just turn it on when needed?
The answer might influence how one wired it and/or mapped function buttons. If the crew turns it on / off separate from the headlight function, I would want to set it up for manually turning on / off when useful (nothing behind). I just did a GTEL that has a backup light on the loco and the tender and wonder whether I should set it up to manual on / off independent of the headlight button status.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
It would certainly be nice to have a light on a model actually light up.
But.
It's gonna be a pretty rare day when a modeler is going to be running an A unit backwards. Not saying someone somewhere out there doesn't want to, only that it's rare. I, for one, won't. And I have LOTS of F and E A units.
Also. The tendency is to have directional switching of headlights. Do you REALLY want the back-up light on your A unit to shine on the trailing B unit every time you run them backwards?
Ed
Roger that. That’s what I suspected it was. Too small for a window or portal. Thnx Mike.
Tophias If it is a back up light I could not get it to light via JMRI.
It states in their ad, on their web site, that it is a "nonworking" backup light.
https://www.walthers.com/emd-f7a-tsunami-r-sound-dcc-burlington-northern-730-cascade-green-white-black
Just received a set of Walthers Proto BN F7 A and B. I noticed on the back end of each is either a portal or a back up light of some kind . If it is a back up light I could not get it to light via JMRI. I did an unsuccessful internet search to see on the prototype what exactly they are but i found nothing. If it is a portal or window it seems like a duplicate as the door also has a window/portal. So my question is, what is it? Thnx.