The line "but it's just a theory, thomas theory" was actually written and edited BEFORE MatPat left RU-vid. Had I known he was leaving, I probably wouldn't have referenced it, just FYI 😅
20:26 I get you bro. Very used to seeing them. Very common here in Skibidihio ya know. I see about 50 of these a second. Strangely enough none of the ones I see are labeled 10 though.... just 11 and 12 and 13, oh and they are like 26.0848% possessed. But nothing to worry about, they're. Just constantly running after this..... *Lady*..... Apparently there's one that they're chasing CALLED: *Woman* as well, oh, and *Girl* (get it? Fan created:diesel 11 and 12 and 13 and instead of *Lady*....it's woman ♀️ ️ and girl because... They're all female? get it? Fine keep scrolling...bye)
I definitely understand why head codes were ignored a lot of the time in the model series, especially early on. I can't imagine how painful it might have been to try and make a modular setup like that. Theoretically I can see it being done with magnets but it would make every engine a lot more expensive. But what I don't understand is why they didn't do that for the CGI series. One of the big benefits is that you'd be able to do shots and characters that would be very difficult in model form, so why not take advantage of it more?
If only the show actually used the proper interchangeable headcode signatures like in real life and the RWS (as well as the first 5 seasons, though not just at nighttime).
Well, they somewhat did. Seeing as in a single Season 1 promo image of Henry (Old Shape), Henry is pulling some coaches with a… ‘Perishable Goods’ headcode??? Keep in mind it was during the day.
As an American, who’s been really getting into British steam locomotives, I’ve been learning the headcodes of BR . In TSW’s spirit of steam and the peak forest routes, you can put the correct headcodes on for what train your running. You can even put tail lamps on
Fun Fact: The white headlamps are supposed to have handles on them above the nub on top. The handle was present on Thomas' model in season 1 for some episodes and promotional material, but in other episodes and for the rest of the series the handle is gone. This is most probably because of Ringo Starr who during his time narrating the first season, had photos taken holding the original Thomas model. In one of the photos he holds Thomas up to his face and his nose presses up against the top of his headlamp. Being so small and thin, it wouldn't take much pressure to accidentally break the tiny lamp handle off. So the reason why all other white headlamp handles are missing for the entirety of the series, even into the CGI seasons, is Ringo's nose's fault.
Paxton's headcode is literally just express with a bit of (1) "uhh we get more laps." (2) "Eh just throw them on, oh, also make all the lights green and red." (1)"Well its is Christmas so. Oh well."
Now that I realise it, Edward should have had the branch line head codes since he was pulling commuter trains. Also, thanks for giving me more tips on how the revival era would be like. I just find it fully how you guys keep pointing out these things that are inaccurate to real life railways.
As well as the fact it would make sense for the story cuz if edward and gordon had different headocdes, then they wouldnt have been set on the wrong lines
Same thing with Canada as well, i dont understand why the UK thinks it's a good idea to not give them a cow catcher and just a standard headlight like Canada and the USA do. Maybe they just prefer to have the locomotive derail and cause more accidents and money if there was something on the track not to mention having non proper headlights(being sarcastic)
@@SoldierFox1393the tracks in the UK are all fenced in so nothing can (should) get on the tracks, unlike in the US/Canada. Also the idea with no headlights generally was that you can't stop in time anyway, so it's better to preserve the driver's "night sight". Plus the head codes are legitimately useful.
Diesel 10's lights... i think thy are supposed to represent Ditch Lights. they're on most American based diesels, and they're close to the tracks to illuminate the line ahead. but that's just my thoughts on it.
I like that they went to the effort to put lamps on the engines, and managed to sometimes getting it correct. It adds a nice degree of realism. Thanks for the video. I’ve build some trains in Lego and I’m convinced I’m mostly getting the lamps wrong. I have an E2, and I put the lamp in the centre to give it the shunter head code. I also have a GER F48 with a mineral lamp as it was a freight loco. Now that I think about it, I am getting it slightly right.
Lamp in the centre is also light engine, whilst a light at the top only would be Thomas pulling Annie & Clarabel, as standardised in 1923 by the Railways Act 1921
The Headcode Paxton uses in Diesel's Ghosthly Christmas is a perfect example of when an engine tries to scare another one especifically with pipes to reverb their voice. Viva Paxton!
I'm kinda surprised the TV series didn't use the disc headcodes. (For anyone wondering, the disc headcodes are white discs fitted to an engine's lamp irons, like lamps. They were prominently used by the Southern Railway, and later British Railways.) Since the disc headcides are literally just white discs that could just be made of cardboard, they could've been an easy alternative for actual lamps. Oh yeah, I wanted to point out something: The lamp on the right lamp iron can be considered "light engine" in certain other railways like the Southern Railway.
I thought disc headcodes on the SR where for designations rather than type of train. For example two white centred discs like this ( : )would mean to the West Country ( Exeter ) a down train from London. While the GWR had the standard lamp codes and destination number boards for passenger trains. For example 130 for the Cornish Rivera express London to Penzance.
@@BrentSudric If the discs are made of a reflective material, that wouldn't be as big an issue. The usage of discs is an impressive attention to detail for the Edwards' work on the Railway Series.
We thought Awdry was furious when Britt and the model series crew broke Rule 55 with Henry..... imagine what he'd think seeing the cgi. teams absolutely destroy whatever rule it is involving the correct headcodes for almost every character.
Considering we have AEG now, I feel as though Awdry is likely looking down with disappointment seeing the legacy of his creation turned into a dumbed down shell of what it once was and what it was meant to be. Awdry said many a time that he wrote the RWS the way he did so both children and adults reading were entertained which I feel translated well to the early TVS too, AEG however has essentially flipped that premise on it's head and made it so unbearable that even the demographic it's supposed to appeal to hates it and wants the CGI version back.
Over here in American, railroads used lamp headcodes at night and different colored flags during the day. Again, they used to, as I doubt that is still a thing.
At my heritage railway, we use red flags on the back of the train during the day and at night we have hanging lighted lamps on both sides of the back car or caboose which have different color lenses on various sides. Our engines are from the 1930's through about the 1960's and do not have ditch lights...only standard headlights which are lit low beam when stationary and high beam when ready to move or moving. The steam engine (current getting its 1472 service) has marker lights on the top sides of the smokebox which light at night, but just as a heritage / historic railroad engine. All our engines pull both passengers and freight, including the steam engine.
@victoriacyunczyk Speaking of rulebook, I actually have one that was originally owned by a distant late relative of mine. It can also fit into a person's pocket, which is very handy.
@@SodorTrain1225 I have an old pocket-size Chessie one somewhere. The museum one goes in a binder that we keep with our stuff while on duty. edit: typo
There’s other headcodes thr southern experimented with on the un-rebuilt bullied Pacifica and Q1 because of their boxy shape. They did that on diesels too I believe.
20:39 that's an interesting Magic Railroad AU. *Diesel 10 is about to destroy Lady and Thomas when suddenly a strange voice rings out* Mysterious voice: She's not the Magic Engine. *everyone turns to where the voice came from* Proteus: I am.
It is very interesting to learn about the lamp headcodes, didn’t thought about up to this point that each position of the lamp has a purpose as to why it’s there. It makes the show more grounded to real life!
8:02 Early BR diesels were fitted with headcode disks which functioned in a similar manner to lamps, but the system was soon replaced with an alphanumeric display housed in an indicator box; 1M63, for example. The requirement to display a visible headcode was dropped in the early 1970s, and most headcode indicator boxes were plated over and lights fitted in their place. Diesel 10's headcode indicator box would sit roughly where his face is, hence why he lacks a lamp code.
For big diesel engines, They have discs. Back on the southern railway, they used white discs as headcodes and when British Railways came along, they put lights on the bogeys of their diesels but kept the southern discs for headcodes, later on the headcodes became redundant and while discs weren't a thing anymore, they, oddly enough, used letters? Funfact; BoCo, Bear, Bowler and Spamcan also have this arrangement, not 40152 [i think] because after the 1970's, discs weren't a thing anymore
I've honestly come rather passionate on that Thomas lamp shape. Though for the bigger scale models of him used for narrow gauge and Pack, it felt off. I also suspect them default having a lamp at their right, perhaps they saw like a person holding a flashlight in their right hand. Whiff also had one on his left in MIR. I actually like Salty's CGI lamp. Duchess' irons are actually more accurate to how they're shaped IRL, though her outer ones are white. Interesting that Arthur had white too. Of many things I'd wanna tweak to Rebecca's design, one would be a middle lamp. I'm often bugged when an engine has a right lamp but no iron visible on their left - mostly for Donald & Douglas. Interesting how S18 having ones like Samson and the Skarlo-fleet with just a left, while some like Gator and Ryan even have a middle one. For a couple of OCs I've attempted, one being a Urie G16 with a middle iron, and a Wheatley Y10 without the middle.
I've known headcodes existed for the longest time but finding a concise list of accurate information on them has always been oddly difficult, so I really appreciate you going in to detail on them in this video. It's actually nice to know there was a headcode informational from the RWS too, not sure how I never found that but the more you know lol Definitely going to he using this information for my art in the future since I've always wanted to draw engines with their accurate headcodes, so thank you for making this.
For the longest time besides actually being a lamp I thought they were just for looks. I might try using the head code thing for my actual series when I get it off the ground. Although I fear I might end up like the TV show and just stop caring. However when it comes to these head codes my favorites are the Express passenger, ordinary passenger, and mineral or empty freight. A great video Adam I can't wait to see more in the future.
When you need to learn more about railways but you are too lazy to read about it, you find this outstanding video!!! Like, I genuinely adore this video, soo informative and useful for a rockie like me, never realise before that a simple lamp would have so much meaning behind. *Also we can all agreed that Proteus is the local lamp seller of Sodor XD*
The “drunk Paxton” head code is the “random lights go” head code where you pin the front of the engine to a dart board and throw as many darts as you can hold at once at the board and whatever sticks and doesn’t obstruct the engine’s face is how the head code is rendered
I noticed the whole lamps appearing and disappearing in night shots since I was young. It always boggled me that they had them only in nighttime scenes and in the day time they're just gone.
Fantastic video about lamps. Funny that the lamps appeared in the night time, but disappeared in the daytime. Looks like Britt wanted the steam team to have the same lamp position as Thomas has. And I get why they stuck with the same Thomas position, maybe because they are struggling with putting the lamp on because you can see the wire. Must be a big pain in the butt to try to make the lambs work. And I agree with you that Stepney’s lamp should be on his lamp irons. Before I don’t even know what they’re called or what they’re used for. And then change in the dark, why would the writers put that in? And why would the writer say buffer and not lamp iron?
The “light” headcode would obscure the character’s face. Especially on someone like Stepney whose face is very low and close to his running board. Imagine the entirety of Stepney Gets Lost with a giant lamp blocking his face the entire episode because “he wasn’t pulling any coaches”. The kids wouldn’t understand WHY the lamp was in the way and the general public would see it as an error, so I can see why they did away with them
8:58 I have something I noticed that I can’t unsee. Look at Gordon’s and maybe Henry’s cylinders, they had been dremilled to fit the chassis. And that bloody carried over to their cgi models!!
The lamp on the tender is usually red to show that this is the rear of the train and they can use the front head code at the back if the engine is running back word
Actually Diesel 10's lamps are what I think are ditch lights, lights that help the crew see closer to the tracks. But for aesthetics, Diesel 10's lamps were moved further down compared to his basis. If you look at a photo of a Class 42 in real life, they have the lamps situated at where I assume would be under his cheekbones.
I think headcodes were thrown out the window just for the sake of the engines having a lamp, like a little spotlight for them. Most diesel engines like Mavis don't even need to have headcode lamps as they have little electric lamp boxes built onto her basis. I might be ignorant but I don't think other countries have headcodes so they just had a nice big spotlight lamp bolted onto them. Hell it's a pain to model headcodes onto model trains because lamps are usually glued onto our models and we haven't really got to the stage of magnetic headcodes!
As an American, I find headcodes weirdly interesting. Though, it’s hard to remember all of them. Also, most of our lamps (when it comes to steam locomotives) are either on the top or in the middle of the smoke box. However, the Union Pacific’s Big Boys and Challengers and a few streamlined locomotives sort of have a lamp in the middle on the bottom towards the cowcatcher/pilot. The headcode is basically pointless in the U.S. and North America in general. Instead, we have something called “Markers”. They aren’t used nowadays but back then every locomotive had them. They had 3 colors, white/yellow meant “Extra” (an example would be empty cars/wagon, a single locomotive, an excursion, etc.), green meant regular train (normal freight and passenger), and red meant end of the train. Cabooses had them as well. There are also a few type of specific lamps that are very familiar to North Americans but not to the rest of the world. One is called a mars or gyro light, it basically just sways around and side to side. The current one used is called a ditch light, it’s actually 2 lights and how it works is basically one flashes and then the other flashes as well. All diesel locomotives that are built nowadays are required to have them.
MOHAMMED GEEDI: Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Duck, Diesel, Donald, Douglas, Bill, Ben, BoCo, Oliver, Mavis, Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty, Duncan, Duke, Smudger, George, Stepney, D261, Arry, Bert, Derek, Bertram, Splatter, Dodge, Salty, Harvey, Emily, Fergus, Arthur, Murdoch, Spencer, Mighty Mac, Molly, Neville, Dennis, Freddie, Rosie, Whiff, Billy, Hank and Flora should have lamps and headcodes during Seasons 1 to 7 of the Classic Series, Seasons 8 to 12 of the HiT Era, and Seasons 13 to 16 of the Nitrogen Trilogy.
It's surprising how a minor decision made by the show's crew would have a major impact on the rest of the show. This video might make you seem nitpicky, but it did teach me about what railway lamps mean in real life! But you are right, it would have been more logicable if they kept the lamps consistent throughout the show.
5:54 the black tape is called a "brake pipe" this allows air flow and vacuum flow though out the entire train when the Driver is ready to apply or release the combination brake edit Paxton's Head code is "Scaring off naughty Diesels
Iirc the correct shunting light for diesel electric shunters would be a white light on the left and a red light on the right. I wouldn't worry too much about headcodes for non-steam engines as from the 50-60's onwards they were gradually fazed out with the introduction of computer signalling and on-board train trackers. (Also narrow gauge railways like the Talyllyn don't typically have headcodes and just require a visible front lamp when running trains. Source: Talyllyn Rly staff)
Maybe they stopped and the drivers took off the lamps when it was no longer night time. Or the guards or whatever walk on the footplate and took off the lamp while they were pulling their trains
1:41 uh… I think you got the illustrations mixed up. henry being sick was from thomas’ train, and he didn’t pull a goods train he pulled a passenger train. thomas taking goods was from thomas and the trucks, and the goods train wasn’t henry’s it was edward’s. I mean I get these stories are from the same book but still.
List of foreign engines: • Hiro • Victor • Bash • Dash • Ferdinand • Logan • Porter All of these are fron countries that dont use UK Headcodes, all American locomotives have lamps in the center
Good video, I loved how they added Gordon’s express lamps in season 23. Also question: for Donald and Douglas’ snowplowing consist, what would the headcode be for that?
I think next time I will a draw Thomas character, I will add the head codes that associates with the characters. Like obvious examples, Thomas will have the Branchline head code, Gordon's head code will be the Express, Henry will have Perishable etc etc. After watching this video, it comes to show the little things can make a big difference. If they were able to use the correct head codes more often, that tiny little detail can add so much to the character. It does say a lot about who they are, don't you think?
Thanks for making this, I actually didn’t know much about headcodes before this. Also the bit about James in the Dark made me puzzled, as I haven’t watched that episode in ages and forgot how dumb it was.
I think most of the time when the headcodes don't make sense (especially in the CGI series), it's because it isn't supposed an actual headcode but just a headlamp for illumination. And that's where the show's modelers just did what they knew: A lamp on the top of the engine. Because the CGI show was produced in the US.
