Hello. I have a question regarding headcodes associated with steam trains during the BR era. Basically I've read that, for diesel locomotives, 4 digit headcodes were introduced in like 1962 and these existed side by side with previous disc headcodes. However for steam trains (which I believe ceased to run in like 1968) I seem to find conflicting information. I've read that they still used lamps, but I am not sure if the headcodes corresponded to diesel locomotive disc headcodes. Also the website that mentions this says that they were classified by letters (eg class A, B, C - as nowadays class 1, class 2), which seems very unusual as I believe british railways swapped to distinguishing trains by numbers in like late 1950s or early 1960s. Also when looking at some vintage videos from the 1960s some steam locomotives appear to be running with white discs (
- video link) (clearly contrary to what the other site mentions, but I think the video is set in southern region so it might be a bit different there). Could someone clarify this issue?
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British Railway - Steam Headcodes
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StephenHunter
Established Member
I believe that sometimes the headcodes would be stuck on the front of the locomotive.
Yes, I've seen some early examples of this with GWR. Their headcodes are considered early modern headcodes from what I've heard. And if you mean diesel locos then there were obviously the 4 digit headcodes displayed at the front and back, later switched permanently to 0000.
Gloster
Veteran Member
Firstly, bear in mind that what is showing above is a Southern Region train and that région/railway differed from the others.
Steam trains carried a headcode using a pattern of lamps or white discs, the latter in daylight only, that indicated the class of train. The class started at A, which was the most important passenger expresses, and went down to around K, which the slowest goods trains. (The exact definition varied over the years.)
Around 1960 this was changed to 1 to 9 and 0, the last being light locos (locos on their own). That was all a steam loco could display with lamps, but as the full new system consisted of four digits (number-letter-number-number) steam trains sometimes carried a frame with the remaining three digits or just chalk marks. This seems to have been most commonly on holiday expresses on summer Saturdays to the West of England. Most steam-hauled just continued with the pattern of lamps.
In the Southern Region the lamps had long displayed the route that a train was to take, not its class. An express and a local goods going the same way would show the same pattern of lamps or discs.
Many early diesels did not have headcode boxes and could not carry the four-character headcodes. They had built in lights and flip-over half discs that could show the same lampcodes as the steam locos.
EDIT: Up to around 1960 all locomotives, except on the Southern Region, could only display the class of train, not its individual identity. Thereafter newer diesels were able to display its individual identity, but steam locomotives, which finished in 1968, and older diesels still could not. We still muddled through.
Headcodes ceased to be used on the front of locomotives, except the specifically Southern Region types, in 1976. The were changed to 0O00 or four blanks (or similar) and later plated over or replaced by marker lights.
Steam trains carried a headcode using a pattern of lamps or white discs, the latter in daylight only, that indicated the class of train. The class started at A, which was the most important passenger expresses, and went down to around K, which the slowest goods trains. (The exact definition varied over the years.)
Around 1960 this was changed to 1 to 9 and 0, the last being light locos (locos on their own). That was all a steam loco could display with lamps, but as the full new system consisted of four digits (number-letter-number-number) steam trains sometimes carried a frame with the remaining three digits or just chalk marks. This seems to have been most commonly on holiday expresses on summer Saturdays to the West of England. Most steam-hauled just continued with the pattern of lamps.
In the Southern Region the lamps had long displayed the route that a train was to take, not its class. An express and a local goods going the same way would show the same pattern of lamps or discs.
Many early diesels did not have headcode boxes and could not carry the four-character headcodes. They had built in lights and flip-over half discs that could show the same lampcodes as the steam locos.
EDIT: Up to around 1960 all locomotives, except on the Southern Region, could only display the class of train, not its individual identity. Thereafter newer diesels were able to display its individual identity, but steam locomotives, which finished in 1968, and older diesels still could not. We still muddled through.
Headcodes ceased to be used on the front of locomotives, except the specifically Southern Region types, in 1976. The were changed to 0O00 or four blanks (or similar) and later plated over or replaced by marker lights.
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Sir Felix Pole
Established Member
The SR continued with route discs to the end of steam - your video shows a Salisbury / Plymouth line train. The WR used three digit train numbers - most useful on Summer Saturdays at stations like Exeter to identify trains running out of course! The first digit then became a letter with the BR scheme - the class of train being identified by the headlamps.
The 4COR/405 units from 1937 had 2-number roller blind route indicators (which would be carried over for a lot longer to the 1950s and 60s SR multiple units). I wonder why they chose 4 characters for the diesels.
What did the lamp codes on steam locos look like?
What did the lamp codes on steam locos look like?
Sun Chariot
Established Member
Gloster
Veteran Member
That one with A90 is 1A90, but the 1 is shown by the lamps. The diesel just before has the new four-character headcode, the one just after (of the same class) has the old flip-over discs/lights.
At least by the BR era only white discs or lamps were used for headcodes. The constituent companies of the Southern had used a range of different shaped and coloured discs and lamps in complex combininations to indicate specific routes and train status.
An alternative method of route description was inherited from the Caledonian which used semaphore "bow tie" indicators to differentiate trains, especially between those going to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although officially phased out by the LMS, the use of these indicators (largely confined to ex Caledonian routes) did continue patchily until the end of steam.
An alternative method of route description was inherited from the Caledonian which used semaphore "bow tie" indicators to differentiate trains, especially between those going to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although officially phased out by the LMS, the use of these indicators (largely confined to ex Caledonian routes) did continue patchily until the end of steam.
It helps to start with what headcodes are for. They convey information about the train, usually one or more of these:
- class of train
- route of train
- individual identity of train, including class and route
A express passenger
B local passenger
C parcels, ECS, express freight
D express freight
E express freight
F express freight not having continuous brake
G light engine (could include brake van)
H through freight
J mineral and local freight
K mineral and local freight
The headcode discs were mostly used for class of train, but some areas had local systems. These tended to be intensively worked mainly passenger trains, where there were few long distance services to/from other areas. Here headcode discs were used to convey route information not class information. The Southern Region is the best example but there are others.
In this system individual train identification was unusual, but it did happen, particularly with summer Saturday and excursion traffic. These trains would have individual numbers in the Working timetable or Special Traffic Notice, that could be displayed by sticking labels onto a wooden board that could be attached to a lamp bracket.
The BR standard four character number-alpha-number-number headcode system was first devised in 1958. This meant that the earliest diesel locos, including nearly all of the pilot scheme, were ordered and delivered with steam loco style discs. The first locomotive with a 4 character headcode display was Brush Type 2 D5530 delivered in May 1959.
The official switch to four character headcodes was the June 1961 timetable change, though there was some blurring at the edges. From that point class of train was numeric as follows:
1 express passenger
2 local passenger
3 parcels, ECS
4 express freight
5 express freight
6 express freight
7 express freight not having continuous brake
8 through freight
9 mineral and local freight
0 light engine (could include brake van)
Locos that did not have a four character headcode display usually continued to display the class or route of train as before. This classification has had some subsequent revisions.
There were early indications of the end of displaying headcodes. The class 87s were built without headcode panels, and entered traffic in 1973. 9009 had a domino headcode at one end in late 1972 and the other end early in 1973.
norbitonflyer
Established Member
The Southern stuck with two characters, showing the route only, even for its bespoke diesel and electric locos.
The slightly older Warship diesel loco with 'flip-over' discs actually has the framing built in between the discs for the same steam loco-style of three plates for the train number, not in use, you can just about make it out in the film, whereas for steam locos the frame was mounted for each trip. Only mainstream express passenger services on the Western Region used this style. You would commonly find both odd numberplates and frames against the back wall of any WR loco shed, not infrequently bent beyond repair. The Warship locos with discs were rebuilt with the 4-character numbers of the remainder at their first major works visit after the change of policy.
norbitonflyer
Established Member
I can't think of any exceptions in the pilot scheme itself, although a few did have four character headcode panels fitted in later life (Classes 22, 23, 29, 41) amd many of the follow-on orders of the pilot scheme classes had them fitted from new.
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Parts of it are Southern, but other bits are filmed in Manchester and siomewhere on the Western Region (lower quadrant signals and Warship diesels, which didn't arrive at Waterloo until the Exeter line was transferred to the WR some years later)
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I was thinking of D800, D801 and D802.
Though I had forgotten that D800, D801 and D802 also had discs.
It was actually up to D812 that initially had discs. The first with 4-character indicators was D813.
norbitonflyer
Established Member
Parts of it are Southern, but other bits are filmed in Manchester and siomewhere on the Western Region (lower quadrant signals and Warship diesels, which didn't arrive at Waterloo until the Extere line was transferred to the WR some years later)
Gloster
Veteran Member
It was D800-D813 that were delivered with discs. Those from D814 up were delivered with headcode boxes and most, if not all, of the earlier locos were rebuilt with them
Another steam era form of ID was a single number variously called a trip or target number (sometimes with a ‘T’ prefix’) used for local freight traffic by places such as Devons Road where it continued into diesel days.
This was much like the underground’s train numbers in applying to the whole days work. The LTS section also used them on passenger steam locos on odd occasions such as bank holidays.
This was much like the underground’s train numbers in applying to the whole days work. The LTS section also used them on passenger steam locos on odd occasions such as bank holidays.
sprinterguy
Veteran Member
Diagram of BR headlamp codes shown below (from this webpage https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/techniques/locomotive-lamps-a-beginners-guide):
Big Jumby 74
Established Member
Just a minor point of order, said without malice, but the majority of 405's (SUB's) remained with their metal stencil headcode individual numbers to the end, only a small number had roller blind headcode modifications made, as far as I recall. Drivers of same, once at their penultimate station inbound to London, would often be seen to open the secondman's side windscreen which was hinged on the outer vertical side, lean out, and retrieve the stencil headcode numbers from their frame on the front of the cab. This was done to speed up the turn round at Victoria/Waterloo etc., but in some instances when trying to retrieve same, some drivers experienced butter fingers and the stencils ended up in the four foot - to be retrieved by other staff later in the day...
4COR
Member
And for the Southern Region, from 1944 on, details of steam headcodes (also used on pull-push driving ends) are here:
https://sremg.org.uk/headcodes/sheadcodes/04.html
Worth noting that the white discs also sometimes, but not always, had the diagram number stuck on them (or SPL for specials).
With the multiple unit headcodes here:
https://sremg.org.uk/headcodes/eheadcodes.html
sprinterguy
Veteran Member
Ah, yep, missed the context of the query with regard to Southern Region headcodes.
Ashley Hill
Established Member
The opening scenes from the Warship cab and signal box exterior are I believe Wootton Bassett West, although the box interior with the signalman pulling levers is a SR box!
Was it all four lamps for the royal train with the Queen/King on board?Diagram of BR headlamp codes shown below (from this webpage https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/techniques/locomotive-lamps-a-beginners-guide):
Gloster
Veteran Member
Yes, but this pattern could be used for others if the train was operated under Grove, the highest security level.
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