Thomas Lamps & Headcodes - EXPLAINED!
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2024
- What are those lights on Thomas? And do they mean anything? Well, they do!!! Lamps and Headcodes have ALWAYS been apart of Thomas. And today, we are going through it ALL!
Thumbnail lamp edit by @asodorlife
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:49 Classic Lamps
11:06 CGI Lamps
19:38 Headcodes & Lamps
20:37 Conclusion
The line "but it's just a theory, thomas theory" was actually written and edited BEFORE MatPat left UA-cam.
Had I known he was leaving, I probably wouldn't have referenced it, just FYI 😅
Someone’s gotta Cathryn the torch.
How the fuck did autocorrect get ‘Cathryn’.
I love how The Unlucky Tug and you posted same style videos. Noice👍 Tug: The number, You: The lamps. neat.
Anyway. Usually there's like 50 replies on your comments. Oh well they'll come later. Hee hee I own the 3rd and 4th comment hehehehehehe
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)
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
Now I'm imagining Thomas having a huge stash of foreign lamps.
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?
Plus merch. You could sell Thomas with 10 different headcodes
@@decbagreed
Because, nobody cares anymore.
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."
no its the "paxton wth happend in this episode" lamp code
@@Kyobloxer21no, it’s the “merry christmas diesel, don’t run it’s your buddy the ghost of christmas future”
I think its the "party" headcode
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
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.
Sometimes he was pulling boat trains to and from Brendam. Those have to be fast and make minimal stops in order for passengers to catch their boats.
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
In the USA, Locomotive lamps are mainly for lighting up the track ahead.
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)
@@SoldierFox1393it's because they inclosed the rail corridor with fences.
@@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.
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.
They were standardised in 1923, which made light engine bottom centre
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.
You'd still need lamps for night running as the discs emit no light
I don't think they knew about headcodes tbh.
@@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.
the TV series was was like "rule 55, we only broke that many?"
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.
@@FatHat-qi6hz Got the reference!!! *;)*
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.
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.
@@VivianMakin Cool!
At a museum I volunteered at, we used flags on the engine and caboose/last coach. It's in the rulebook too, not just an aesthetic.
@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
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
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!
4:57, even after Matt patt retires, people will forever make that joke
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.
I actually did research for certain headcodes for a roblox video I had planned, fascinating stuff!
The perishable goods headcode can also be used for mail/post.
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.
Paxton's headcode is a ghostly one
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
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*
You forgot the V for victory head code that Bullied Pacific ‘Winston Churchill’ used when pulling its namesakes funeral train
What headcode was that?
@@Canadiansteamengine43 Just a V
@@Canadiansteamengine43apparently it means “western”. As in, western routes like Portsmouth, Bristol, etc. Well, at least according to google.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
Thank you for telling us about head codes because I didn't even know they're even existed
"But it's just a theory, A THOMAS THEORY"
We should never forget about matpat 😢
Aside from lamp and Headcodes,
13:19, I'm not Henry, I'm BALLOONS!😂😂
got me😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I've always wondered why so many steam engines that were introduced in the nitrogen era had lamps on their funnels
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?
I actually never knew head codes were a thing! You learn something new every day.
The way you say baby lamp is adorable lol
The real life accurate lamp placement for Connor and Catlin would be on their noses.
That would be true for a lot of characters actually.
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.
Thanks for the help with the headlamps situation! Couldn’t have figured it out without you!
Also for those wondering, the theme used in the intro and outro was the Bridge Cafe Band theme
More specifically, InstrumentManiac's version of it.
I had no idea the lamps in Thomas had so much depth! This is simply amazing!
Good to see you are learning/educating others!
Paxton's headcode is the headcode for "Engine dressed up as a holiday spirit to teach their colleague a lesson about being an asshole to everyone."
Dude, I love the lamp animation at the end of the video, it's fantastic.
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.
Actually Scruff did got a lamp, I saw him with a lamp in Pouty James.
I always learn something new from this channel
I honestly dont mind them not being accurate with the headcodes. But i loved something that you brought up in this video, the idea that thomas should wear accessories that other engines wore in the country that he's in. It sounds awesome!
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 can’t wait for this!
I’m guessing Paxton’s head code is the “We can’t make this shit up” head code.
As a child i had a phase of obsession in symmetry, and Thomas' lamp allways particularly bogged me. I never considered any actual reason for the peculiarity placement. Thank you for enlightening me in the matter.
Interesting video. As someone who strongly loves British steam engines, I especially like the white discs for daytime trains and their head code meanings.
Will you ever do a theory on
Henrey's Special Coal and him living the sheds for no reason
I still wish he didn’t leave. Henry is one of Sodor’s most important engines, so you’d think they’d keep him in the most important shed.
Love the matpat reference but he will be retiring
That is interesting! I did not know they were headcodes for different engines! I remember seeing that in the early series of the show.
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
Okay, I knew about lamp and Lamp irons but it was fascinating to learn about the codes and continuity.
I know alot about steam engines but today i never knew about lamp headcodes thanks for teaching us this man!!!
amazing work
Paxton's head code is what i like to call the "scare diesel into being a kinder engine"
You do realise that Clappy Claw's Class the 42 warships had the lamps below their running board right
Great video way to informative and the diesel 10 joke at the end had me dying with laughter
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.
I’ll take this to note for my Roblox videos
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)
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 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!
thank you for this video now i can slowly learn this :D
British steam locomotives are so awesome
Am I the only one who thought the cut at 13:18 was extremely and unnecessarily funny XD
As an American, I find headcodes weirdly interesting. Though, it’s hard to remember all of them.
Love the shout-out to the Tomy Henry lamps because I completely agree. That's the Henry headcode.
21:12 It's the Christmas headcode for whenever an engine is active duering Christmas
BALLOONS, WE MUST HAVE BALOONS!!!!
As for North America, we don't use headcodes in the US. We have classification lamps and/or flags that do that job - lamps at night, flags during the day.
These lamps and/or flags are mounted on the sides of the locomotive's running board, and come in two colors for trains, white and green.
Green: Scheduled train which had been broken into two or more sections, each with their own power. The lead train would not have any flags or lights, and any following consists comprising the same slot on the timetable would have green flags or lights.
White: White flags or lights indicated an "Extra" train, or one that was not scheduled or one that had deviated from the schedule by a certain amount of time. Also, many freights were timetabled as "Extra", and many steam excursion locomotives today also have the symbol for an "Extra", that being the letter X, on their numberboards. Example: X4014 is read as Extra 4014.
Red flags or lights were used as end-of-train markers, and blue flags and lamps (aka "do-not-move-this-equipment-under-penalty-of-termination" flags) were used by the repair shop to mark rolling stock and locomotives undergoing repairs.
Also, as a side note, I don't believe any rolling stock (such as Marion the steam shovel) would get a headcode since they were towed. Therefore I believe her "lamp" is actually a floodlight or work light to illuminate her working area as opposed to a headlight. Similarly, Flynn's lamps are likely spotlights, and Winston's lights appear to be add-on vintage headlights, not related to the railway.
Also, to echo another viewer, Diesel 10 also appears to have American-style ditch lights.
Also, in relation to the exposed wires in the model series, I believe that they would have been mistaken by the casual viewer for extra detailing - cables, ropes, hoses, etcetera - on the running board. Pretty common for trains to have those bits and pieces there. Remember that they didn't have the high-def cameras and TVs of today that can pick out those tiny imperfections in extreme clarity, all they had was the old standard definition cameras and TVs. It was a time where everything didn't have to be perfect.
4:38 My theory is that the drivers bring the lamps in the cab, then install them off-screen at sunset and uninstall them when it's shedtime.
19:31 international lamps are about seeing where you're going lol
I have reached enlightenment on one of the most crucial locomotive details, and will proceed to memorize all lamp codes for maximum engine continuity.
Bro became a whole Christmas tree with that headcode💀💀💀21:11
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.
13:17 “I’m not Henry....I’m *balloons*
Bruh I spat out my drink then. I wasn’t expecting that 😂
"I'm not Henry... I'm a balloon!" How do you even come up with this stuff lol
17:44
I actually wish that Thomas was also given the Royal Engine lamp headcode.
Because technically like Duchess, he was actually attending a special event that of course involves royalty.
(Not to mention that considering Micheal White had written that episode I feel like he could've given a helping hand in correcting the lamp headcodes)
In the good ol' us of a, there are 3 places you'd put the "main" lamp either on the center of the running board, built/attached to the smokebox door, or on top of the smokebox. Since (afaik) we don't really have a "freight type" headlamp system, just a system for telling what schedule it's on with marker lights. Hope this helps.
Neat!
You missed one: when Henry went to collect the flying kipper, he had a pick up goods headcode.
Was there a link that show what it is because the only way I could know is to look on images but I couldn't find the Royal head code so how did you find out how?
Nice video, I think one of the reasons as to why they stopped giving the engines head codes, aside from simply not caring, it's also because some of the head codes, like the light engine head code would obscure the face, and likely wanted things to be consistent. That and it being an easy way to recuse stock footage, at least in the model era, there's also well as possibly that promotional material had something to do with it, as most pics show the characters by themselves, so kids would likely be confused as to why the lamp is in a different position in the actual episodes, compared to the promos, where they would have the light engine head code. And then there's also the fact, in CGI, they would have to make individual renders of all the characters with different codes and with out the codes, so they could animate with workman applying the lamps to the engines. Which given the time constrains and animation budget they likely thought it wasn't worth doing.
Bash, Dash, Ferdinand, and Porter all had top-mounted headlights because they were also based on American prototypes. As head-codes were an exclusively British steam-era phenomenon, locomotives from the rest of the world almost always mounted a lamp either atop the smokebox or in the center of it, and the latter definitely wouldn't work in Thomas since that'd be dead center on their face. Logan is kind of an interesting case as his real life prototype had only one lamp iron, which corresponds to the ordinary passenger head-code despite being a shunter. Also given that head-codes are made possible by the fact that British locomotives didn't permanently mount their lamps, it could be assumed that the reason the lamps aren't always seen is because they're being taken off and stowed when not in use.
I'm glad you mentioned that season 14 episode, I was literally thinking about it because I remember watching that episode like 9 or 10 years ago
Also, Paxton's christmas lights are a type of headcode known as Undocumented Christmas Joke Headcode
...jk I made that up :)
Very educational and entertaining video! Where is the reaction clip from at 13:19? Is it an Unlucky Tug video?
Nah it’s not an unlucky tug clip it’s from someone else
Thomas: now i kindly want to ask you all a little question that i have had for countless years, and that is:
WHY DO YOU ALL KEEP USING MY HEADCODE?!
I think the reason so many of the lamps are on top of some of the characters is because with cars, American locomotives, and industrial engines (that don’t need to listen to headcodes because they don’t run on the main line or any branchlines) when you *add* a lamp you normally mount it on the place that’ll illuminate the tracks/road ahead the best; on the top. The lamp being on the side of the engine is because in my opinion it looks like somebody holding a flashlight. Marion’s lamp reminds me of attaching a flashlight to the side of a hard hat too. It makes sense design-wise to make the engines more anthropomorphic in any way you could, but I agree, it’s very off-putting at times. It’d be nice if every main cast engine had their own unique head code, to make it seem like they have free will over where they are, or that the crews just put lamps wherever they think is best/which is easiest to access when switching them out.
The lamp irons on the buffer beam have always been a complete standout
In EVERY Thomas production I do, I try to make sure headcodes are accurate, even going so far as to use my book on headcodes.
Sometimes I make mistakes and sometimes it's just not possible, but I do the best I can
This probably explains how half the time trains are going down the wrong line and having accidents.
I never knew headcodes existed until now and after realizing these exist it will really affect how I see the show unless I forget about it.
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?
I always do that to them when I am illustrating them or when I'm playing BTWF or Sodor Online.
Interesting thing about lamps and headcoats. To be honest I don't mind every single character the steam team in particular having their lamps on their left from season 18 onwards after a couple of occasions that they would use lamps in previous eras.
18:00 yeah I definitely think that the animators should really gone to any heritage railways or spoken to some railway consultants or even heritage railway employees about the lamp headcodes.