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I saw a SWT service yesterday with only tail lights on while moving forward in service. The driver probably forgot to set them and it was in daylight.

It was unlikely to cause any issues?

Very unlikely to cause any issues in daylight.  I doubt there's a driver out there who hasn't forgotten to change them over at least once in their career.  I think the only time it's permissible to have tail lights on when moving forward is for a wrong direction movement of less than 1/4 of a mile.

Happens regularly, paricularly on ECS in the early morning!. Station staff will usually gesture to the driver (usually works quickly and without fuss), or will call the signaller who will stop the train to advise the driver (too much paperwork). One tail light out and you advise Control - no need to stop the train. Both lights out and you advise the signaller, who stops the train.

I saw exactly that happen one morning at Nailsea & Backwell Station, a few years ago: a Bristol-bound 143 approaching the station with red lights illuminated - an off-duty driver waiting for that train into work quietly moved towards the platform edge and made discrete pointing gestures at the offending lights to the train driver.  Result: lights changed from red to white, a nod of acknowledgement from the driver to his colleague on the platform, and nobody else (other than me and possibly one other commuter) any the wiser.  ;)

I always vaguely assumed that the appropriate lamps would be illuminated when the direction of travel is selected. Is this just something that has not been considered worth the bother, or is there a good reason for not implementing it?

Well, I suppose that it might cause problems in situations where you're coupled to another train, plus if your travelling in the wrong direction to assist a failed train then you need to have headlights on at both ends.  Also, there are occasions (when moving in a depot for example) when you only want marker lights and not the headlights.  In Reading depot (and some others I'm sure) movements also take place with both marker and tail lights on.  So, I guess there's a few too many variables to make it worthwhile to wire in to the electrical systems of the train.

Modern trains (the Class 180s being an example) automatically extinguish/switch on the tail lights when you couple or uncouple to another unit, so in that respect at least it's automatic.

They always used to on my Hornby HST set.   ;D

You don't want any sort of failure in an automatic system to result in the illumination of tail lights in the middle of a consist either.

There is rolling stock out there with automatic lights - class 375, 376, 377, 378 and 379 Bombardier EMUs have them, and they can be over-ridden for shunting/wrong direction movements too.

Drivers let other drivers know about lighting errors by tapping their own heads or switching their own lights to another setting and back quickly.

OK, I didn't know that - thanks for the info.

And dimmed as the speed decreased :-)

When I had a layout it had a lot of electrical gremlins. Sort of ruined it a bit. Dodgy fishplates, oxidation on the track surfaces, power connecting clips etc.

I wondered whether rechargable batteries powering the motors (and operated by remote control) would have worked better. Especially on large layouts with the voltage drop.

"When I had a layout it had a lot of electrical gremlins. Sort of ruined it a bit. Dodgy fishplates, oxidation on the track surfaces, power connecting clips etc"

It is called ' adding realism'

Maybe you should consider going DCC?! #OopssWrongForum

 ;D