As far as locos are concerned , British steam engines lights were small paraffin handlamps only lit after dark. Even in the 1980s diesel loco marker lights were barely visible in daylight - to me models with working lights look unrealistically bright for this period
Semaphore signals were also lit by paraffin lamps behind coloured glazing, and only visible in darkness. Added to which there was such a vast variety of signalling practice from so many pregrouping companies in Britain , most of which survived to closure/resignalling with colourlights , and that the permutations and types of signals needed at each location would mean a lot of "bespoke" items , and it perhaps explains the lack of ready made working examples (Colourlights are available)
I seem to recall working semaphore signals came 2nd in last years MREMag poll , only to be greeted with the comment that the result was meaningless because it didn't say which signals , and the claim that it would be impossible to get modellers to agree on a single type for mass production . In other words , the result was kicked into touch. Personally, I'd say LMS/BR upper quadrants would suit most people , or at least be a very reasonable compromise...
Semaphore signals were also lit by paraffin lamps behind coloured glazing, and only visible in darkness. Added to which there was such a vast variety of signalling practice from so many pregrouping companies in Britain , most of which survived to closure/resignalling with colourlights , and that the permutations and types of signals needed at each location would mean a lot of "bespoke" items , and it perhaps explains the lack of ready made working examples (Colourlights are available)
I seem to recall working semaphore signals came 2nd in last years MREMag poll , only to be greeted with the comment that the result was meaningless because it didn't say which signals , and the claim that it would be impossible to get modellers to agree on a single type for mass production . In other words , the result was kicked into touch. Personally, I'd say LMS/BR upper quadrants would suit most people , or at least be a very reasonable compromise...
