Headcodes

There are several different Types of headcodes orignally they were simple lamps or white plates on the front of steam trains to tell signallers what it was hauling,

Later on they switched to phyiscal lights mounted within the White plates

Later on around the mid 60s proper number and letter headcodes were introduced these were often part of the train litterally cut into the front

by the early 80s however digital systems were starting to come in to more promant use its also an interesting note that BR trains up until then often ran off a be seen and not see, meaning that they often didn't have headlights in the front this can be seen in all the above images with the 2 holes in the front of the Class 40 at the top right being for the horns not headlights however with headcodes being replaced BR decided it would be easiest to simple swap the headcode board out for marker lights and headlights

Each headcode had its own meanings

Each letter of the 60s - 70s headcodes has a meaning shown below

Type of Train and prioritys as a result	Running Region
1: Express train	E: Eastern
2: Ordinary passenger train	L: Anglia
3: Freight Train	M: Midland
4: Freight train Can only run at 75mph	O: Southern
5: Empty coaching stock train	S: Scotland
6: Freight train Can only run at 60mph	V: Western
7: Freight train Can only run at 45mph
8: Freight train Can only run at 35mph
9: Eurostar's Private number
0: Light Loco, Train running without carriages

Third and Fourth Numbers refer to specific services running that day for example the 2O49 would be a stopping passenger service in the south of england with the 49 being it sceduled time and destination