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like the headlights). Remember to press F7 to temporarily turn off the ditch lights
when approaching a station or an oncoming train as they are BLINDING, and we
currently do not offer HO scale sunglasses for your customers. For just the American
units, when you apply the horn using F2 the ditch lights will flash until a few seconds
after the audio stops. However, due to Canadian regulations, GO and AMT ditch
lights won’t flash at all. Sorry, eh.
F7 Dim the Headlights
When approaching a station stop or an oncoming train, press F7 to dim your
lights and turn off your ditch lights – you don’t want to blind your passengers or the
oncoming train’s engineers. See our note above about sunglasses. It will also turn off
any other potentially blinding lights you may be running. Not dimming your lights
is a direct violation of what’s commonly referred to as “Rule 17”. The internet can
answer all your questions about said rule.
F8 Startup/Mute/Shutdown
While your locomotive is stationary, pressing F8 will begin the startup sequence of
the engine sounds. If your locomotive is silent but already in motion, pressing F8 will
skip the startup sequence and simply turn on the sound. If the sound is already on,
press F8 to mute the sounds. If your locomotive is stationary, then you will hear the
engine shut down sequence before the sound turns off.
If you have a DCC system that only allows eight functions, you can remap the
functions following the guidelines in the ESU LokSound V5 manual, which can
be downloaded from the support section of our web site. Or you can upgrade
to a newer DCC system, which may be less stressful.
F9 Classification/Marker Lights
When you press F9, your white class lights will turn on. Hitting F9 a second time will
cycle the lights to Green, a third hit will turn the lights red and finally, hit F9 again to
cycle the lights off. White Class lights were used to signify a train was running as an
extra in territory where train orders and schedules still applied. Green Class lights
were to signify that there was an additional (usually just a second) section of the
same train number, also in train order territory. The Red Markers indicate the rear
and are part of the definition of a train by rule book: “An engine, with or without
cars, displaying markers.” Without markers, it is simply not a train.
Duh
.
F10 Brake
F10 works just like the brakes on a real engine. Press F10 and you put on the
brakes. Turn off F10 and the brakes come off, so you can start moving again. ESU’s
Drive Hold feature has made the brake function more popular, so we’ve moved it up
