And the dummy of the day award goes to ....

[LASteve]

... me.

I've been testing my new trackwork by playing with running the new Dapol CL 50 (DCC fitted) that I got just before Christmas. The loco runs like a charm, but I was a little bemused that the forward lighting didn't seem to be working, although the rear lights and the cab lighting work just fine.

There are all kinds of dip-switches to play around with, recommended function mapping and CV values in the manual, but nothing seemed to make any difference. I read up on NeXT18 (thank you, @jpendle) looked at other Dapol NeXT18 issues, messed around with latching/non-latching on F2, and still no dice.

Then the penny dropped. I have an unrefurbished CL50 model which means ... no forward headlight. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting to happen! In my defence though, the headcode is lit, but is so faint it doesn't look like it is.

I'm going to get a drink. I do know an AWFUL lot about the NeXT18 decoders though!

[Bealman]

That's like looking for your glasses when they're on yer head 

Ah, you'll enjoy the drink more.