Are they just decoration?

[@Michaelgoestofrance]

Very interesting. I wonder if the same thing applied in the UK. Nowadays, when a locomotive is out-shopped in a special livery or for special use (tho not exclusively these two reasons), buffers are either totally painted or have these rings. I guess, nowadays, it must be for decorative purposes only.

[@pacificostudios]

Fun Fact: Due to the threat of air attack, all trains operating near the West Coast also had to use "blackout" shutters over their headlights. These restrictions continued even after most of the Japanese Navy was sunk. Similar restrictions were used along the East Coast, but there it was to avoid silhouetting ships sailing where U-Boats might attack them.

[@mailstorminurbox]

It looks very good, therefore, it must remain.

[@schienenlaufer697]

That is a question of the individual taste... And when you imagine their original purpose, you will judge the rings as superficial.

[@mailstorminurbox]

@@schienenlaufer697 That is correct

[@uncipaws7643]

Note also that the shape of buffers corresponds to the length of the chassis, as longer cars overhang more in curves and buffers must still overlap sufficiently in such situations. Hence the wide rectangular buffers on long passenger cars.

[@wahngott4711]

ohh, I never considered that as the reason to why they have rectangular buffers, thanks for this!

[@Daan_0172]

Fun fact: the white rings weren’t even exclusive to German locomotives, many Dutch steam locomotives also got the white rings on the buffers during the German occupation. I can imagine this also happened in other occupied countries as well.

[@steelbridgemodels]

It certainly did, as the order to paint on these rings applied to occupied territories as well.

[@antonisauren8998]

Poland has them even on square buffers on locos in modern liveries sometimes. :)

[@rizalardiansyah4486]

Unpopular opinion: I actually prefer this 5 minutes format over a +15 minutes format. I love your content!

[@Axel_Andersen]

Me too. Too many of my favorite KZbinrs are trending to longer formats. I don't have the time to watch 30 min videos so I just skip them and watch them "later" ie may not ever get round to them. It is like back in the day when I taped something on VHS ... there was never a time when I did not have something more important or urgent to do than watch them tapes as I knew I could do it any time later ;) so the time never came and tapes are gathering dust while VHS player is slowly decaying.

[@genoobtlp4424]

@@Axel_Andersenthat’s why I started watching on double time (even went up to 2.7x at some point)…

[@schienennahverkehrDE]

I love both. And i would like to have both. A long Video and a TLDR version of it.

[@genoobtlp4424]

@@schienennahverkehrDE even better

[@steelbridgemodels]

Thank you all, that is very valuable feedback! To add to what has already been said, shorter videos make it also a lot easier for me to upload regularly. However, some topics simply don't work with a 5-minute format, so expect to see both in the future. I now just have to find a good balance between longer and shorter videos, I guess.

[@Chris1141992]

Habe deine Seite ,erst gerade endeckt,einfach klasse. Ich kenne eine Geischte aus Gelsenkirchen Bismarck 1976/77 bei dem Eisenbahnfreunde unter anden Joachim Schmidt diese Ringe auch extra an den 44ern angebracht haben. Viele Grüße mach weiter so.

[@lukasilskens2051]

Great Video. Short but informativ.

[@steelbridgemodels]

Thank you!

[@SalmanMentos]

I love how they look like googly eyes

[@JeffDM]

I was wondering if anyone else thought this.

[@SaxonIVKGames]

Very interesting video! After the war, were they only painted by the Bundesbahn or also by the GDR Reichsbahn?

[@vornamenachname727]

Same story for East Germanys DR.

[@steelbridgemodels]

Also in East Germany, they were still newly painted on locomotives, including new-built ones. My impression is, however, that they were not as common as they were in West Germany.

[@SaxonIVKGames]

​@@steelbridgemodels Alright, thank's! Now that I think of it, I have seen a BR 95 with white buffer outlines (and some other white highlights) in East Germany.

[@Mekaniskidiot]

In Denmark under occupation during ww2 most locomotives had the rings painted on.

[@Ph4nt0mK1t5un3Official]

I love your video's a lot. As someone who is in to German steam, but can't understand many German Documentary's on them. I'd love to see you make one about the BR 78.10. it's a very interesting locomotive which is based of a BR 38 with some special modifications

[@steelbridgemodels]

The BR 78.10 is indeed a very lovely oddity. I keep it in mind!

[@tolkamp1911]

Id love more videos about certain train parts and the explanation. Stuff like indusi on steamers would be interesting

[@GenericH0]

Awesome video ,till now i always thought they were just PURELY cosmetic on heritage trains Amazing Video keep producing such good content♡

[@justintang2294]

The buffer rings resemble cartoon eyes the more I look at them.

[@hvnterblack]

Nice.

[@ThePiquedPigeon]

I thought those circles were mean to make the buffers more noticeable for station workmen so that they don't get crushed between vehicles while connecting them.

[@tigershark4469]

Not only Germany had them, the Austrian federal railway (öbb) had them after war as well without connections to war.

[@TOAD69500]

On the topic of buffers I have noticed something strange about mainland European locos. The buffers are different and aren't symmetrical which has always bothered me. Ome buffer (I think usually the left one if looking at the front) is rounded while the other is flat, I can't help but notice it whenever I look at a Dutch German or other European loco. And I always wondered why this was the case.

[@spongebubatz]

Engines and wagons are couples rather tightly, the buffers touch. One side of the buffers on each side is rounded so that there aren’t any problems in curves, if they were flat and symmetrical there would be a lot of friction and wear and tear on the buffers

[@TOAD69500]

@@spongebubatz That makes sense, but I never understood why they made one flat in that case? Why not make both of them rounded like UK engines have, surely it's easier to just make one type of buffer instead of two, especially if the flat buffer is basically useless.

[@KR4FTW3RK]

I painted white rings by hand on my Märklin class 38 (5799) for the aesthetic. Now I feel weird about it knowing it was a war-measure xD

[@williamcarrington61]

Seems like a self imposed guilt Complex !

[@kyleJohn1997]

Some British Class 91 has white outlines on their buffers

[@elektronikvideos-bremen2873]

Perhaps you could explain why one buffer is curved and one is flat?

[@Game_Blox9999]

Why does the thumbnail look like Keralis's eyes?!? I definitely have HermitCraft on the brain! 😂

[@steelbridgemodels]

I didn't expect to find a Hermitcraft reference in the comments, but you do have a point! 😆

[@dieselelectricrazor377]

I thought that was just an aesthetic choice

[@einfachhonig6284]

seh ich das falsch, oder hast du immer einen der beiden Puffer mit flat und einen mit smooth shading auf der Fläche? Wenn das gewollt ist, warum?

[@steelbridgemodels]

Die Pufferteller in Fahrtrichtung links sind flach, rechts hingegen leicht gewölbt, wenn es das ist, was du meinst. Das Shading ist aber bei beiden identisch.

[@einfachhonig6284]

@@steelbridgemodels hihi, jetzt hab ich als Antwort quasi ein ganzes Video bekommen😂

[@Julia-i2m5u]

Those are buffers not rings