The bogies aren't interchangeable and I'm prtetty sure it's just an orientation indciation so you know which one goes where. There's no preferred direction of operation, though it's not uncommon for a loco (even a symettrical one like this) to run better in one diretion than another.

Cheers


Chris

I have five 221 locos, all old ones, 3 pole motors. No arrow on the bottom of any of mine, but you do need to put the correct bogie at the right end or it will run in the opposite direction to all your other locos.

You can see a touch of wear from the electrical contact to the main chassis under good lighting. Which indicates the correct bogie at the right end.

But I have occasionally not paid enough attention & put the bogies at the wrong end.



P.S. The 221 is a fantastic loco, my favourite, very easy to add mass for increased pulling performance for longer trains. Get a few fishing lead weights & bash them to size & cut with scissors. A bit of nail varnish, tape etc if there is an electrical contact issue with the lead.

This arrow is only important on electrics. It must point to the right if you want to run it from the pantographs. It's so that the rail common to both controllers connects to the correct side of the locomotive. Get it wrong and there's no circuit.

I always assumed that this arrow on the bottom of a 216 diesel must be there because of some shared tooling in the factory.

The body and chassis of the Ludmilla aren't symettrical, so maybe something to do with that?

Yes! Have a great weekend!


Chris