Two way lighting circuit gone wrong

[Tony Good]

That wiring does sound odd. But there is no way to end up with the lights in series (as must be happening to have them glow dim) unless one of the lights isn't connected probably to neutral. if both lights have one side connected to neutral then they work or they don't (or it goes bang) so my guess is the feed to the second light is wrong.

Pat, thank you very much for your inspiring reply - it turned a light on, literally.
I went through exactly what you said, getting each stage right and now it all works perfectly. Still not sure quite what went wrong but pulling everything apart and testing it all before re-assembly made total sense.
Thanks everyone else who helped also - it can be a very daunting time to get involved with someone else's electrics, next time I'll steer clear
Cheers all - Tony.

 

[DPG]

Glad to hear all is working. Daz

 

[Darkwood]

Im going to put this thread to bed now as it has run its course and cannot go any further, OP has resolved his issue with the members help and more importantly has learned not to dabble in such tasks in the future, a wise conclusion to his experience .