Some locos, like the P2K 2-8-8-2’s especially, have long and visible bell pull ropes. I have used blackened copper wire for years and had to be very careful of kinks, etc., and it was almost impossible to get to hang just right. While looking at TV I had a blinding flash of the obvious - use model ship rigging string for bell pulls. So I did a search. Micro Mark has it, black and natural, enuf to do mucho locos for a little over 2 bucks. Just thought I’d share.
get the waxed type, or it will be fuzzy,
You can also pull thread through bee’s wax to get the same effect.
Dental floss, painted. Wonderful for sewing repairs on heavy duty items like bakcpacks and leashes.
Dental floss is too thick, as is even 5 pound fishing line.
I disassemble stranded 28 AWG wire for individual strands for my pull chains. So long as you don’t touch them, they don’t crease.
orson: true enough, the actual scale for the bell ropes is pretty small, I would assume extremely fine wire will be more to scale , much like people stringing telephone wires on a model layout, in real scale the wire would be 3 inches thick.