hey fellas,
I want to put proper ditch lights on my beautiful new athearn BNSF swoosh AC4400CW. the ditch lights it came with had 2 problems, 1. the ditch lights it came with were just rectangles and are unprototypical shape for any shape of ditch lights for any company, 2. they were in the wrong place, and 3 they did not light up.
being a model railroader I change what I dont liek aon a model, so I am putting the proper ditchlights, in the right place, and that are going to light up.
I was thinking about using http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-243. details west ditch lights with platforms and w/ bulbs. but I have a couple questions.
- are the bulbs 1.5volts?
- are tehy palstic or diecast metal?
- are they bright, or are they dim?
- for those hard core modelers out there, this is the right kind of ditch light for the AC4400CW right?
- are they easy to install?
- hows the detail on them?
if you can only answer 1 question, great! if you can answer them all, awsome.
thanks in advanced.
is this a Genesis Engine by Athearn? I have an Alaska Railroad SD70 MAC and all its detail match the prototype very closely (and the ditch lights work). I believe the details west lights are 1.5 volts which means you will need to add resistors. I also believe that they are die cast and once they have been cleaned up (removing flash) they tend to be fairly detailed.
nope its not a genesis engine, its jsut athearns new Ready to Run GE AC4400CWs.
sorry fellas, I need to know the answer to this question, im going to bump it.
The answers above are correct so far.
The DW lights are pretty accurate. They are cast as white metal lost-wax castings not die cast. They are pretty bright. You will need resistors (470ohm) if wired direct to the track pickup or the DCC light terminals or they can connected directly to a constant lighting unit. I can post pics and diagram for that if you need it.
The DW ditchlights (with bulbs) have 1.5 v bulbs with bare metal leads. Once you CA the castings to the walkway drill 2- #78 or #76 holes directly behind each of the ditchlight for the wires. The wires have to be kept apart from each other as they are not insulated.You may also have to drill holes under the anticlimber to pass the wires to the back side of the pilot.
On the inside of the shell you’ll have figure a way to route wire from the motor area or decoder to the back of the pilot and connect the 2 bulbs together (in parallel) to it. As there is not much room for shrink tubing insulation I give all the bare wire and solder connections a couple of coats of Microscale’s Kristal Kleer. Tip: paint the rear half of the bulbs black so you don’t get a bunch of light shining through the back of the ditchlight castings.
It’s not a particularily difficult job, but it is pretty fiddely, the main tool here is a pair of tweezers (I prefer the hook-nose type).
Good Luck, Jay.
if you could post a picture that would be awsome, I would appreciate that very very much.
sounds good. I whent ahead and called my LHS and orderd 2 differnet sets:
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-243
the only problem with these lights are im not sure if the COME WITH lights inside them, I might have to drill them out and insert a light into it.
then i orderd these:
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-229
the only problem with these is that I am not sure that they are the right kind, these are the kind that are under the anticlimber I think. but, I would rather have a set of lit ditch lights then a pare of correctly placed non lite ditch lights.
lemme know what you think.
and please post pictures of the ditch lights Jay.
The DW 243 is the right casting. The question of whether they come with or without bulbs has been nagging me , so I went to my trusty Walthers catalog library (every other year) and the 2001 entry for the discription reads: “including microbulbs”. The 2003 catalog says: “inluding lenses”, So, between 2001 and 2003 it got changed, (okay, I guess haven’t bought any since '01 or '02 - I use my own castings now). So, no bulbs! Just lenses.
You’ll have to get some microbulbs elsewhere, try: Miniatronics, Circuitron or Richmond Controls amougnst others.
There are 2 types of castings: the first, is cored so the bulb can be inserted from the rear. The casting are usually very clean and the bulbs go right in. The 2nd type, (which I forgot about until I saw it in the catalog), is actually 2 pieces: a front and a back with the bulb sandwiched in the middle. I don’t remember which type the DW 243 is. With type 2, you just glue the 2 halves together with CA keeping them spaced apart with a toothpick or something, (about 1.5 mm for the 1.2mm bulb). Go easy on the CA, you want to avoid gluing the spacer to the casting!
Drill a hole through the walkway, big enough to clear the bulb, but is still snug. With CA glue the ditchlight casting to the deck, centered over the hole (use the toothpick again to line it up).
Sorry, I don’t have any closeups of the ditchlights. What I was referring to was the constant lighting circuit if you’re running DC and want constant intensity lighting: 
click on photo to enlarge
If some of this doesn’t make sense, wait until you have the parts in hand, it will all fall into place. If you have any specific issues when you do this, feel free to email me. Jay.