I plan on modeling the Milwaukee Road in the 1950s and would like to modify my Bachmann 2-8-0 to use for switching. However, the model lacks a backup light. Have any of you installed a backup light on the 2-8-0 tender? Would any of you be able to advise me on how to proceed? I see suitable lights from Precision Scale and Cal Scale, but I am unsure how to add a LED to these brass details. Any clues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Well all brass details will have to be glued to a resin tender etc.on bras on brass applications things are usually soldered in place. as far as hooking up a back up light you will need to find what terminal on the decoder is for the back up light and hook one lead of the back up light to it and the other to a ground pint.which may be on the decoder or maybe on a part of the chassis.
A backup light wasn’t particularly useful for switching at night. A car or load of any height behind the tender would block the light from illuminating uncoupling or switch throwing or any other night operations of the train crew.
The purpose of the backup light was to serve notice that an engine or train was headed your way when the engine was pulling the train in reverse - same as the headlight when the engine was pulling in the forward direction.
And unless the backup light was wired to the cab, it was either left on or off for significant durations of time. Because the electronics were easy to rig in model locomotives, automatic reversing lights are the norm. But automatic reversing lights were not the norm in steam operations.
The green class lights at the front of the engine - sometimes called marker lights - are another example of not following prototype practice. Those were only used to mark a second or later section of a train that was divided into sections. Marker lights would be used on the last car - usually the caboose, but sometimes a tender - to mark the end of a train. But it looks pretty all lit up on our models - just like Lionel days. [:)]
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
I added a back-up light to the Bachmann engine when I kit bashed it into Boston & Maine K8c - see photo in B&M Modeler thread.
Its not that difficult, but there are a few things to bear in mind. The brass detail part headlights can come pre-drilled for lighting or left partially solid. The solid castings are I guess left over from the days - not that many years ago - when a lot of modelers used MV jewel lenses instead of bulbs or LEDs.
So if you need to use a solid casting for your prototype you will have to drill out some brass - do this carefully and slowly its easy to wreck a casting if you get too energetic with a motor tool. When you have done this you will need to drill a smaller hole in the base or rear of the casting to take the wires for the light.
If the backup light is mounted on the tender deck then you will need some form of platform for it to stand on, or if on the tender end some type of bracket - look at photos of your prototype for where it was mounted and the style of platform or bracket. For my B&M engine I scratchbuilt a suitable platform from styrene parts.
If you intend to use a regular 2mm LED with integral leads remember the casting is brass and it will conduct electricity - i.e. short out. You will need to insulate the legs of the LED - I would suggest using heat shrink tubing. If you use a micro LED you will need to solder very light guage wire to the pads and use a magnifier! Where I have done this in some of my HOn30 engines I’ve insulated the pads with a small blob of Areldite (a 2-part epoxy hobby glue/resin that’s widely available in the UK - not sure what the US equivalent would be) - this also acts as a strain relief for the very fine wire you will need. You will need to solder a 1/4 or 1/2 watt resistor into the circuit - the resistor value will depend on the type of LED. There is plenty of room i
Go to the Bachmann site and download the decoder info. Use a 1000 ohm, 1/8th watt resistor in series with one LED lead.
Rich
If you keep a boxcar coupled to the tender, you could hide one of the backup beepers in it. [:D]
Something to watch out for. I bought a Spectrum DCC ready USRA medium tender that “looks” similar to the tender with the 2-8-0. The PC board is wired so the headlight in the loco “dims” for reverse. I had to cut the copper trace for the PC board so this would not happen when connecting a tender light.
Rich
All most all photographs I see of Milwaukee Road steam locomotives used in switching had backup lights. I presume because they often did not turn the engine around when doing switching so there was some amount of reverse running. I notice too that on the 2-8-0s the backup light is often on a built up stand, looks to be about two feet high, on the back of the tender. This would be interesting to model if I can get more detailed images and dimensions.
Wow, thanks James for the very detailed reply. Very informative.
And I appreciate the other replies I have received so far. Very helpful.