A comment was made in here a while back that LEDs weren’t good for passenger car lighting because they were too directional. Has anyone tried sanding or grinding the lens end flat to difuse the light a little bit?
That just shows that all comments made here aren’t correct. BLI used LEDs in the CZ cars and that is the best factory lighting in a passenger car that I’ve ever seen. In fact, it is the only factory lighting that I haven’t ripped out and replaced with my own.
No, but I have attached LEDs to a bar of lucite to dispurse and defuse it. I’ve been meaning to try to grind some of the LEDs down far enough to put a lamp shade on and acually make working table lamps in the lounge and observation cars. The problem there would once again be color. Since grinding them that far down would also grind away the “golden glow” lens molded in. Lets see that project would be #112 on my to-do list.
How about a tiny dab of clear yellow paint on the ground end.
Do you have watchmaking skills, and too much time on your hands?[8D]
Why not use Rapido’s Easy Peasy lighting? It’s LED’s already put together, powered by battery and turned on & off with a magnetic switch. I have a number of Rapido cars & like the effect - of course, everyone has their own opinion!! [:)]
Must agree the Rapido lighting system would be the best way to go. I have some of the Rapido cars with their lighting system and the system works very well. Just remember to use the “Magic Wand” and turn off the lights when finished to save the batteries.
Texas Zephyr brings up a great point…the lighting in the BLI CZ cars.
One of the issues that I’ve been ambitious about is being able to reproduce flourescent lighting in streamlined cars. Many prototype Budd, Pullman Standard, and ACF streamliners featured flourescent lighting, in addition to the incandescent lights in their cars. I rode Amtrak before the Heritage cars were rebuilt. I also rode the Penn Central as a kid. The lights in the streamlined coaches, diners and some lounges were primarily flourescent. Later at night, the bright flourescents were turned off and the smaller incandescent walkway, and reading lights remained on.
I have seen LED lights in museum displays that are “Milk White” in color and want to try these in my Walthers and Rivorossi cars, specifically the diners, lounges, and perhaps a few coaches. I’d like to get the same exact effect as the BLI CZ car that Zephyr mentions. Now, does BLI use some type of milk colored lens in the sleeper to create that flourescent effect? If anyone knows the secret, please post it. [:D]
I would be more inclined toward the Easy Peasy lighting system, if it used AAA, batteries, or some kind of rechargeables. At $5 per car, battery replacement could add up in a hurry.
Easy Peasy - or the Rapido coaches - batterys last for at least 15-20 hrs of operation - just remember to turn them off when done. BTW, I picked up a sheet of mini batteries at a dollar store last year - about 30 pcs!! I’ve been using them in calculators and the grandson’s toys - seem to last OK - especially since some of the batteries cost $5+ in Rad Shak!!! There is one size in the pak that looks like it will fit the Rapido units, but I haven’t used up my Rapido spares yet (got xtras in coach boxes). My [2c]
Quick question: What color lighting do the Easy Peasy’s give off? Also, are they bulbs or LEDs?
The light resembles flourescent. They are LED’s. [:)]
Ivanhen,
I understand, however, LEDs come in various colors of white. I went to Rapido’s website and the photo of the lights there look “green”.
http://www.rapidotrains.com/lighting.html
However, I realize that was a photo. The floursecent effect that I was looking for is the milk white or blue white that most of us are familiar with. Flourescents, depending on type and brand, do give off blue and green hues. But the greens are usually visible in film photographs and not the naked eye. The blues, on the other hand, are more visible to our eyes (barely). [8D]
I was very impressed with the BLI CZ sleeping car’s lighting, which had a very “milk white” appearance in the sleeping compartments.
I know that I’m fussier than an old goat, but I’m just trying to closely model what I saw in my youth.
Thanks [:D]
I saw some “tube lights” on ePay the other day. I was wondering what they would do in a passenger car.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110261776399&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=001
Anyone know what they are?
Rotor
I have several sets of the Rapido lighting. They are indeed green-ish. The effect is similar to green-tinted windows. I’m holding off on the installation of the rest (I’ve installed one), until I can replace the LED’s with either yelo-glo white ones or yellow ones. They would look great in a light-weight passenger car, but don’t quite look right in an older heavy-weight - at least in my opinion.
I’ve found that LEDs are great for HO interior lighting.
For the longest time I debated over several methods to light my Santa Fe Hi-Level El Capitan. I tested a few things and found that surface mounted 1206 Super Bright White LEDs (which I bought from a similar auction to this link) worked the best for the look I was going for.
After figuring how to get the trucks to pickup power…not the easiest thing to do with these Hi-Level models, I ended up using 5 LEDs with a “flicker free” system under the upstairs interior. With the way the floors are on these models (comes up to the bottom windows) I didn’t do downstairs lighting.
The thing to note on these small LEDs is soldering is very tricky to do. Plus they are super tiny. Not recommended if you have trouble seeing small things.
So far I’ve only done the first “Step-Up” coach. Many more to do, and the diner is especially tricky since it has six wheel trucks. Anyone know where I might be able to get some long axle wipers or just the thin copper like material wipers are made from?
Here are some photos:
And thanks to the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society magazine, the Warbonnet (3rd Quarter
These are regular incandescant bulbs, with a long filament. Walthers sold them many, many years ago for that very purpose - passenger car lighting. They work fine, if you have (a) a lot of excess amperage on your layout that you don’t know what to do with, and (b) wooden roofs (a la old wood & metal Walthers heavyweight cars)
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Has anyone tried using a magic marker to color a clear led? It might take a bit of trial and error to get the right shade, but you can always wipe it off if it’s wrong.
SWChief,
Wow, you hit a grand slam home run! [C):-)][tup]
Beautiful. That is the effect I’m looking for. Are you using DC Fixer’s “Hippie Pickups” method?
Thanks [:I]
Nope not using the “hippie” part of the pickups, no brass tubes.
I had a lot of old Athearn cars that we ran before the Hi-Levels came. They used to have Rivarossi interiors and Jay-Bee lighting kits. I used the wipers from those old Jay-Bee kits and the nice super small 2-56 eye terminals and nuts they came with too for the new Hi-Levels. The only problem…the wipers are a bit too short for the 6 wheeled diner truck [V]
These Hi-Level trucks originally come with a large head wood screw to hold them in place. I suppose I could have soldered a wire to the end of the screw, but that would be a pain to disconnect for future truck maintenance. To fix this issue, I used some stainless steel Kadee 2-56 screws with long shanks. But 2-56 is too thin for the existing Hi-Level trucks. So I used some scrap styrene 1/8" tubing to fill in the old screw hole. I then taped this tubing for a 2-56 screw. Now I have a very effective way to transmit power and trucks that track a lot better too. And with the Jay-Bee 2-56 eye terminals and nuts, I can disconnect the trucks from the wires without having to unsolder wires.
Here’s what the tiny LEDs look like:
I’d agree, SWChief’s work is the best custom job I’ve seen to date.
A serious point to consider about incandescents is, if you are running DCC they will always be getting maximum voltage. The resultant heat can warp the shells.
I believe that people are now using some kind of plastic slab, conceptually similar to fiber optics, to distribute LED lighting.
On Kato’s N scale accessories page the offer light kits of this type. Of course their passenger cars are specifically designed to accept these kits. But if you think $5 per car is expensive you won’t like the price of these. $10 each or 6 for $50.
Best!
[tup] to SW Chief! Great work!
Here’s the lighting for my kitbashed observation car, Silver Fountain. CB&Q owned four observations of this type. The cars were built prior to WWII, and they had a vestibule with entrance doors in the center of the car. Pictures show the doors are recessed into the car instead of being flush. The forward section provided diner car service, and the rear section provided parlor seating.
This was an ideal prototype for me because I operate short passenger trains, and of course, my primary railroad is Burlington.
My kitbash is based on the Walthers Budd observation car. Windows and doors were re-arranged to match the prototype.
Interior lighting is cut from a sring of Christmas tree lights. The string of lights purchased at a post-Christmas sale (75% off retail) made an affordable source of three volt LED’s. The rear light is a three volt red light commonl available. Power is from a twin AAA battery holder. A small toggle switch is mounted in the floor. The switch is operated from underneath the car.
