I have a Lionel Thomas the Tank engine Set. It’s very basic but it makes my little guy ecstatic. I would like to light the interiors of Annie and Clarabel. I know I could buy and LED and hook up a battery but I was wondering if there might be another way. The tops are very easy to remove but I would rather not do that if I didn’t have to. Can I hook up an LED that would light as I power up the train? I don’t want to reinvent wheel here, I just thought it would be cool. I would probably add “frosted glass” panels to the interiors as well. Thanks in advance.
May I suggest a look at my LED article in the September issue of CTT? For something like this, I would use two golden-white LEDs (from Richmond Controls, perhaps) in anti-parallel.
not sure the distance of the wheels on the trucks but lionel does have a part where you can add a middle wheel to most trucks so you can add a light to an item call jeff kane at www.ttender.com or email at jeff@ttender.com he even usually has lights and sockets that would go in engines or passenger cars by lionel
I, I mean my daughter, also have this set. [:)] It looks like it would be pretty difficult to add a center rail pickup to it. Since the whole body is made of plastic, a set of wipers would be needed complete the circuit (the outer rails). I’m sure this could be done, but it sounds like a lot of work to me.
Another option would be to find track power inside Thomas and route 2 wires from there to Annie, and then 2 from Annie to Clarabel. If you went this route, I’d suggest finding some kind of quick connect plug and jack to use between the units. This would probably be easier than powering the cars individually, but I’ve heard opening Thomas up isn’t the easiest thing to do. You’d also have the tethers between the cars that may be a bit unsightly.
If it were me, I’d take another look at the battery idea. If you’re not like me and you do get track power inside the cars, by all means please share the results. I’m sure you and I aren’t the only ones that would like lights in these cars.
Hope this helps,
J White
The piece I’m talking about clips right on the axels as long as they are metal and and the wheels are you get you one sorce of power from the outside wheels ans the other from the middle wheel you add. by the piece if I can find one I’ll take a pic and show you the piece all you have to do is soder 2 wires to it and clip it on and hook light socket to it and mount socket where you want it
Thanks for all your attention. The clip sounds great. All I would do is center a light inside the car and add clouded plexiglass panels to look like frosted glass. I only have two trains right now-Polar Express and Thomas. My buildings are from Wal-mart and I’m looking to expand. I guess my whole layout cost as much as some guys engines. But when the lights are out it’s pretty cool. I did see the article on wiring in CTT, but it seemed more than I’m ready for right now. Funny thing is, I took electronics in high school and didn’t do so well. I’m color blind (not 100% but enough to cause problems) and didn’t know until I tried to join the Army and couldn’t be an electrician because of it. Hard to tell what the resistors are when you don’t see the right color. Let me know about this clip, just what I’m looking for. I’ll also check my local shop. Thanks again.
If this is the piece i’m thinking of, it only works with a 4 wheel truck. These cars only have 4 wheels total, with the axles being roughly 5" apart. If this part would work with these car, that would make things a lot easier, but I’m thinking it won’t.
J White
I’m thinking you’re right. I think I’ll just get some LED’s and batteries and go from there. I’ll keep hope alive though. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a replacement truck?
I’m also not TOTALLY against wiring from Thomas to the cars. The pros and cons even up. I don’t think wires would be TOO noticeable between cars. My trains don’t crossover. They each run on their own track and transformer. I guess that would help with the power.
As easy as the roof is to pop on/off I would just go with battery power for an LED, especially if you spend a little extra going in and get the rechargeable batteries. Save a lot in the long run. As far as running a tether, they are a royal pain even with my LGB which has the arrangement that you are considering. A tether from loco to sound car to passenger car to a second passenger, eventually this will be eliminated in the future( I hope) when Maerklin gets the LGB production/distribution back on track[:D]. For the time being LGB parts are fetching much more than I am willing to pay.
I see your point. I know there are many options as far as battery powered lights. My daughter has some small tea lights which are powered by watch batteries. So I’ll just do the battery thing for now and hope another option shows up later. Thanks for the help.
Funny you should mention those, but I had some leftover from our halloween run at the museum so I just stuck them in my grandson’s Thomas & Friends sets, he just loved them. He even would drop them in the Troublesome Trucks, he turns 3 in September. [^]
Your right Not having them I didn’t realize they were just 2 total axles
Yeah, there’s not much to them. I don’t want to call them chincy but…I’d sure love to have a set from the show!!! Be cool to have to a head lamp on Thomas too. I think it’s Bachman that makes a couple of the Thomas trains but I beleive they are a smaller gauge. They have more detail like lamps and such.
seems like Lionel made a G gauge set also
I’ve added a head-lamp to Thomas - but it’s non-working for now. Also added an end lamp to Clarabell using a big jewel from a craftstore. I’m looking forward to Bob’s article to change them. I think you have a good idea here. If you have a youngster, you might realize that taking the tops off the cars and placing things in them are big fun 
Doug, where’d you find the battery-powered tea lamps? How big are they?
Doug,
The first ones I used strangely enuff came from the grocery store, the second batch SWMBO found at “Big Lots”. Size wise, the base is maybe 1.25" in dia and the height is maybe a half to 5/8 inch. The so called flame varies a bunch, maybe as litlle as 3/8’s to almost 3/4 inch.
The grandson loved them in his Thomas equipment, especially since the two lower tracks go thru a tunnel.
Thanks, Doug. I’ll have to keep an eye out. This sounds like a perfect ‘self-contained’ solution for when my youngest likes to place things in and out of the cars.