Street Lights

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I am not happy with some of my streetlights on my layout and would like to know what others use in there downtown scenes. Thanks. Mike

2

I like the Walthers Cornerstone ones. They’re kind of pricey, but I don’t use all that many. If you watch the sales from month to month, you’ll see that they cycle through the model line, so if you’re willing to wait a while you can get them cheaper.

On the Walthers site, search for “Cornerstone street lamp” and they’ll all come up.

I run mine at 10 volts. I think they use 16-volt bulbs, so mine are dim but still nicely visible. I haven’t lost one yet, but I’m not sure the bulbs can be replaced easily. Most of these are socket-mounts, so you can remove the post and light without disturbing your wiring. They also come with “manhole covers” that plug into the sockets in case you want to remove the lamp completely.

These are the smaller ones, that come 2 to a package:

This scene uses two of the larger models:

3

It’s a catch 22. The ones I like aren’t lighted, (Woodland Scenics) and the ones that are lighted, I don’t like. (and are too expensive)

4

I use model Power lights only. I like to keep them all the same and the good thing is they are easily accessible. Model Powers street lights come in a package of three for $8.99 or now maybe $9.49 [:)] I actually really like the MP lights. I bought a huge bag with about 30 packages in it of the tall highway ones and the street lamps for the downtown area. There are a couple different downtown lights and i get the round glass as opposed to the hex style glass that goes around the actual bulb. They work very well and I am pleased with them

Then there are those real real expensive lights that you can buy that cost $10-20 a piece but that is real ridiculous

5

I scratch build a lot of mine. I take a 4 x 4 balsa wood strip or a 1/4" dowel rod and cut a slot in the side for the wire to fit in and then glue the wire in the slot. Then I’ll take a piece of .025 wire and bend it into a light pole armature and bend the wire of the light into it so that it’s held away from the pole, then paint it and insert the pole into a hole drilled in the layout to feed the wires thru for power. you can see one in this picture right of the locomotive. click to enlarge…chuck

6

How did you get the background scenes like that in the stores?

7

My layout is a walkaround table, so pretty much all of it is “foreground space.” With buildings right up at the edge, I started doing interior details to enhance the scenes. Mostly, I go online and search for images of store shelves. I size them to scale and print them on cardstock. I do the same for flooring. This is the inside of the City Classics supermarket in the second photo, where I made aisles and grocery racks, all just by cutting out the cardstock images. The figures are from Preiser:

The light is a 16-volt bulb run at 10 volts, so it lasts forever and does not put out an overpowering amount of light or heat. Put on the roof, dim the room lights, and this simple, cheap technique gives convincing results:

The picture in the original reply is the Jack Frost Ski Shop, named after my brother-in-law’s shop at Sunday River in Maine. It’s an ancient Plasticville building, pushing a half-century now. Just because I could, I photographed their shop window, and also the outside signs, and duplicated the images to put on the shop.

8

C.W.

I just came across this thread and the picture does not enlarge when I click on it. Could you please post it again with a larger picture as I cannot even see what the picture contains.

Thanks.

Blue Flamer.

9

Since this old lighting thread came up, I came across this place that sells nice street lights pretty cheap.
http://stores.ebay.com/everydaygoodz_Model-Lampposts_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ14110999QQftidZ2QQtZkm

They’ve got good deals on trees and scenery too.

10

For anyone interested in making their own, I have a how-to tutorial for single- and double-light exterior light poles on my web site:

Click picture to enlarge

The cost for materials: Single - $1.95, Double - $3.25.

You could use 1.7mm, 1.5V incandescent bulbs rather than 1.2mm, as noted in the tutorial. The larger bulbs won’t look as realistic but they’ll last 5X longer.

Hope that helps…

Tom

11

I’m finding most street lights don’t seem to be to scale, they look like something from plasticville, some of the scratchbuilt above seem great, maybe the key is to build them yourself.

12

I scratch build a syle of street light from brass tubing. I use 1" of 1/8th tubing for the base. Then I bend a piece of 3/32 tubing as shown and solder it into the 1/8th. then I solder a 7/16" piece of 1/8th on the other end and file part of this piece away to form a cavity for a grain of rice bulb. I made a bending jig myself, but the #81356 unit sold by Micro-Mark should work very nicely.

13

I have used either brass tube or recycled lollypop sticks with an LED either straight out or with a sequin to simulate a lamp shade. The result is effective especially at “night” and there is little current to talk of running the whole lot together. I have a “tutorial” of sorts on my website www.xdford.digitalzones.com which may be a help!

Regards from Down Under

Trevor

14

I like the Model Power lights too - they are fairly inexpensive and there is a pretty good variety of styles. I have about 30 of them in my town and they are wired together into two sets of 15 each with a 12 volt power supply and to an Atlas Selector. Some Hobby Lobby stores have them and if your wife clips coupons like mine does you can get some for 40% off list.