I found two bumpers that look like Atlas equipment rummaging around in the basement, code 100 with the black ties. They have a hole which I’m told is there to insert some sort of light from below, like a grain of wheat bulb or something. Does anyone know what light/light fixture should be put in there? Does anyone know of any pictures showing these things painted/weathered? Is it better to just scrap it and build a bumper from left over rail as I’ve seen in magazines?
Have you ever seen a real bumper that has a light on it? My answer to “what light goes in a bumper” is none.
There are more different types of bumpers in real life than one can shake a stick at. And I go back to my main question - if the goal is to weather it to make it look more realistic - why are you considering putting a light in it?
I’ve heard that the prototype for these large Atlas bumper units is a passenger station somewhere. Even so, I just don’t thing they have much basis in reality. My Lionels had big red lights on them, which also weren’t very high on the realism scale.
I would toss those things, and get some of these from Walthers as a starting point:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3511
Here are couple of them on my layout, showing their “age” with some paint and Instant Rust:
I’ve never seen a lighted bumper in real life. I’d use the bumper from Tomar Industries. The Walthers ones are kind of flimsy but will work.
The Tomar ones listed in Walthers as 81-80883 for code 83 rail. They once made a code 100 version too.
Atlas used a 12 volt round bulb that was a little larger than the hole in the bumper. they were coated with red paint and the wires were attached to the rails under the bumper post. many years ago i had quite a few of them and rewired them so they would always be lit from the accessory terminals from my power pack. i also wired two in series to reduce the voltage and extend the life of the bulbs. the only prototype lighted bumpers i’ve seen is in the NYC subway. they use a seperate signal head mounted on a pole with a single red lens in their yards and in mainline terminals used a signal head with two red lenses either on a pole or bolted to the tunnel walls on the side of the track facing the motormans cab.
If you operate a lot at night a lighted bumper is kinda nice, like at the end of tracks at a passenger station or something…even if it’s not all that prototypical. I use run the old Lionel layout at night using just streetlights and building lights etc., was always kinda fun.
Anyway, I wouldn’t use bulbs, I would use red LED’s. They look good, last forever and don’t get hot.
Thanks everyone. I thought a lighted bumper was in more common usage because a member of my club, who is a retired engineer, said he’s seen them. I can’t say I ever have. It makes sense that they’d be in tunnels or locations with a lot night operation. I guess I’ll just look at where they would go and see if a little LED would make sense or be a distraction, in which case I’ll go for the one that looks like its built from rail. Thanks again.
I used to have an OLD bumper made by I think Ideal, the post end was basically a rectangular block, it had a small hole facing the track, and inside was a red GOW bulb. Not at all liek the Life Like and others that had a big red bulb sitting on top. I think some similar to the Ideal may have been seen in passenger terminals.
–Randy