Coach Lighting In 7mm

[Dog Star]

Starting with an empty bodyshell and a removable roof... with a wish to fit interior lighting to JLTRT Gresley coaches.... where to start? At the moment the intended approach is to mount the light sources in the roof with a TCS1 decoder in the toilet compartment (along with any necessary gubbins to avoid damage to lights) and take the wires through the floor on the coach centre line as close to the bogie pivot point as possible.

Who has had experience with interior lighting and is willing to share experiences?

Challenges on the horizon:-
* how to replicate the illumination level/colour of lighting circa 1948.
* how to collect power from bogies which have metal frames and Slater's wheels.
* how to arrange the wiring such that the bogies are removable.

All contributions welcome, thank you, Graham

 

[28ten]

Would a small rechargeable battery power the lighting? otherwise split axles and insulated bearings? The one thing to really try and avoid is flickering lights. I'll be interested to see how you get on

 

[Dog Star]

Would a small rechargeable battery power the lighting? otherwise split axles and insulated bearings?

I have thought of including some form of "keep a-lit" in the decoder output circuit to reduce / remove flicker. Maybe Steph will have something to say on this aspect of the work.

The JLTRT cast bogie frames are fixed to JB's brass etches and hence the sprung wheels run in Slater's pin-points in Slater's brass exleboxes. Little chance of insulation of axles from bogie frame here then. Adrian M has observed that I could short the wheels in such a maner that one bogie provides collection from the "A" rail and the other bogie provides collection from the "B" rail.... worth thinking about although I am not sure about the "loose" connections as:-

[1] axle through pin-point bearing through hornguides to frame;
[2] bogie frame on bogie pivot.

A micro jack plug can overcome the concern about current collection across the bogie pivot.

Just a thought.... if the coaches are provided with lighting under DCC control then what needs to be done to enable the coaches to be run on a non-DCC layout?

regards, Graham

 

[Buckjumper]

Might this go some way towards answering some of Graham's questions?

 

[Dog Star]

Thank you Adrian, that does look like something worth investigating. Initial impression is that the unit might well fit inside the toilet compartment... which is getting rather crowded alongside the decoder.

regards, Graham

 

[Rob Pulham]

Hi Graham , I put the very same flicker free lighting in my LMS BG - sad perhaps but I did build a full interior and wanted to be able to see it I bought the 3 pack So still have spares that I could measure, photograph etc. for you. I have made it pick up from the axles but I will have to have a close look at it to remember how I did it.