Carriage Lighting?

[John Candy]

Anyone here fitted carriage lighting to a G3 model?

I am going to fit lighting to my Gresley stock which raises two thoughts.
1) What level of interior accuracy do I require in terms of compartment fittings .... anyone know what shape the mirrors were in Gresley non-vestibule stock .... were advertisements fitted above the seats adjacent to the mirrors ..... were the compartment divisions of stained/varnished wood or painted???

2) How many LEDs (and should they be white or yellow) do I need per compartment to give a realistic light level in the dark ... and ... with up to 8 compartments per carriage.... what sort of battery power will keep them running for a couple of hours?

I only ever travelled in Gresley stock on one occasion at the age of four (born and bred on the South Western), from Liverpool St to Clacton and back.
I can remember being amazed at the tremendous number of level crossings on the route and not a lot else, except that the loco. was a green 4-6-0... probably a B17!

John.

[bolingbroke]

Hi John,
Have only fitted one light in a Brandbright Toad but have not used it to date. I did however fit lighting in my 16mm freelance compartmental stock. I used yellow 3mm yellow leds from Maplins. To my mind they gave a very realistic effect.

I used two AA batteries in one of those switched battery holders screwed under the coach floor. Batteries lasted many hours. Maplins also provided me with a resistor to tone down the lighting but I only used them on one coach. An led was fitted in each compartment and two inside long brake ends.

The only problem I had was that I did not pay a lot of attention to painting the inside of the coaches. They were the GRS modular L&B type and there was considerable 'ghosting' through the joins between modules when the lights were on. This was despite low lighting levels aimed at creating a realistic gas light effect. The leds were self supported by soldering to relatively substantial Copper wires running the length of the coaches.

It all looked pretty inelegant when the coach roofs were off but very pleasing when they were on.

Regards,
Roger.

[John Candy]

Roger,

Thanks for those tips.
The point about having "light tight" compartments and joints is one I could easily have overlooked.
The glazing is a one piece strip with the GRS kits, so the light may be "bounced" through the glazing strip between compartments which could look rather odd.
Will need to experiment to see what happens. Not sure how often in practice the lights might actually be used!

Regards,
John.

[hornbeam]

I'd get yellow as white will look like modern strip lights . I tend to use large 10mm LEDs and one per compartment should do it. I also fit a charging socket so you can charge in situ. I'll fit lighting in the LMS brake van I'm building as I want to fit out the inside. Struggling to find pictures as it want to fit a stove, seating and brake wheel once I find one of the right type. Also on the look out for a stove may end up using an LGB one.

[John Candy]

Hornbeam,

Thanks for advice on LED size.
I have emailed you interior photo of LMS Stanier period 20Ton brake van.

John

[keith Bristol]

Hornbeam, if you can find a picture I will print an lms stove off for you

[Andy B]

Keith, Hornbeam,

I have some close-up photos and measured dimensions of an LMS Brake van stove, as I want to include one in mine too.
I'll try to find them today and email them to you - so Keith, can you print  2 please?

Andy

[hornbeam]

Many thanks for the picture John. If you find the drawing that will be great. Hope your having a good trip Keith and I'll e mail you, if it's at all possible I would like to add a bogie to your order as the spare power unit could come in handy for a shunter.

[keith Bristol]

Andy, send it though... Not a problem

[Andy B]

Keith,

Please check your PM's.
I have discovered that I have a copy of the drawing for the MR stove which looks very similar to the LMS one.
Here is one photo to be going on with.

Andy

[Andy B]

John C  - sorry, I'm sure none of us intended to hi-jack your thread by talking about brake vans. Maybe you can paste all these bits into a new thread?

Hornbeam - here is a photo of a brake standard. There are several drawings in my catalogue relating to MR and LMS brake columns, but I won't be able to get copies now until early in the new year.  If you can't wait that long, here are a few measurements taken from the one in the photo.
height - floor to top side of wheel (not incl the handle) - 35 1/2"
height - floor to underside of flange - 32 1/4"
Flange diameter 5 1/4"
Combined flange thickness - 2 1/4"
Diameter just below flange (at top of taper) - 2 1/2"
Diameter of main part - 6"
Height of tapered section - 9 1/2"
Base - 8 1/2" square
Wheel outside diameter -  16 1/2"

Andy

[Andy B]

A couple of pix of my work-in-progress.
This is the original GRS scribed plasticard kit, not the new resin one.
I wanted to model one of the early lots, hence all the rivets applied at the ends. Later lots were all welded. It will also have shallower ballast boxes.
It took a lot of work to get the dimensions right - had to insert a 4mm brass spacer in the underframe and reduce the width overall, amongst other things.
I turned some steel buffer heads which have internal springs, and also made the axleboxes sprung by cutting new axleguards from steel and adding a milled brass backing plate to the whitemetal casting.
The benches, seats adjacent to the lookouts and the desk at each end (not yet fitted) were all made from plasticard, using measurements taken from the 2 vans at Cromford.

Andy