Layout lights

[insfil]

I have about 20 street lights always on when my layout is powered up, as well as lights in a multitude of buildings, billboards, yard lights, etc, etc, since I model a winter & snow theme I can either dim or turn off the overhead lights to create night or a dull winter day where street lights come on early.

[phillyreading]

I have lights in the houses on my layout and power them with two small watt transformers. I use 16 AWG wire, the lights are either the old GE Mazda lights or 14.4 volt lights from Radio Shack(for smaller buildings) and I use small light bases with them. I try to keep the house outlet voltage off my layout, in other words NO 120 volt lights on the layout. I also have some yard lights & an old light tower by Lionel and use another separate transformer for these.

[Plate Rail]

The current layout is in our family room and mounted along the wall up near the ceiling.  I opted for the regular white rope light placed around the layout against the wall.  I gives off a nice warm glow of a late afternoon thanks to the incandescent bulbs.  The lighting is not directly visible due to being mounted so high so it's also ideal for TV watching...sort of a theater effect.

I really do need to concentrate on the lighting of buildings and streets though.  It's almost as important as a moving train for adding life to a layout.

Bruce

[traindaddy1]

Thanks to all for the replies. J White: Me too. The street lights "on" remind me to turn off the layout.

[fifedog]

I have 3 strands of blue rope lights tucked up in the rafters of my layout room (unfinished basement ceiling), and they do create a neat nighttime effect.

[stebbycentral]

One trick I've seen but have not tried; there is a gentleman on the MR thread who has apparently rigged up his layout with the dark blue rope lights.  He uses them, in addition to the layout structure lighting, for simulated night time photography.  It actually looks quite neat.

[jwse30]

I built a small photocell circuit to turn my street light on and off according to how dark the train room is. One of these years I finish it and install it. For now they are on all the time. They do serve as a reminder that the layout is plugged in though.

J White

[fifedog]

All of my houses are always lit, as energy costs are low due to having a coal burning power plant on the layout.

To me, the layout seems more alive when everything is lit up.  But I do see where having the streetlamps and such on a separate circuit would add a touch of pizzazz when the room lights are off.

[Rob412]

Oh and no I only turn them on when the lights dim or when I have company. Although when I had all my lights working on my old layout I would dim the lights often. Almost never off as I always liked the look of dusk where I can still see the buildings and trains but the lights provide a nice glow.

[Rob412]

I currently have about 25 lamps so far. These are mainly in my carnival and zoo areas and are used to light the walking paths. They are wired to a 14 gauge bus and a dedicated ground. The bus runs thru a standard SPST switch so there's never a need to touch the transformer once I get the illumination where I want it.

[traindaddy1]

Looking at our layout, I see that we have around a dozen working Lionel Highway lights. 

Got to thinking (not always a good thing):  They look great with the room lights off and the trains running but we run the trains mainly during the day or with the room lights on. 

Are we the only ones who have working highway lights even though we don't need them?  

Would be interested to know how many on the Forum have working Highway or Street lights on their layouts and about how many of them in total.

As always, many thanks.