Incandescent light bulb ban and prewar/postwar lionel equipment question

[James Huff]

So I pretty sure by now all heard about the incandescent light bulb ban. Do the small incandescent bulbs used for our prewar and postwar toy trains be considered as specialty and therefore still be manufactured and available to buy brand new? I just found out about the incandescent light bulb ban from a friend earlier today and I really love the color that is produced by incandescent bulbs and im also concerned to the possibility of finding replacement led bulbs for all my prewar and postwar lionel equipment and the extra costs with it. 

[Flintlock76]

That's a very good question but unfortunately I don't have an answer for it.

I can  say that as far as the conventional household incandescent light bulb ban is concerned if what I've read is correct the light bulb manufacturers (GE, Sylvania, Phillips) didn't bother to fight the ban since they don't want to make them anymore to begin with, there's more profit to be made with the LED household bulbs.  And if what I've seen myself is correct no household incandescents are made in the USA anyway, they're all imports from China. 

LED replacement bulbs for pre-wars and post-wars have been available for some time and yes, they are more expensive.  Which is why I haven't bothered with them up until now.

[Laurastom]

The new DOE rules do not outright ban incandescent bulbs, the rules set minimum efficiency standards that incandescent and halogen bulbs do not meet. There are many exemptions in place to the standards. One example is appliance bulbs, so these can continue to be incandescent. Another is heat lamps. There are also exemptions for low lumen output bulbs that operate at low voltages and are not medium base. These should cover the bulbs used in toy trains.

This stuff is supposedly all on the DOE website. Summaries are easy to find, finding and reading all the details and rulemakings is, in my opinion, not worth the time and trouble.